Amy Vickers Farrier Services

27/09/2025

12/09/2025

Absolutely appalling behaviour on behalf of Daisy Alexis Bicking and the International School of Integrative Hoof Care, very disappointing.

15/08/2025

Remember to keep an eye on your horses and ponies as we approach Spring! 🌸 ☀️ 💐

22/07/2025

Fantastic opportunity to grow your knowledge and become a more informed horse owner! Plus, trimming cadaver legs is lots of fun and a great way to get involved and have a go without worrying you’ll do something wrong! 😁

Schedule your appointment online Firenza Park Equine Services

18/07/2025

Feet are kind of no one’s and everyone’s problem at the same time. Until some poor sucker needs to work on the feet they are not really a problem. Then when the farriers been kicked across the flat they quickly become everyone’s problem and everyone’s fault.

The owner didn’t imprint the horse and pick them up as it was sliding out of the womb. If an owner is confident and competent then it’s great if they can start picking up feet early. If they are scared and teach them to kick then they are probably best to leave it to the next person.

That’s when it becomes the breakers fault. Most breakers are not farriers. Some will get a farrier in to shoe or trim them. And that’s fine as long as they teach them to stand and allow the farrier to work unmolested.

Finally if it’s managed to sneak through and gets a bit grown up when it gets its first bit of work done to its feet and it kicks the farrier it really quickly becomes everyone’s problem and everyone else’s fault. And it’s a really slippery slope. Good farriers will not let themselves be kicked. They will sack the horse the owner and everyone else. The next farrier will not be as good and he will quickly blame the last farrier the breaker and the stallions mother. The horse will get a hack job done by the hack farrier and eventually it’ll just stop getting its feet done altogether.

The only person who is not really responsible for getting a horse to stand and get its feet done is probably the farrier. Unless you’re paying him to train on your horse they should expect to arrive and leave in the same condition.

There’s some obligation on the farrier though. They should be fit and up to the job. If a horse is playing up because the farriers gut stops them from bending low enough then it’s awful hard to blame the poor old horse if it fidgets.

I don’t care how your horses bred I don’t care if it jumps a metre eighty slides 10 metres and runs 1d times. I just want it to stand while the farrier works on it.

19/06/2025

I was listening to a hoof podcast recently. Pete Ramey was talking about some of the boundaries he sets with his clients. He said -- to paraphrase -- if the client won't address the diet and management then he is not going to waste his time or their money because there are cheaper farriers they can fail with. I've been thinking about that a lot this week.

By and large, my clients are awesome. I am grateful for every one of them and I love getting to know them and their horses. Over the years, I have become more willing to walk away when a client is not ready to hear whatever it is. Situations are complex. I believe people do their best most of the time. I'm not always right, which is why I am a huge advocate for getting the vet involved when needed, and also for working as a team with the vet.

Addressing nutrition is tough, especially when clients have been given incorrect information. It's also really hard when horses are sugar sensitive or lacking in essential nutrition and owners don't want to implement the changes required for the horse's welfare.

Clients can get really stuck on horses needing grass, when unfortunately grass can be very harmful to horses with metabolic issues. Sometimes all it takes is the grass the horse can reach through the paddock fence, if the metabolic issue is serious enough. Hand grazing can also be enough to push a horse over the edge if they are already at the edge. What I usually say to clients who tell me that it's no life for the horse without grass is this: if the horse has a metabolic issue and you give them grass, you need to be ready to go through many months of potentially painful laminitis rehab or you need to prepare yourself to put them down if they founder. As horse owners, we all need to weigh these options and consider each horse's situation. The answer may be different for different animals. Laminitis is not necessarily a death sentence. In fact it is often possible to achieve a complete recovery from laminitis! But the horse owner has to be willing to implement the changes required. Of course it is ideal to make these changes before the horse founders, but it's an imperfect world.

Sugar sensitive horses require a diet that is low in starches and sugars. This means tested hay, careful selection of supplements, care taken around treats and extra feeds, etc. Generally it also means no grass or very restricted grass. Honestly, in my opinion, given all of the horses I have seen and worked on who have laminitis, grass is not worth the risk for a sugar sensitive horse. There are lots of ways to enrich their lives that do not involve playing Russian roulette with pasture induced laminitis.

