Flying Double S Farrier Service

10/30/2023

Stackin tools

10/13/2023

09/15/2023

Good ole’ Slim Jim

08/28/2023

Playing with heartbars again.
(570)518-8166

08/23/2023

🍻🔥😎

07/20/2023

Stepped outside my comfort zone and pushed my limits today. I learned a few things. Sometimes the only way to learn is to do.
Be humble yet confident. God is with you

07/01/2023

I haven’t posted in a while…I don’t want y’all to think I forgot how to shoe a horse

05/23/2023

Another order finished

05/21/2023

Another order finished up and ready to go

04/04/2023

Another order sent

03/25/2023

All finished up. And all functioning properly 🔥⚒🍻

03/24/2023

Here’s a handy little office tool
-Helps open them beverages so you stay hydrated while you do paperwork
-Can be used as a paperweight
-And reallly comes in handy getting you prepared to open up your letter from the IRS

03/22/2023

Just out here hookin for a livin⚒🔥💪🏼

02/13/2023

Small piece of today. Could be picked apart pretty good, but we’ll be happy with the overall

02/11/2023

Doing that FL thing again

02/11/2023

Could have teeeked a couple things but came out pretty decent

01/16/2023

Per request

10/05/2022

Another practice run

10/03/2022

Certification practice

10/02/2022

Concave reset

09/02/2022

Always seem to be shoeing my horse in the dark

07/26/2022

This was a tough fit. We didn’t quite get it fit, but we got it covered

07/17/2022

It’s the small things in life.

07/08/2022

Went to a friend’s shop today and got some help. We each built one shoe to make this pair. Hopefully they’ll be nailed up tomorrow

06/27/2022

Why do ‘cresty’ necks suddenly go rock hard?

This information is relevant and useful to people who own horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome and are in danger of laminitis or whose horses are intermittently ‘footy’. Understanding this has helped with rehabilitating, not only all the ponies at Jen Heperi’s Mini-HaHa Rescue Haven but many more horses and ponies all around the world.

We learned from Dr Deb Bennett PhD (who has conducted many dissections), that “the horse's "crest" is made of fibro-fatty sub-cutaneous (adipose) tissue similar in texture to high-density foam”.

Have you ever wondered how it is that the ‘crest’ of the neck can harden so rapidly? Sometimes overnight?

The actual reason is because it goes ‘turgid’ (it fills with fluid). Like foam, the crest tissue can take up water like a sponge; so it swells and hardens because fluid ‘leaks’ into it, filling the interstitial spaces until it is hard as a rock, and ‘softens’ when electrolyte balances are corrected thereby allowing fluid to be resorbed.

When the crest swells with edema, other parts of the horse's body like the abdomen and the hooves (significantly the digital cushion is made of similar material, it is a thick wedge of fibro-fatty subcutaneous tissue) -- are liable to be in trouble, too.

Hardening of the ‘crest’ coincides with not only spring and autumn growth spurts but also potassium and nitrogen spikes in autumn and winter grasses. It coincides with early signs of laminitis which are ‘stiffening’ of gait and being ‘footy’.

It is a sure indication that one cause of ‘pasture related laminitis’ is as much to do with mineral imbalances, (particularly potassium and nitrogen excesses concurrent with salt deficit) as sugars and starches. It explains why short Autumn grass can cause laminitis when analysis shows soluble sugars + starch content is only 7.5% while potassium is 3.4%, sodium only 0.154%, nitrogen 5.8%, nitrates 2290mgs/kg (far too high, in mature grass/hay they are undetectable).
It is one of the many reasons clover is such a ‘no-no’ for EMS/laminitis equines and a likely explanation why there are some insulin resistant/elevated insulin horses that can't tolerate Lucerne (alfalfa) and is why Lucerne can perpetuate laminitis when everything else is being done ‘right’.

People who own horses with EMS are aware they need to pay attention to this vital sign: that just before a horse has a bout of laminitis, the normally soft and spongy crest stands up firm and hard. Then they can immediately reduce potassium/nitrogen intake by eliminating short, green grass replacing it with soaked hay and make sure they add salt to feeds and not rely on a salt lick. If action is taken quickly enough in these early stages, laminitis can be averted, you can ‘dodge a bullet’.

Soaking hay for about an hour not only reduces sugars but also reduces potassium levels by 50%.

Therefore a very important aspect of EMS and laminitis is that identifying and addressing mineral imbalances (particularly high potassium/nitrogen & low salt) are equally as important as sugar and starch content when rehabilitating individuals and assessing suitability of forage for these compromised equines.

06/14/2022

Got a new pair of concave shoes looking for home

🔥⚒🐴

06/10/2022

Just out here givin it all I got