Amber Williams Hoof Care.

01/25/2024

!!!!

01/25/2024

01/09/2024

01/09/2024

“Farriers should automatically raise prices every single year, according to your area. It should be standard and your customers should know that.” Most of us try to keep costs super reasonable however the overhead costs of running a business are far greater than most people realize. As with most things, you get what you pay for. Someone that does amazing quality work will not be extremely cheap. Be advised that dropping a farrier because of a price raise and going to someone cheaper who does less quality work can be detrimental to your horse, and your wallet in the end.

It’s important to remember that farriery is a business, so you need to be business-minded. I see a lot of farriers who are reluctant to raise their prices.

01/08/2024

Worth the read! Let’s work on function and not beauty.

Hi/Lo or Asymmetrical Feet

I get asked about hi/lo feet quite a lot & the problems associated with it.

I also occasionally get asked/told, that someone’s farrier was the cause. Personally, I don’t see how a farrier can cause true hi/lo in horses.

What I do see a lot are owners with young horses telling me the horse wasn’t born with the upright foot, so it must be the farrier!

It’s important to understand that hi/lo is caused by, we think anyway, pain &/or a disparity in the limbs or similar, which is then exacerbated by disproportionate loading to the feet once the horse is born. These horses with congenital hi/lo also tend to have a difference in coffin bone angle.

In the womb there is no load on the limb, & as such no pain/discomfort. And limb disparity is irrelevant as there is no disproportionate loading, so foals are not born with club feet.
** Not that I’m aware of anyway!

Once on the ground though, the asymmetry begins for one of the above reasons.

** Although much of the chiropractic association believe it has to do with the foal coming through the birthing canal & compression of the wither area.

But the fact remains that the club foot, or asymmetric feet, begin to change once the horse is on the ground due to disproportionate loading, with the low foot becoming more dominant.

The other reason I feel farriers sometimes get blamed is when taking over from another farriers work. I often see farriers trying to match the feet by leaving more toe on the upright foot, which is something I do not recommend at all. Then the nxt farrier treats the feet as individuals & the difference in the feet becomes more noticeable. But IMO this is the correct way to manage these feet.

There are plenty of exercises you can do to try & alter the dominance of the low foot & engage the hi foot, but if there is discomfort or pain to the horse you have little chance of changing things IMO

Renate Weller stated at a farriers conference that she believed all horses with asymmetrical feet have a lameness, the cause of the asymmetry.

From a ridden point, the horses will tend to lower the shoulder towards the low front foot. This will cause the horse to fall in or out towards that foot when doing circles.
They will have a preferred canter lead, which will generally be in the direction of the low foot ie if the low foot is the LF, the horse will prefer the left canter lead
Some will also have a preferred trot diagonal & will bounce u onto the other diagonal.
Straightness is not the friend of these horses either.

•• We have consulted on a number of gallopers running poorly with asymmetrical front feet, only to recommend sending them to NSW where they run the opposite direction. Having the low foot to the inside of the track tends to stop them hanging or running wide on the be bends. The feedback had been excellent!

When grazing or standing these horses have the low/dominant foot forward 90% of the time, further exacerbating the disproportionate loading,

**It’s recommended to feed these horses off the ground & constantly correct the stance.

These horses all have body asymmetries also, which makes saddle fitting & rider straightness difficult. Most find the back of their saddle constantly sliding towards the hi foot. And remember, you can’t fit a symmetrical saddle to an asymmetrical horse.

When it comes to the feet & farriery, most often we see the low foot with low PA & broken back alignment, & the high foot better aligned with a higher PA, but suffering from bone loss at the tip of P3 & less than ideal sole depth. I have found the upright foot really likes a leather pad & a rolled toe shoe, or even a low grade roller.

Whilst these horses can be managed, & I know some beautiful horses with asymmetrical feet, I personally would not recommend a client of mind purchase a hi/lo horse.

01/08/2024

DID YOU KNOW ??
It is fairly common for horses to have uneven pairs of front feet.

72 % of the horses have two different fore feet, the larger foot grows faster at the toe, whereas the smaller foot grows faster at the heel. ( Perreaux )

01/05/2024

❄️ Winter Laminitis ❄️
Prevention is key 🔑! Keep hooves as dry as possible.
Maintain a good trim schedule. (yes even in the winter)Please don’t send your horse into winter obese.

For more information about cold-induced hoof pain, go here http://bit.ly/2NtxR3h then scroll down to Dr. Kellon's proceedings from the lecture WINTER LAMINITIS at the 2015 NO Laminitis! Conference. Proceedings are free.

01/04/2024

Many horse hooves don’t wear evenly, causing them to become out of balance over time. A consistent trimming and shoeing schedule is the best way to manage this.

