Ella Rogers Farriery

02/09/2024

Those stone traps…….this is why it’s important to pick them out!

27/07/2024

DIY shoe removal

16/07/2024

Regular farrier appointments aren't a luxury, they are a necessity for your equine companion's lifelong welfare.

❔Did you know❔
Every extra 1cm of toe length results in -
🔹an extra 50KG of force acting on the tendons
🔹a -1° drop in sole angle where the DDFT inserts into the coffin bone can lead to a 4% increase in the pressure exerted by the DDFT on the navicular bone

(Credit Dr Renate Weller)

10/03/2024

25/09/2022

When I say the frog has shed itself, it’s a natural process that happens on occasion especially in the warmer months. This is what it can look like. So if this has happened to your horse don’t panic it’s completely normal and harmless to your horse. (The green and pink colouring is dental impression material and copper sulphate)

20/05/2022

Customers that always ask me about bruising. ‘Haemoglobin staining in hoof walls’

12/05/2022

Mallenders and Sallenders.

Many of you may never have heard of it, unless of course you have the pleasure of owning a traditional type horse with lovely feathers.
Mallenders occurs at the back of the knee and Sallenders occurs at the front of the hock, although they are called different names they are essentially the same thing. It’s easily recognised as scabs or thickened crusty scale in those areas under the feather.
At best it can be uncomfortable for your horse and at worse it can allow a secondary pathogen to cause a bacterial or fungal infection that can and does cause lameness.
It is nearly always seen exclusively in horses with feather. Horses with feather produce more keratin than their non feathered counterparts and it’s this excess of keratin that is responsible for the excess fur and feather, keratin is a protein that is the foundation of skin, hair, hoof etc. this keratin secretes through the skin and if left there to dry will cause these scabs and inflammation.
There is no cure for Mallenders and Sallenders but it’s quite easy to mange if your diligent. Thorough grooming in this area will remove the excess keratin that causes the problem so it’s far less likely to occur, if it does then there are treatments out there (such as equiderma cream) to break down, soften and remove the scabs that cause the problem.
Apply it to the skin and allow it to soften the waxy scale then gently remove it with a wide toothed comb, it can also help to prevent secondary infections.
It’s a condition that we as farriers see and feel a lot in our every day life and can make a horse difficult to shoe because it’s just uncomfortable for them to bend their legs.
I hope this post is useful in better understanding what it is and more importantly, what to do about it.

15/06/2021

Summer ☀️☀️🥵☀️☀️

Well it looks like summer has arrived and has made the wet winter seem like a thing of the past, but with that brings a totally contrasting environment and impacted the ground to turn into rock.

This in turn has made a lot of feet sensitive under foot and also make feet extremely brittle and hard, this results in risen clenches, loosening of shoes and unsightly cracked distressed feet.

Always be cautious of doing excessive fast paced work and jumping on hard compacted ground. As this can increase the chances of jarring limbs and bruising feet.

Regular application of hoof moisturisers and oils play an important role in maintaining healthy horn and helping maintain a balanced moisture content within the hoof capsule, especially in hot sunny weather.

Hoof packing and pads can ease the pressure and sensitivity and minimise concussion from the hard ground.

When bathing your horse in warm weather it can be beneficial to allow the horse to drip dry allowing the excess water to run down in the coronary band to soak in moisture, tubbing can also be another helpful tip to pe*****te moisture into the foot but remembering not to have the water level higher than the coronary band!!!!

I hope this helps answer a few questions to why your horses feet can change during the seasons. Any questions or queries always ask your farrier for advice 🙂
Rogers Farriery stocks Kevin bacon hoof oil all year round.

21/10/2020

Don’t forget to 💅🏻

for that final finish! The original and the best hoof dressing on the market!! The importance of a healthy hoof and the benefits of Kevin Bacons hoof dressing and hoof supplement ... Farriers and Horse owners alike know the importance of keeping their horses hooves in tiptop condition and maintaining a strong yet flexible structure! This horse was presented to us six months ago with feet like eggshells now on a great diet and regular shoeing these feet are in great condition!!

04/10/2020

👀

28/09/2020

Interesting remedial job today helping out a poorly footed horse. Application of the spider bar maintains capsular strength and stabilises the foot as new horn grows. This in turn assists in distributing load on weight bearing and diminishes the chance of distortion.