The tougher cases for me are the ones where the horse suffers with low-grade laminitis but does not necessarily rotate or end up in severe pain. I struggle to call this sub clinical laminitis because there are symptoms! In these cases, it can be even tougher to get clients on board with making management changes, because the issue is chronic and less severe than acute laminitis with rotation so it is easier to sweep under the rug for the horse owner. Horses with this sort of low grade laminitis tend to have more subtle signs, such as:

- persistent flaring / capsular rotation
- poor hoof quality
- low grade foot soreness that tends to worsen after trims/shoeing
- thin soles
- Persistently underrun heels on most or all feet that will not correct with added heel and/or sole support
- Heels that don't seem to grow (because the horse is weighting the heel too much because they are avoiding the painful toes)
- cracks and/or seedy toe and white line disease (though these also happen independently of laminitis)
- exaggerated heel first landings, not the healthy type
- Most or all of these issues will often worsen in the summer months when the horse is on grass (or in the case of Cushings/PPID in late summer / early fall)
- slow hoof growth of poor quality, especially in Cushings horses who are not treated with Prascend/Pergolide. No you cannot treat Cushings with diet alone.

Not every nutritional issue is related to sugars. I also see horses suffering with a lack of sufficient protein, outright lack of calories can also be an issue in some cases, zinc and copper deficiencies, selenium deficiency in this area is also significant. It is not sufficient to just feed hay. Most horses do require mineral and vitamin supplementation in order to meet their basic needs. Horses that are lacking in these vitamins and minerals tend to have poor hoof quality, slow growth, I have seen peeling walls, cracking, feet that lack structural integrity without a huge amount of support, feet that wear excessively. I have told more than one client that they can either pay for a quality supplement or they can pay me for all of the extra support I will have to add to their shoe packages to keep their horses feet from collapsing. Even with that extra support these cases tend to be a losing battle until clients get on board with nutrition and management.

Again, I am reminded of what Pete Ramey said in that podcast: there are cheaper farriers you can fail with. I have a limited amount of time and although making money matters to me because that's how life works, there are much easier ways to make money. I do this job because I want to solve puzzles and help horses, so if the owner is not on board, I won't fight it. I used to, but I won't do it anymore, because it is a waste of energy that can be better spent elsewhere. I would prefer to spend my time solving puzzles where all of the pieces are available to me because that is the way I can help the most horses and solve the most puzzles ⭐️

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The usual commenting policy applies on this article. Honest questions and curious, open commentary are always welcome. You don't have to agree with me to have a safe place here to share your thoughts. You do, however, have to share them respectfully if you would like to continue to be welcome here. Snark of any description will not be tolerated and will result in an immediate delete and ban. Thank you 😊

I will also add that comments that promote harmful and incorrect information about laminitis will be deleted. There is a lot of misinformation going around right now and I don't want to turn this post into a platform for that misinformation because that misinformation is harming horses and I do not want that on my conscience. I have already deleted some of those comments and I will continue to do so. The fact that laminitis can be and most often is caused by metabolic disfunction is not up for debate here. There is a fine line between encouraging open discussion and letting my page turn into a circus.
Thanks 😊

15/04/2025

🔥 Separation Anxiety: Your Horse Isn’t Being a Jerk
(They Just Know More About Survival Than You Do)

An Ode to Interspecies Partnership, Evolution, and Actually Knowing What You’re Doing...

Let’s begin with a radical reframe:

Your horse — yes, that horse, the one who just did a full Olympic spin because Daisy walked away — isn’t being dramatic, buddy sour, or herd-bound.

They’re responding with military-grade precision to millions of years of evolutionary programming not to die.

And when we try to “train it out of them” by visualising peace, holding our breath, and waiting for the horse to “choose connection”…..we’re not solving a problem. We’re outsourcing horsemanship to the universe and crossing our fingers.

That’s not training. That’s manifesting with a web halter.

🧠 Herd Behaviour: The Original Emergency Exit Strategy

Herd behaviour isn’t a phase. It’s not clinginess. It’s biology.

It's how prey animals stay alive by:
- Confusing predators
- Diluting risk
- Following fast and thinking later

It’s collective, chaotic, and deeply effective. And when you’re the one holding the lead rope, it’s also… rather terrifying😱.

