High Desert Farrier service

High Desert Farrier service No feet no horse, I do corrective trimming and corrective shoeing. I work on large and small horses, mules, donkeys and miniature horses.
(14)

06/29/2024
04/28/2024
04/24/2024

Great photograph 🐎❤️

04/20/2024

Approaching horses with the whole wellness team in mind we can accomplish quite a bit - farrier, chiropractor, bodywork, diet, physical fitness all comes together to bring a happier healthier horse.

I find many cases of horses where points I massage are a persistent issue that can be related to digestive issues. Horses range from major symptoms to stoic conditions so therefore looking at what the ingredients are that you are feeding, the horse's workload, behaviors and when they are triggered can all build a case for analyzing our individual horses' program.

12/01/2023

Osteo-MAX - Navicular

11/14/2023
Very important
11/04/2023

Very important

10/31/2023

Incorrectly taken hoof photographs can lead to terribly wrong conclusions.

It has been over a year since I've created this article, but the problem is still up to date.

I believe it's equally important to learn how to take hoof pictures in a proper, repeatable way as it is to learn how to recognize the ways in which photos may distort reality - to at least be able to know when not to believe them.

https://thehoofarchitect.blogspot.com/2022/09/why-do-photos-lie-and-how-not-to-get.html

10/26/2023
Laminitis at its stages
08/23/2023

Laminitis at its stages

12/28/2022
12/09/2022

Laminitis is a deadly disease. Find out why—and learn the steps you should take to protect your horse from falling prey to this devastating condition.

12/09/2022

Joint injections can be complicated by a horse's age, purpose, and health. Here's how veterinarians approach various scenarios.

12/05/2022

If you can do your horse the absolute favor of learning to recognize what an ideal healthy hoof looks like...

(Environment, diet, trimming schedule and conformation will play a role on your particular horse foot looks)

it will serve him well all of his days

If your horse checks most of the boxes on the left then please start looking for ways to improve.

https://www.edsshoofcare.com/single-post/2006/01/15/how-hoof-form-relates-to-hoof-function

This helps
11/03/2022

This helps

09/26/2022

What causes a flare and why should we care?

A flare is a sign something is going wrong with the hoof. A flare happens because some part of the hoof is too long and touching the ground causing it to bend out of shape.

Very often this is because the horse has some "fault" in the leg higher up. Therefore the flare is very often the fault of a horse's conformation and it depends on the farrier to keep the hoof in balance. Perfectly formed horses are rare to find in real life. Good farrier care from suckling foal on can do quite a bit to mitigate a lifetime of problems with the horse.

Occasionally a flare happens because the horse is standing in soft and wet ground constantly. Hooves that have to function in muck often start to widen and pancake so that they function sort of like a snowshoe on snow. Of course this is not good either.

A flare can also occur when the hooves are going too long between trims. As things get too long they start to bend or fold over. This can result in a flare and the horse's trim cycle needs to be shortened.

Diet can also have an effect on flares. Without the proper balance of nutrients the hoof wall cannot build itself in a sturdy manner. Weak walls tend to bend and break. Fat horses can have weak walls because they were not designed to bear the extra load.

It is not uncommon for flares to be a result of multiple things mentioned above. Finding people who are "a student of the horse" is becoming more and more rare nowadays.

Flares cause a separation in the white line on the bottom of the hoof. This separation allows little bacteria and fungus to have an open door and boy do they invade fast. Suddenly your horse not only has a flare but "white line disease" (not actually a disease) also. If the wld goes untreated holes can result which get rocks and twigs up in them. As the horse walks these get pushed up into the hoof further and further.

Flares are a signal to us that we need to start being more proactive somewhere. Proper loading of the hoof will go a long way to keep these under control.

08/23/2022

What can therapeutic farriery address? Is it underestimated?

The biomechanics of the interaction between the hoof and the ground dictates the physiological implications of movement on the horse.
The external shape of the hoof mirrors its internal function and trimming and shoeing can optimise function, biomechanics and reduce stress.

Its all about biomechanics, but to really know how to change the hoof - ground interaction we need to have evidence based information on how they really interact, and what different shoes can truly affect.

Why do we see more soft tissue injuries on the lateral aspect?
Do pads really dampen shock? are all pads the same?
How can farriers manipulate this interaction to help the horse?


Join Dr Oosterlink's webinar at the symposium on
"The Current Concepts on biomechanical basics of therapeutic farriery" for a journey into the understanding of therapeutic farriery intervention, from first impact to toe-off.