01/04/2024

Learn how to combat foot issues such as thrush, white line disease, and abscesses that can develop in or be exacerbated by moist, muddy conditions.

01/04/2024

Hoof cracks. What causes them, when to worry, when not to worry and other things discussed and explained in this 3 part series

12/14/2023

We have shared this before, but it is always interesting to see how old our horses are in human years...especially as they change.
This week our 26 year old has just been diagnosed with Ring Bone and I was devastated, then I realised that he is "75 1/2 yrs old" so of course he will have some degeneration, but just like my Dad I think he's invincible.💪
Today our youngest horse turns 3...so effectively 18....and we all know about 18 year old males 😂

11/09/2023

It's that time of year when your horse's periople might be making some interesting choices!

When we transition from dry weather to wet weather, suddenly you may notice changes in texture, color, and feel of the periople. Remember it's a completely normal structure - similar to the cuticle on your own nail.

This one developed a fun fringe.

11/08/2023

I’ve seen quite a few posts lately with hoof care professionals getting stood up up jobs.

Say we’re booked in for 2 horses and we turn up, there’s either no one there, you get the call to cancel when you’re already on the way, even the night before.
You still need to pay your HCP!

That’s 2 horses we can’t make up for the day, depending on the travel time it might be 3 hours of lost work. We don’t get paid like regular jobs, we just lose out.
It costs money for you to cancel.
We have to schedule areas in carefully to make the most of the day and one cancelation can really put a whole day out.

The same goes for booking in say 4 horses, we turn up and there’s only 2 or 3 to trim/shoe.

It might be you’re running late and couldn’t catch them, they’re lame, the other farrier did them yesterday and you forgot to tell us, they’re really spooky today.
Doesn’t matter, you still need to pay!

A lot of us find it really hard to ask you to pay your cancellation fees, or for those you had booked in but didn’t get trimmed.

Please don’t ask or say “can I pay you for that”. Too many of us will say no don’t worry about. Just pay them.

This job is hard and it doesn’t pay well for the toll it takes on your body. Lucky we love it!

On that note please don’t ask for discounts on minis, they’re some of the worst for straining your back (see contortionist photo below).

Thank you to all those amazing clients who do the right thing!

A lot of us are struggling with the cost of living at the moment but we have to remember horses are a luxury and your HCP isn’t there to fund that.

11/02/2023

"Fire your farrier, that hoof looks TERRIBLE!"

Well, I'm the one the trimmed this hoof about 5 1/2 weeks ago. Did you know that when horses have chronic laminitis their rate of hoof growth can increase significantly? I move some of the tougher cases to a 2-3 week trim cycle for a time and/or recruit the owner to do touch ups in between appointments.

In this case, I just didn't come back soon enough and he's potentially laminitic again. So, I'll be back every 3 weeks until he's more stable and his feet look more normal.

He's looking much better after his trim today.

And one more reminder - you cannot trim your way out of laminitis. There is no magical rasp that can fix it! The "cure" is vet (bloodwork, meds) + farrier (regular corrective trims/shoeing) + owner (meds, diet, booting, enviroment) + time.

11/02/2023

11/02/2023

If your equine lives in acorn county, be sure to keep him or her away from oak trees. Acorns can be toxic for horses, and present the additional risk of laminitis for horses with EMS. Read more in Dr. Kellon's blog here: https://drkhorsesense.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/acorn-toxicity-in-horses/

10/25/2023

Sometimes, what owners worry about when it comes to their horses' feet and what farriers worry about when it comes to the horses' feet are not the same.
I will sometimes receive texts from a concerned owner with a picture of a small chip at the end of a cycle, but another cycle they will somehow neglect to tell me that their horse was footsore over stones recently when it hadn't been before..

Some of the most common "owner concerns" I see online or in person are:

✴️Wall chipping: although chipping isn't ideal, usually it won't cause much issue for stronger walls. Often this tells me that the horse either needs a shorter trim cycle, or a change to their hoof balance.

✴️Frog shedding: In wet seasons, sometimes I see an entire frog come off in one piece. Often owners worry this means something is wrong with the frog - don't worry, this is often completely normal!

✴️"A weird growth on the top of the hoof" (aka periople): I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me what the "stuff" is underneath the hairline. Think of the periople like your nail cuticle - it protects new growth as it comes in. Sometimes, especially in dry seasons, it can grow a bit farther down the wall than we are used to. Sometimes when the weather changes between wet and dry, we can see some weird periople changes, or even "flaps." It is usually completely fine!

✴️Waterlogged heel bulbs: Heel bulbs that seem to suddenly become white are often soggy heel bulbs that have had contact with a boot of some sort. Let them dry out a bit and they will be okay!