So when your horse bolts back to Daisy like she’s carrying the last life-vest on the Titanic, they’re not being naughty.

They’re just running the most recently updated herd-survival software.

🐴 Your Horse Knows You’re Not a Horse (Thankfully)

You’re not part of the herd.
They know.
You know.
You don’t smell right.
You don’t move right.

And you wouldn’t last a day in the wild without a sunhat, 4 litres of water, a 3 protein bars and a portable espresso machine.

But here’s the genius:
Horses can learn to focus on us instead.
Not because we channel our inner alpha or brand ourselves as “conscious equestrian leaders.”

But because we prove — through skilled, repeated experiences — that we’re worth noticing.

⚓️ Becoming Their Anchor

Your job?

Become their:
-Sensory anchor — something familiar to orient to
-Emotional anchor — someone who stays calm when they are not sure
-Proprioceptive anchor — guidance they can follow with their body
-Environmental anchor — a stable point in a chaotic world

This isn’t woo. It’s not vibes. It’s trained trust.

They don’t follow your aura.They follow your consistency, timing, and clarity.

🩻 Pain Changes the Programming

If your horse is sore, tired, ulcer-y, hormonal, or simply “not feeling it” —their vulnerability goes up, and so does the risk of their herding instinct being triggered.

They might:
- Treat the arena like a war zone
- Assume the float is a hearse
- Stick to another horse like emotional duct tape
- Get “pushy,” “clingy,” or “annoying”

It’s not an attitude problem.
It’s a nervous system doing its job.

Before you crank up the pressure to “correct” the behaviour, ask:
“Is this a training issue — or a welfare issue in disguise?”

🎯 Training Isn’t Just Kindness. It’s Skill.

Let’s be real: kindness is lovely — but it’s not a strategy.

You need:
- Timing
- Feel
- The ability to release at the right micro-second

And enough self-awareness to stop blaming your horse for not understanding something you never taught clearly😬

Yes — some stress is part of learning.

The difference?
Bad stress shuts the horse down or freaks them out and they won't trust you.

Good stress builds resilience.

That’s not just feel.
That’s skillful handling under pressure.

Get it right, and your horse learns:
“I felt unsure. You stayed steady. Now I feel more confident.”

Get it wrong, and they learn:
“People are scary and unpredictable or make no sense.”
That’s not learning. That’s trauma in a halter.

⚖️ Balance, Not Bravado

You don’t need to be a guru, wear a cowboy hat, or be a barefoot empath who thinks your horse’s refusal to load is your fear of success in disguise.

You need to:
- Understand horses
- Interpret what you see
- Make informed, fair decisions — in real time

Because horsemanship isn’t about suppressing instinct. It’s about redirecting it, with skill and clarity.

You’re not a herd member.

You’re the one who says: “This way. You’re safe.”

🐴 Your Horse Isn’t Being a Jerk. They’re Being Honest.

Next time your horse panics at the gate, melts down in a clinic, or tries to emotionally reattach to their paddock mate at the cellular level…

Don’t call it disobedience.

Call it what it is:
A nervous system asking for something to trust.

Ask yourself:
- Have I prepared this horse, or just expected them to cope?
- Have I trained them to rely on me, or just hoped they would?
- Have I taught them to feel okay, or just demanded silence?

Separation anxiety isn’t a flaw - It’s a biological response to uncertainty.

And anchoring?

It’s not a vibe.
It’s a learnable skill.
Yours to teach.
Theirs to trust.

Final Note 📝

We’re not trying to be horses.
We’re not herd members.
We’re not enlightened spirit guides with a side hustle in nervous system healing.

We are:
- Interpreters
- Anchors
- Reliable, skilled decision-makers in a world that can overwhelm a horse's brain.

It’s not mystical.

It’s not macho.

It’s not a retreat, a ritual, or a weekend of vague breakthroughs and better selfies.

It’s real horsemanship — grounded, teachable, honourable.

You don’t need to be dominant. You don’t need to be brave.You just need to be worth following.