Book your ticket for this talk only at this link..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/current-concepts-on-biomechanical-basics-of-therapeutic-farriery

For the whole symposium including Dr Oosterlink's second lecture follow this link..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/international-farriery-symposium

Image showing the stance phases and what farriers can influence.

08/10/2022

Boots and bandages - are we harming our horses as we try to protect them?

Bandaging and booting our horses is becoming more and more popular, especially with the popularity of matchy matchy sets. But are we doing more harm than good? Most people will have come across the articles in magazines and comments from vets saying they are, and yet still they become more and more popular. Why is that? Why do riders still cover their horses in thick fleece bandages or fluffy boots despite the dangers? Tradition I suppose. Wanting to fit in. Or just habit, some will feel like they haven’t finished tacking up if they haven’t put the boots on.

I know this isn’t about dentistry (for which I apologise) but I am a vet first and foremost, and as a dressage rider I am asked why I don’t use bandages all the time. I’ve written about this several times now and no one pays attention, so rather than stating facts and quoting research, I’d like to take you through my journey of discovery, please bear with me. Facts and papers are at the end.

Rewind 12 years and I was in my final year at vet school. Prior to and during vet school I had a horse and we did dressage. I had planned to ODE but this horse pulled every tendon and ligament known to vet kind. He spent more time out of work than in. Each time I would up my game with the latest boots/bandages on the market. From fluffy boots to wraps to sports fetlock boots, fleece bandages to gamgee and cotton to the half fleece/half elastic bandages. I learnt new techniques for better support, figure of 8 bandaging to cradle the fetlock etc etc. I’d been there and done it. My collection was extensive.

Right at the end of vet school I had my rotations. I chose Equine lameness as one of my options. During in this I very vividly remember a wet lab with Dr Renate Weller where she had a skinned horses leg (showing all of the tendons and ligaments) in a machine that mimicked the pressures a horse applies to their limbs. She took us through walk, trot, canter and gallop, loading this leg so we could see the inside workings of the horses leg without the skin. It was fascinating I can tell you, and I very clearly remember thinking about my horse and wondering how on earth we are suppose to support this limb when it undergoes these incredible forces! Half a ton of animal pushing down a tiny spindle of a leg held by tendons barely thicker than my thumb. Craziness!

Fast forward just a few short months and I was a fully qualified vet in the big wide world. I attended my first BEVA Congress and during the break I wandered around the stalls looking at the latest inventions and technologies companies bring to these gatherings. Here I came across a company with the Equestride Boot which caught my eye. Now if you haven’t seen this boot, it’s wonderful and I’ve since used it a few times in rehabbing very severe tendon and ligament injuries with great success. The boot is a carbon fibre boot that stops the fetlock dropping, which stops the tendons and ligaments being fully loaded while they heal. This boot is super strong. You couldn’t ride a horse in it as it is limiting the range of motion so much, but they can move about easily enough at the lower settings to rehab etc. The guy on the stand (I’m afraid I can’t remember his name) showed me their research and in the straight talking Irish way explained the stupidity of expecting a thin piece of material to support a horse. And of course it can’t! Literally no bandage or boot (short of this very expensive carbon fibre rehab boot) is capable of reducing the amount the fetlock drops. Thinking back to Dr Weller’s demonstration, I could very clearly see how ridiculous I had been to ever believe a scrap of material could do anything to reduce or support that pressure.

But the boots/bandages don’t actually cause any harm do they? Surely it’s ok to use them on the off chance they might help and if we look good in the meantime, great! Well, not long after this, research started appearing that got me very worried about my bandage collection. Heat. Anyone that uses bandages and boots will not be surprised to see sweat marks under their bandages/boots after they’ve been removed. They trap a lot of heat. The horses body and legs generate a lot of heat when working. The tendons/ligaments in the leg, along with an increased blood flow generate ALOT of heat. Fleece bandages/boots in particular, hold this heat in the horses leg. Very few boots and virtually no bandages (especially if you use a pad under) allow the legs to breath adequately. This heat is easily enough to kill tendon/ligament cells. Each tendon/ligament is made of thousands and thousands of cells all lined up end on end and side by side in long thin spindles. They stretch and return to their original shape and size like an elastic band, absorbing and redistributing the pressures applied from further up the leg and from the ground impact below. All of these cells must work together as one to do this effectively.