06/09/2020

29/08/2020

ITS NOT THE FARRIERS JOB:

Farrier - Inspects, trims and shapes horses’ hooves, fits and nails horseshoes.

Each person’s idea of WHAT the farriers job includes is different to the next person, and often a question I get asked is if I know of a good farrier...

One that is patient, replies to calls/messages and arrives on time. We all want that but do we understand what is (and is not) in the farriers job description?
What is the farriers job and what is ours, and how can we make ourselves good clients that have and keep good farriers.

I see so often the farrier get the blame for unprepared horses, that is purely a lack of the owner’s preparation and responsibility.

If things don’t go well, we don’t get to blame our farrier for what is OUR own lack of preparation.

That means: preparing our horses to be comfortable physically and mentally, having them stand up and prepared for their feet to be handled, picked up, rasped, held between legs, bring feet back and forth with the same duration that will be expected by our farriers, and all of this done BEFORE the farrier shows up.

Not just his feet picked up and put down, with little asked of the horse.

If our horse can’t confidently and patiently stand for the same duration that it takes to get feet worked on, adding someone who’s asking them to do it on three legs isn’t going to improve in one farrier visit.

Separation anxiety and poor handling practices should be addressed on our time, not the farrier’s. This means working and improving on ourselves to have this in our horses, this may mean further education for HANDLER and horse.

The farrier has the right to stop a session at any time and reschedule if the horse is not prepared, it is not the farrier’s job to educate the horse to be handled - but our farrier should be considerate to our young or troubled horses’ needs. This means allowing time for the horse so it takes less time for further sessions.

We don’t just have a responsibility to our horses, but to our farriers as well.

Good farriers come to well prepared clients, and a person will always do more than what is expected when they feel considered and appreciated.

Be good to your farrier - No Hoof No Horse!
- Tiffanie Edwards

13/08/2020

26/07/2020

GOING IN CIRCLES

When horses roamed the plains, they did exactly that: they roamed. They drifted along, grazing and mostly walking in straight lines. When horses worked for a living, they continued to walk those straight lines, pulling a plow from one end of the field to the other, pulling a milk wagon from one end of town to the other, or pushing cattle from one end of Texas to the other. As they transitioned from work animals to recreation vehicles, they generally continued walking, jogging, or cantering in reasonably straight lines, going from one end of a trail to the other.

Of course, not all work or recreation involved strict, straight line movement. They were asked to cut cattle, which often required them to work laterally, with sudden starts and stops and jolts and jerks. They were asked to perform military/dressage maneuvers, with significant lateral movement and transitions. They were asked to foxhunt, which required them to work over fences and around obstacles. They were asked to participate in sport, such as polo, which again required stops, starts, bursts of speed and lateral work. And, of course, they were asked to race, which required speed, but generally on straight line tracks or long ovals.

As they transitioned into show and competition arenas, however, they shifted away from straight line activity. We changed the game and asked them to become focused athletes and runway models. In doing so, we put them into smaller and smaller spaces and asked them to perform more and more patterned behaviors. Basically, we put them into patterned, repetitive movements—mostly in circles... little, tight circles. And they started to fall apart, experiencing more and more issues with joint problems, soft tissue injuries, and general lameness concerns.

We blamed their failures and breakdowns on bad breeding practices and poor genetics; we blamed their failures on bad farriers and inadequate veterinarians; we blamed their breakdowns on poor training and conditioning, poor horse keeping practices, bad nutritional practices, and any number of other things. And, while none of these should be disallowed, the fact remains that we changed the game and put them into those little, tiny circles and repetitive activities. So, let’s look at equine anatomy, and specifically, let’s look at that in relation to athletic maneuvers and activities.

First and foremost, the horse is designed to be heavy on the forehand. We fight against that concept, asking them to engage their hindquarters, to “collect,” and to give us impulsion. And they’re capable of doing so… but they’re not designed or “programmed” to sustain such activity for any length of time. When they do this in “natural” settings and situations, they’re playing, they’re being startled or frightened, or they’re showing off. None of these are sustained activities.

Likewise, when they do engage, they’re generally bolting forward, jumping sideways, or leaping upwards. And they're typically doing that with a burst of speed and energy, not in slow motion. Ultimately, their design is simply not conducive to circular work. Each joint, from the shoulder to the ground is designed for flexion and extension—for forward motion, not lateral motion. In fact, these joints are designed to minimize and restrict lateral or side-to-side movement.