Horse Feathers Farrier Services

03/25/2024

Now taking on clients in the Willamette valley! I have a few slots to fill in my books. I am out of the Albany area but have clients in Stayton, Turner, Salem, Independence, Dallas, and surrounding areas. Text or call 541-974-3646.

01/01/2023

Happy new year to you all! It has been an eventful year. Here’s a few highlights!

I am still taking on new clients in the Aumsville, Stayton, Salem, Albany, Dallas,Monmouth, and Independence areas.

I hope you all have had a wonderful New Years!

10/14/2022

We’ve already seen some nasty ones this year!

Hoof abscess season is upon us with this indecisive weather we've been having.
Do you know the signs of a foot abscess and what can cause them? Do you know why it is valuable to get a professionals eyes on the issue?
All information can be found below!

If you suspect that your horse may have an abscess, please give us a call, we are more than happy to help you manage it!
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(541) 207-8308
[email protected]

09/08/2022

Are you ready if your horse needs to be evacuated? With the current Fire Weather Warnings, we wanted to share a few reminders .

Is your truck fully fueled up and hooked up to your trailer?

If you cannot haul your horse, have you reached out to family and friends who can?

Do you have your horses Emergency Preparedness Kit ready to go?

Do you know where you would be taking your horses if you need to leave?

We encourage everyone to know the answers to these questions BEFORE evacuation levels are issued. You will have plenty of other things to figure out if that happens.

Be careful and keep yourself and critters safe!

09/02/2022

06/17/2022

Spring is in full swing! We have been incredibly busy attending to our lovely clients and patients.
With that being said, we wanted to inform our clients that we are currently booking out 2-3 weeks with all 3 of our doctors. If you suspect an issue with your horse, please consider getting on our books as soon as possible. We want to ensure that our patients get the care they deserve at the earliest availability!
We of course are still making room for emergencies and urgent appointments as needed.
If you need to schedule something, please give us a call at (541)207-8308.

05/13/2022

Started off the week at Devonwood dressage show as the on call farrier. Ended up doing hardly any work at all. Ended the week with a beautiful rainbow. Happy Friday everyone! Off to the woods I go...

04/18/2022

03/31/2022

A few pictures from this weeks endeavors...

Not everyone has the talent to remove the pad of their thumb with one swipe of a dull knife. All in a days work 🤠

02/26/2022

Start teaching them early 🤠

02/17/2022

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a farrier? Or maybe just how many times your farrier was p**ped on that morning before shaking your hand? Maybe you have thought to yourself “what’s that smell?” or “what is that green thing stuck to his ear?” or even “The dogs sure love them, I wonder what hoof trimmings taste like?” If 12 years of standing at the anvil have taught me anything it’s that the answer to such mysteries (at least the ones that can be answered in a few words) are: a lot of p**p; also p**p; and salted p**p…

As for what it’s like to be a farrier, let me try to explain. This job is not for the faint of heart or the mentally stable. You can’t be sane (or hope to stay that way long) if you wish to work with equestrians. You have to be insane to participate or work in a full-contact sport that lays under the line where rugby meets motor-cross and your only bit of protection is a hat made of the same material as a disposable coffee cup. Seriously, aside from crash test dummy, what other sport or job exists where someone can suffer massive blunt force trauma and is expected to get right back up and repeat whatever activity just about killed them a moment ago? “Horse or hospital!” is an expression I have heard more than once both as a horse rider and as a farrier (moving target) apprentice.

The ability to withstand impact aside, this is a job that requires the same attention to detail as an artist, the skill and steady hand of a surgeon, the patience of a saint, and the endurance/pain tolerance of a Navy Seal. For those who have never seen a farrier practice their trade and wants to walk in their shoes, try to imagine you are working in a stiflingly hot building, bent over and holding a 2×4 between your knees. On one end of the 2×4 is a small platform you are attempting to perform incredibly detailed work on. This table is incredibly valuable and the slightest mistake could cause it to explode; most of the tools you are given to work with are crude, bulky, and (like the table) also incredibly expensive considering they were invented sometime in the 14th century. While you are standing in this pizza oven from hell you will have to light a fire, which you will use to heat up your art work. Sometimes this art work will set you on fire.

Meanwhile the Hulk is tugging on the other end of that 2×4, occasionally ripping it away from you and dragging small knife blades that are sticking out of this table through your hands and legs. Side note: Friction tape will become your new best friend as it makes holding on to the rusty and poo crusted tools (which are now covered in your own blood) much easier! From time to time the Hulk might let you have the 2×4, but he is going to sit on you while you toil away on your art project. Now, as you fuss over details and panic every few moments that the speck of blood you just saw might not be yours (and are incredibly relieved when it is,) imagine there is a bucket of excrement sitting above your head, which at any moment may tip over on you without warning. Depending on the time of year, that bucket of poo may be switched for a bucket of spit. (Ah, clover…) And I mean more spit than you might think any earthly critter would have the capacity to produce. You will also sweat so much you will drink two gallons of water by the end of the day and not need to p*e once. For this reason you will never leave the house with no less than nine extra shirts and just as many towels.

To make your task even more impossible imagine that there is this invisible crazy man wildly running around your work area swinging Gallagher’s hammer. At any moment he might run up and smash you like one of Gallagher’s ill-fated watermelons. If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on his pedestal of doom that day, you are going to be faced with one of those moments when where most rational people might question your sanity. Since you can’t give up and call it a day with only three of the four 2x4s now complete (there is this very terrifying 5’4” 120lbs women who just body slammed a 1,300 pound Hanoverian into submission who would be very displeased if you did) you must trudge on despite the pain of what you are pretty sure is a broken leg and maybe a few pulverized ribs. It takes a special kind of stupid to keep working after the might of Thor’s hammer (a draft horse) knocks you through a barn wall. Fortunately you’re a farrier and you are just the kind of stupid needed to get back up and finish the job!

Now that you’re done with the first horse there are 12 more waiting…

02/09/2022

With the weather being the way it’s been lately, I am starting to see “spring time” growth. If the sun continues to stay out, we will be seeing a lot more of this. Just a reminder to limit your horses on the grass! We would like to prevent spring time founder.

Cute puppy picture for tax 🙂

02/09/2022

02/04/2022

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We only have a few openings left for the upcoming session in March! Claim your spot today!!

01/22/2022

What a busy week it’s been!

01/05/2022

Starting 2022 off right with my new favorite client Mr.Bojangles. These are probably the smallest feet that I work on at the moment. He’s only 7 months old.

01/03/2022

Nice little half trimmed foot for your Monday. These cases are always so interesting as you can see how long it’s been since they’ve been trimmed. You can also see flare in the foot due to excessive length.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

10/22/2021