H&H Qualified Farrier & Barefoot Trimmer

01/01/2024

After 30 years I am retiring.

I would like to thank all of my customers past and present for using me as your farrier.
The characters and personalities I have met both human and equine have made every day feel interesting, challenging, rewarding and fun.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do my very best to keep your horses sound and their feet strong and looking good.

I count myself extremely fortunate that I’ve had a job I enjoy so much. Even when I’m covered in hair, mud, p**p and flies, just about able to stand up straight I’ve never felt anything but happiness getting up the next morning to go to work.

I will miss our chats, cups of tea and cakes but most of all I will miss your lovely horses. ❤️🐴

Harwill 🐴

03/03/2023

Been a while since I have posted. Had an incredibly busy start to the year but I will be adding some new content in the coming weeks. 😊
Here’s a pic of Strudel and her bestie Fred the therapy pony ❤️🐶🐴

First pic is a year ago just after she arrived and met Fred for the first time.

12/01/2023

Interesting. Haven’t met a farrier yet (inc myself) who ‘Fuels’ properly. 🤔🐴
We don’t have time. Lol.

Submitted by Deanna Stoppler, Team Easyboot 2015 Member Farriers burn through a large amount of calories when working under horses. I consider the workout of farriery akin to wrestling. It's a slow kind of effort, sustained, like holding a wall squat until your quads spasm and you slide down to the....

31/12/2022

Happy New Year! 🎉🐴

24/12/2022

Merry Christmas everyone. ❤️🐴🎅

08/08/2022

Extremely frustrating during an incredibly busy time.
Covid strikes again.
I tested positive today with a nasty cough and headache. It would be irresponsible of me to visit customers and risk passing it on. So I’m very sorry but I will be rebooking my work this week. Thanks for your understanding. 🤒

04/07/2022

Please sign and share. ❤️🐴

https://www.change.org/p/allow-hoof-boots-in-all-competitions-uk-ie

Allow Hoof Boots in ALL Competitions

14/05/2022

Due to spiralling costs and being exceptionally busy I must ask customers to pay for their horses trims on the day.

Like everyone else I have also had to raise my prices slightly. If I haven’t already in person I will be messaging everyone with my new rates.

I am also introducing a cancellation charge. For anyone who does not turn up for their horses appts. Of course if you need to cancel that is fine but I ask for 24hrs notice. The charge will be £35.

I would like to thank all of my customers for your support and for using me as your trimmer. And apologise for the lack of content on my page recently. I will be making time to post more frequently, I have some great articles and interesting horses to share. Just need to actually share them. Lol 😅

Thanks for reading and have a great 2022 🐴

23/04/2022

07/03/2022

‘Rosie’ ❤️🐴

03/03/2022

‘Scarlet’. ❤️🐴
I took the shoes off Scarlet in May 2020.
The first pic is off her near front after the shoes were removed. And the others are pics from today.
She lives out.
Pic 3 shows where I have bevelled the heels a technique that works great on barefoot horses that I want to keep the heel height but also extend the bearing surface of the foot.

Strong short tough feet with thick soles.

05/01/2022

Horses and Ponies seem to have a unique way of bringing joy to children and helping those with special needs to express themselves and gain confidence.

This is one of my customers who helps kids of all ages come out of their shells by spending time with Bella and Fred her two ponies.

❤️🐴

https://www.facebook.com/Miniature-Memories-109481478187155/

We specialise in horse therapy for disabled children and work closely with a local special school. T

24/12/2021

Merry Christmas to my customers, friends and everyone else reading. 🎅🐴

Thank you for your support and business during 2021. I look forward to seeing you all and your horses next year and hope that 2022 brings some certainty and normality back to all of our lives 🤞😊🐴

18/11/2021

Why it is so important to treat thrush and to have a regular hoof hygiene protocol.
Seeing a lot of really bad thrush at the moment And much worse than this post.

Caudal hoof strength is extremely important, especially for the barefoot horse. 🐴

https://www.facebook.com/117187385569075/posts/921658521788620/?d=n

Experiment results!

I wanted to see how deep the thrush treatment went into the foot, on this particular foot.