Just a little side step here to explain how tendons/ligaments heal. A tendon/ligament cell can not be replaced like for like. They always heal with scar tissue. This is why reinjury is so much more likely if a tendon/ligament is blown. The fibrous scar tissue doesn’t stretch, it isn’t capable of stretching or absorbing the impact of a horses movement. It will always be a weak spot. In a full blown sprain/strain the whole (or most) of the tendon has been damaged. But this heat injury might just kill a few cells at a time. Those few cells are replaced by fibrous scar tissue, then next time a few more etc etc. Like a rubber band degrading over time the tendon/ligament loses its elasticity and eventually goes snap. Then you’ve fully blown a tendon/ligament. The injury didn’t start to happen at that moment, but that was the final straw. The damage adds up over time, each time thermal necrosis (vet word for cell death) occurs.

So if using boots/bandages can not offer any sort of support, and using them generates heat that slowly damages the tendons/ligaments until they give way. Why use them? Protection. This is the only reason to use boots. To stop the horse brushing, injuring themselves catching a pole or over cross country. But for goodness sake make sure your boots are breathable! If the horse is sweaty under the boot but not above or below, the boot is not breathable enough. And don’t use fleece bandages just because you like the colour. These fleece bandages are the worst at holding heat in the leg, way above the threshold for thermal necrosis to the cells of the tendons and ligaments. If your horse doesn’t need protection, don’t use boots. I haven’t for the last 12 years and *touch wood* I haven’t had a single tendon/ligament injury in any of my horses. I will never go back to boots or especially bandages now. I don’t use them for schooling, lunging, jumping, travelling, turnout, stable, in fact I don’t use them at all. Ever. But I don’t hunt or XC.

I hope you have found my story useful and can make informed decisions on boots and bandaging going forward.

For more information on the Equestride boot and their research into support offered by boots and bandages, visit http://www.equestride.com/ and https://www.equinetendon.com/services/equestride/

The horses leg under the compression machine at the Irish Equine rehabilitation and fitness centre https://fb.watch/cmVMt6-iOJ/ (I highly recommend you watch this incredible video. It clearly shows the amount of force the leg goes through and demonstrates the real purpose of boots)

Other relevant papers-
https://equimanagement.com/.amp/articles/horse-skin-temperature-under-boots-after-exercise
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f15/0ea480edca142260d01f419f80d2e7e7fb29.pdf
http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/1990s/1998/59/index.html

Edit 1 - I am getting asked about stable wraps very frequently. This post is about riding, the tendons and blood flow create heat which is trapped by bandages/boots during exercise. This doesn’t occur in the stable stood still. If the horse has a strain/sprain resulting in inflammation, then there is an increase in blood flow and there is heat being created. In this situation you should not be bandaging. But if it’s cold and an old horse needs stable wraps to keep the joints warm and improve sluggish blood flow (filled legs) you can use the heat trapping to your advantage. But you need to be careful in summer.

Edit 2 - the other thing I’m being asked about is compression. Compression DOES NOT control inflammation. The inflammation still occurs, but the swelling can not escape the bandages and the increase in internal pressure reduces blood flow, causing ischemic damage. Like laminitis within the hoof. The hoof capsule prevents swelling so the inflammation expands inwards and cuts off the blood supply. This is why laminitis is so painful and difficult to treat. Compression is only useful in the case of leaky vessels, for example reduced blood pressure, reduced movement so the blood isn’t being pumped backup the legs, or osmotic imbalances eg low protein with diarrhoea. In these situations, compression of the legs can encourage blood to return to the vessels and continue circulating.

08/04/2022

One of the primary causes of Cushing’s is one you can control. Listen to your horses and take steps to bring them back to a state of balance

07/18/2022

This is important.

07/10/2022

Equine Nutrition!!

We often get asked about nutrition & if we advise or give nutritional advice.

The answer is yes, & no.

We tell all of our clients that nutrition plays a huge part in their horses health & well being, incl their feet.

But we do not discuss fees/nutrition plans etc as it’s not our area of expertise, so we recommend they source the services of a good equine nutritionist.

It’s really important to understand the feed to work ratio too, as often i see horses that are worked 4 x per week for 50mins being fed amounts of feed in excess of what my endurance horses were getting, & we were doing 100k some weeks.

Nutrition is also very individual and should be based largely around what’s lacking in nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc. This can only be done if ur aware of what ur horse is, or isn’t, getting from ur grasses/paddocks, hay etc so testing is important.

Too often I hear &/or read about someone telling others what to feed with little to no clue on all of the above.

I’m a believer we live in a world of over fed, over rugged & underworked horses & this all has a detrimental effect on many areas of the domestic horse!!

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Marsing, ID
83639

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Thursday 8am - 5pm
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Saturday 8am - 5pm

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