Over the years I’ve had the pleasure to work with many Horse owners, Trainers, and Veternarians.  I’ve seen many horse-care professionals and owners that don’t consider or ask  for the farriers opinion and advise on what they think is best for the horses feet.  As a certified, full-time farrier I’d like to bring thing’s into perspective by explaining why our opinions are so important.

A full time professional farrier tends to on average 10 horses per day, 5 days per week which equals to 50 horses per week.  Per week this equals to watching, looking, treating, balancing 200 hooves per week.  This equals 800 hooves per month and 9,600 hooves per year.

Point is - A good farrier who’s certified and educated in farriery has a lot of knowledge and reccomendations on what may be good for your horse. Our opinion should be valued and important.

A good farrier is hard to find. 

Good farriers want to know what is going on with your horse because they don’t know what your horse is doing, or how to fix something without open lines of communication between the horse owner, trainer, veterinarian, barn managers, etc. 

Good farriers take the time everyday to train, and educate themselves in the art of farriery.  They oftentimes will go to seminars on hoof care and lameness, travel to work with other qualified professionals, read books, and watch videos about hoof care for hours.  When a good farrier works on your horses feet he will look at your horse as whole, listen to other professionals, and come up with a plan that best suites the horse and rider. 

I encourage all horse owners to find ”Good Farriers”  and when you do - trust and value his/her opinion as much as the other professionals involved in your horses care.  Thanks. 

Andrew Grimm, CF, RJF

There are many reasons why we may recommend horseshoes for your horse.  Some horses have a thicker sole than others and will be sore when ridden on hard surfaces such as gravel, blacktop, and even hard, dry, compacted soil.  For these horses we would recommend a horseshoe because it lifts the sole of the ground.  Some horses wear away their hoof wall faster than the rate of growth resulting in hoof soreness and lameness.  Others may need to have a horseshoe in order to perform their sport safely and confidently.  

Horseshoes offer many great benefits when applied precisely and correctly.  They provide a horse with traction and protection which equals confidence and soundness.  If you think your horse may benefit from shoes please let us know.  We’ll be happy to evaluate your horse and use to determine if shoes are right for your horse. 

In a effort to increase our research and development in farriery we’ve recently invested in the Metron Software designed to help farriers and veternarians evaluate and document hoof changes.  We recommend our customers to invest in a detailed hoof evaluation of their horses hooves every 6 months or every 3 visits to ensure their horses are “on the right track”. 

The 1st evaluation is free and each evaluation afterwards will be performed for only $45.  With the evaluation you’ll receive a copy on CD to keep on file for your records.  We’ll also contact you personally to explain the details of the hoof evaluation for free.  Please contact us if your interested.  Thank You.

I got a chance to look at a few x rays today of a nice semi-retired jumping horse at a barn I shoe at.  The horse isn’t under my care but I was thankful for the opportunity to take a look at the shoeing and the x rays.  The films were not very clear but I’d like to talk about what I saw and what I think. P3 was flat, the hoof pastern axis was broken back, a small spur or exitosis distal tip of P2, and a little bit of Side bone on the LF and RF.  The horse has been abscessing in the heel area every few weeks and is very sensitive in the heel area with hoof testers. 

This very situation always make me think about the advantages and disavantages of wedge shoes on heel sore horses. 

I want to make sure I state that there’s an exception to every rule.  When I write this I’m only brainstorming my ideas and opinions. 

I believe additional support to the hoof via frog, sole, and shoe support are very important when considering the application of a wedge shoe.  If I have a heel sore horse with a broken back hoof pastern axis I’m going to focus on 2 things in particular:

1. doing what I can to realign hoof pastern axis
2. reduce break-over forces

  If I have to wedge a horse to help realign P1, P2, and P3 than I more than likely will use some type of support via the frog, shoe, or the sole in a means to take pressure off the heals that are already sore.  The trimming of a foot before applying a wedge shoe is very important as well.  Some horses left with too tall of a heel that has run forward  as a result will sometimes need to have the heels trimmed back then wedged back up after balancing the hoof. 

With this horse in-particular wedging the heels without supporting the rest of the foot will only increase pressure in the heel region. 

Andrew Grimm, CF, RJF