There was a little white line separation, very minor, and a area of “seedy toe” in the left heel quarter.
The frog was not good, with 2 slits in the central sulcus, one was pretty deep.
Check my video from yesterday for details.

Findings.
The treatment covered the exfoliating frog well and went deep in the collateral grooves and central sulcus.
Some treatment penetrated the layers in the sole, the layers that looked like they were ready to exfoliate.

Take a close look at the frog, that part in the middle, the central sulcus….
The frog is missing tissue and you can see how much is missing. Look carefully, the gap is perilously close to the inner tissues, by about 2 mm.
Consider the frog exterior should be around 1 cm minimum from inner tissues… 2 mm is not good at all. Would you have guessed this was so deep?

So this leads me to say that thrush treatments that sting and destroy living tissue must be avoided. In this case, the best treatment would need to be gentle and considerate of how deep the slit is in the frog.

This slit would hurt… sensitive tissues including sensitive frog contains pain nerves.

Imagine a deep cut in the bottom of your foot at the heel.
Imaging putting caustic treatments on it.
Imagine how walking would be painful.

Your horse feels the same. Then to avoid the pain would change his gait to land on toes and not heels.
There is not much protection for the coffin bone at the toe. Imagine the huge energy that smashes up the foot as the toe first landing occurs.

Thrush is not to be ignored- I truly believe this. Even if you are told it’s not an issue or won’t hurt…. I’m not a vet farrier or trimmer, however I am an anatomist and have studied over 400 equine feet. I’ve seen thrush cripple horses.

http://www.patreon.com/hoofstudies

16/11/2021

❤️🐴

21/10/2021

It’s tiring standing on 3 legs ❤️😴🐴

02/10/2021

https://fb.watch/8nSY4wiFz7/

10/09/2021

‘Beau’ the fashionista sporting his new boots. 😳🤔😎🤣❤️🐴

09/09/2021

https://www.facebook.com/1077916101/posts/10221920019204437/?d=n

06/09/2021

‘Jack’ being extra loving today. ❤️🐴

06/09/2021

‘Norman’ ❤️🐴 with his smart new Scoot Boots.
And a couple of before and after pics. 8 months barefoot.

26/08/2021

OMG WTF & SMH. I’ve seen electric wood planers used on feet, angle grinders used on feet. But this is a new one.

“Hell to the No!” On all of them.

Not even sure how anyone can think this is a good idea. A total nightmare waiting to happen. 🥴

25/08/2021

One of my customers today. He was recently shod, 4 wks ago and had pulled the off front shoe. I removed the near front to take him barefoot.

Flat thin soles ✅
Thin weak walls ✅
Crushed and folded bars ✅
Weak under run collapsed heals ✅
Heels lower than the frog ✅
Toe rasped back to the sole ✅
Toe clip set back into the sole ✅

This is such a long way from what a natural foot should look like. The form, function and strength of this foot are all distorted.

These are the type of feet I look forward to working on the most. The changes and improvements I see on feet like these once barefoot, always start with the frog repositioning itself upwards into the foot level with the heels. (On this particular foot the heels are 1/4” lower than the frog) This first process normally takes one trim cycle. Even if there is no real heel growth the frog naturally aligns itself level with the heels through weight bearing as it starts to function properly. 🤔🐴

31/07/2021

Lol. I meet some characters on the yards I visit. 🤣🐶

19/07/2021

https://www.facebook.com/117187385569075/posts/846899012597905/?d=n

15/07/2021

‘Bella’

I took Bellas shoes off all round, in October last year. She was broken back on the fronts with a NPA (Negative Palmar Angle) the Pedal bones rather than sitting slightly angled forward within the foot, were angled backwards.
She was also lame and her owner had been told she wouldn’t cope barefoot.

She is now sound. The feet are much shorter. The angles are where they should be and most importantly her soles have thickened up. The feet will be X-rayed again later this year and I will update this post with the results.

A lovely horse to work on too. ❤️🐴

12/07/2021

How to recognise the different grasses in your horses field. ❤️🐴

https://www.naturespot.org.uk/taxonomy/term/19680?fbclid=IwAR0gyk3bllV5e2Fe3qKGazIb3Bzl2PYSHgsNMKfVzPiQw79Y8MaERQO8VlI&page=1

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