📢 Before You Go…

If this made you laugh, nod, or finally stop calling your horse "naughty" or blaming Daisy🌼— hit share, not copy/paste.
This is original work. Mine. Not plucked from a reel, not paraphrased from a guru, and definitely not up for grabs.
So if you're inspired? Great — credit it.

🎓 Want More? This is the warm-up. See the comments as there is more…

12/04/2025

A very important thing we should all be checking! But not an alternative to getting a saddle fitter out to ensure your saddle fits well and is comfortable for both you and your horse. A poor fitting saddle can cause a lot of discomfort for your horse and cause you to be unbalanced while riding. Being well balanced as a rider makes you a much easier load for the horse to carry. Happy riding 😁🐴

11/03/2025

I often work with owners who are frustrated by the disconnect between their horse’s diagnosis and real-world movement. X-rays and scans provide valuable insights into structural changes, but they don’t tell the whole story. They capture what is visible—but not what is felt.

A horse can have severe degenerative changes but no pain or lameness.

Another may show mild abnormalities but suffer significant discomfort and restriction.

X-Rays Don’t Measure Pain—Only Structure

Key Considerations:

X-rays, ultrasounds, and MRIs only show what is imaged—they do not tell us how a horse feels or moves.

Pathological changes are often incidental findings—not always the cause of poor performance.

Horses, like people, have individual pain thresholds. Two horses with the same X-ray findings may have completely different experiences of pain and mobility.

Real-World Example:
I have worked with horses whose X-rays were “awful”, yet they moved beautifully because their bodies were mobile and balanced. Conversely, I have seen horses with minimal findings on scans but who were deeply uncomfortable due to tissue restrictions and compensatory patterns.

The Power of Whole-Body Mobility

We tend to hyper-focus on specific joints or injuries, but the truth is, a horse moves as a single unit from nose to tail.

When one part stiffens or compensates, the whole system is affected.

I’ve seen it time and time again… A horse with “terrible” X-rays moving beautifully because their body is mobile and balanced, while another with only minor findings struggles with stiffness and discomfort.

Pathology doesn’t always equal pain. Some horses adapt incredibly well to structural changes, while others suffer from compensatory patterns and restrictions that aren’t even visible on scans.

I’ve lost count of how many horses had their hocks injected with minimal improvement—yet when their entire body was mobilized, their movement returned to normal.

If your horse has a diagnosis, remember:
💡 Care for them as a horse first, pathology second
💡 Focus on whole-body mobility—not just the problem area ⚠️
💡 Take each day as it comes—because movement is more than what an X-ray can see!

11/01/2025

What does it really mean to "let them go on a good day?"

It means it will be your hardest day. It won't matter if you've never done it before, or if you're gifted a dozen good days, each good day is always the hardest one.

It means they won't know what the fuss is about, why they're getting so many treats and extra belly scratches and hugs.

It means you will second guess your decision right up to the very last moment, the very last breath. You'll second guess yourself afterwards.

They'll knicker at you when you arrive, just like any other day.

The weather, perfect. They are content. They look sound today. They are breathing well, eating well, they get up easily enough from a nap in the sun....the list goes on. Whatever issue they struggle with, today they aren't.

Today you euthanize them.

This is what going on a good day means: sending them out while they are happy, while they are healthy, while they are eating well, walking well, etc. You make the choice to do it before an emergency takes the choice away from you, before your horse has to experience any more trauma or pain.

Their last memory will be filled with love.

It'll rip your heart out every time.

We can see the patterns and the increasing trends. We can predict it a little. We can obsess over the past and worry about the future.

Fortunately, horses, all animals, live in the moment. They don't worry about those things. They aren't worried about winter. They aren't worried about July, or allergies, or progressive diseases like cushings or dsld. They don't think about the close calls they've had before, and they certainly aren't thinking about the close calls that are destined to come, as their body continues to age and break down. They just are. They are happy and healthy, or fearful and in pain, on that day, in that moment.

It is the most difficult, most loving gift we are blessed to be able to give.

And that first ice storm will come, that first deep snow, that first heat wave....and you will find a little relief, no longer doubting the choice you made.

They were happy, and safe, and loved. That is all that matters.

It is never easy. ~Kelly Meister, author

30/11/2024

Hahaha that's brillant 😅
credits: Pinterest

20/11/2024

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