11/15/2023
I had such an amazing time at Equine Affaire MA, and met thousands (yes, literally thousands!) of awesome horse owners wanting to chat about hooves, track systems, pathologies and lameness, and even possible podcast guests. To all of you I was able to meet- thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed talking to each and every one of you; it’s always so fun to meet more hoof geeks ☺️
There was one thing I noticed, that irked me a little, when talking to some dealing with lameness issues, and I’ve been mulling on it a few days thinking about whether to write a post on it. Well here we are.
As people would come up to browse at the Doppelhoof or a cadaver limb or Paige Poss’ anatomy books, Vova or I would ask if they’re dealing with hoof issues. Most would say yes, some would say no. But some would say, “no, I’m dealing with farrier issues.”
When expanding on that comment, there seemed to be a lot of people convinced that 100% of their horse’s issues were due to the farrier’s [trim, shoe job, etc].
Now let’s get this out of the way - are there uneducated hoofcare pros out there? Sure. Are there people who need to do more continuing education and learn more latest research? Of course. Are there newer hoofcare pros who need more time and practice to hone their skill? Always.
Looking at pictures of my own trims from 8 years ago and I shake my head.
But for every comment made about “this farrier just ruined my lame horse’s feet,” I can only imagine the other side of the story… the hoofcare pro saying, “I tried for months with every tool in my toolbox to get this horse sound and we just couldn’t figure him out…” or “Even just a super conservative trim had this horse walking off sore,” or “the feet didn’t respond in any way they were supposed to when we did [XYZ].” Or even “that horse had a metabolic related founder that wasn’t being controlled and nothing I did could get the feet in line.”
There is not one person who wakes up in the morning and sets out to “ruin feet” or lame horses. We all set out to do the best job we can with the knowledge we have at the time. Most of us got into this profession because of a lame horse or a desire to help other horses, and there will always be a time that we come to a horse that doesn’t fit the textbook.
Now sometimes is that knowledge insufficient? Sure. Sometimes does a horse need someone with a different set of skills or experience? Of course. That’s true across the board. We all have our comfort zone and strengths and weaknesses. Some are more comfortable with certain disciplines of performances horses. Some thrive working on founder and laminitic cases. Others love navicular puzzles. Some are just happy doing maintenance work and keeping horses sound that way.
Not to mention that sometimes, it’s not anything the farrier is doing or not doing that is causing issue. A metabolic problem or incorrect diet can cause excessive toe growth. A founder/rotation case most often grows a ridiculous amount of heel. Foundered minis can grow literal Coke can stilts.
All of those issues are controlled with proper diagnosis, diet and management, but can sure make a hoofcare provider look silly when that management isn’t in place.
Now, I’m not trying to let hoofcare pros off the hook and I’m not trying to throw owners under the bus.
I just would love owners to open a dialogue with their hoofcare pro about what they see, but also be willing to listen if that pro is thinking there is something else going on.
The amount of pictures I saw this weekend where an issue like a long toe or high heel was blamed on a farrier but the pictures strongly suggested rotation, or metabolic issues, with chronic event lines, flare, and deviation from growth at the coronary band is just one example.
Now owners- this doesn’t invalidate your experience with your hoofcare pro. You should work with someone you are comfortable with (and believe me when I say, we only want to work with people who trust us and are comfortable with us. It limits our compassion fatigue and burn out and makes our job much more enjoyable!).
But just remember that we all have the same common goal. We want to help horses. We want to see our horses sound and comfortable. If you come at conversations that way, it will go better than the “blaming” route.