✴️Thinking a horse "just doesn't look due": Usually when an owner thinks a horse hasn't grown, really it just means they haven't chipped.. which is a good thing! We don't want them to chip or look grossly overgrown when it's time for a trim. Our goal is to keep them in balance, not chase after distortion. Sure - there ARE cases where a horse doesn't grow much foot, but 9 times out of 10 the hoof actually IS due for a balance adjustment.

These situations usually aren't a cause for concern for me. Of course, it depends on the horse and the circumstances, but overall these "issues" are simply cosmetic or a misunderstanding of how the hoof grows and naturally adjusts through seasons.

So what DO I worry about?

🚩Hoof sensitivity or changes in comfort: I don't want to see any of my client horses sore over ANY terrain - especially if it is a sudden change! This is a big red flag to me that the diet, trim, or metabolic management might need adjustment. I never want my horse owners to just accept hoof sensitivity as "normal."

🚩Abscesses: Abscesses are often a huge symptom of something unhealthy going on. A strong foot shouldn't get stone bruises or abscessing - see my last point. If the horse is throwing abscesses, especially if it seems to happen a few times a year, I want to know if the diet needs adjustment or if the vet should step in for some metabolic testing.

🚩Chronic event lines: the wall of the hoof should be smooth overall. Diet changes, fevers/illness, metabolic issues, etc can cause something called an "event line" to show up on the wall as it grows out. This can reveal to us a period of inflammation, although by the time we see it it's often in the past. When I see a series of event lines showing up on the wall, I know something is continually affecting the health of the foot. With that, I worry about something more sinister down the line, such as the risk of laminitis or founder, if the source of the event lines isn't found. Don't ignore them!

🚩Sudden changes in sole appearance, white line health, etc: If the horse's sole is typically concave and suddenly seems to flatten out "out of nowhere," or if we suddenly can see a stretched white line or fit a hoof pick between the wall and the sole, I know something is going on. OR, if a flat foot suddenly has a "sucked up" in a drastic ridge of concavity, I assume the soles have revealed that they are extremely thin. These all warrant further investigation.

Educating ourselves on what might be a red flag and what might not be can help catch early warning signs before a real issue starts.

10/24/2023

The beermaker says it will end the practice known as tail docking after it came under pressure by animal rights group PETA.

10/23/2023

I see a lot of posts on social media of horse owners worried about hoof cracks, and often wondering if they can do something to help.

So what are some causes of hoof cracks?:

✴️A diet issue or imbalance - poor wall quality due to low levels of (or imbalanced levels of) minor minerals, poor amino acid profile or low protein in diet, high sugar/starch, etc can lead to poor wall quality that breaks or cracks easily.

✴️Hoof balance issues - excess pressure and load on a certain area or a hoof imbalance can overextend an already weak area of the wall and perpetuate wall cracks.

✴️Laminae issues - a weak laminae connection lends more susceptibility to flaring and excess leverage that can lead to cracking.

✴️Metabolic issues- on a similar vein to the last comment, metabolic issues, especially if undiagnosed or unregulated, can lead to a weakened wall and weak laminae connection. That includes PPID or EMS/IR.

✴️Toe crena/P3 bone loss or remodeling - if the coffin bone (P3) has an area of bone damage, whether congenital or due to pathology over time, the corium around that area can be damaged, making healthy wall production difficult and cause that area to be susceptible to a crack (see The Horse article with Paige Poss on wall cracks and what's underneath them!).

✴️Trim cycle - a cycle that is too long for the individual horse, especially one with weaker walls due to the problems above, can lead to wall cracking issues that are hard to get on top of if the cycle isn't shortened.

✴️Bacteria/microbial issue - sometimes, microbes can invade a weaker area of wall and eat away at the tissue underneath, perpetuating wall quality issues. This can often take topical treatment, sometimes exposing these areas to air to make anaerobic bacteria less willing to "stick around," and a better mineral balanced diet can really help build quality wall that can better withstand these pathogens.

✴️An old injury - some wall cracks stem from a scar from an injury just above the hairline that involved the coronary band. These will usually grow out to a superficial line if properly addressed.

Some horses with hoof wall cracking might need a diet adjustment, some might need a different cycle length, and some might need even need a different approach to their trim. Talk to your hoofcare provider if you're concerned, and see if there's anything you can do to work on growing them out!

10/21/2023

10/17/2023

10/15/2023

https://www.americanfarriers.com/articles/10644-when-a-hoof-conditioner-is-really-necessary

For generations horse owners have seen the benefits of coating hooves with various substances for their protection and flexibility.