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Ferriers. Or is it Farriers?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nr
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nr

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Neither spelling looks right this morning. The guys that shoe horses.
Anyway, I'm killig time waiting for a phone call which is easy to
do because mixing concrete awaits me next.

But last night two horsewomen friends were talking about a guy who has been shoeing their horses and they've both been thinking the horses have been slipping more and not riding right. Both ended up separately making suggestions to the guy which he didn't take so kindly to :roll:
He told them he knew what he was doingand discounted their comments but one noticed he'd clipped a hoof shorter on one foot that on the other and had used old shoes but charged the same as for new shoes. Also one shoe was applied slightly back from the front edge of the hoof.

I was just wondering if this is a common problem. Do you know when you ride a horse that it has been shoed improperly. And how do the guys think THEY'd like it if they went to a barber and asked for a trim and got shaved bald instead because they barber thought that was better for him?
 
Finding a good farrier is one of the most important things you can do as a horse owner. If their feet aren't right they won't travel good. We've had 2 previous to the one we use now. he's maticulous about gettin it right. He trims, he measures, he checks the angles, makes the horse walk out after he's finished, and if he notices anything at all, he'll double check and sometimes make adjustments. We don't put shoes on our horses, because we have sandy soil with no rocks. But keepin one trimmed the right way is just as important. The guy we use now works out of town, and is gone usually a month to 6 weeks at a time, but very accomidatin when he's home. We just hafta make sure he knows we need him when he gets home if it's time for trimmin.
 
You have to walk a fine line when dealing with farriers. Often times
they know more than a vet about horses feet. What you related here
does not sound right, but what they should have done was asked the
reason for what they were seeing. And slipping? I wonder what they
meant by slipping. Brown grass can be slippery if they were wearing
plates or even rim shoes. As for charging for new shoes when doing
a reset, the shoes don't cost much so I wonder if they are mistaken
about that. If the shoes weren't worn much, lots of times shoers will
reset them, depending what they horse is going to be used for for
the next 6 weeks.

If their shoer studies Gene Ovnicek's Natural Balance, at times the front of the shoe will be back a bit from the end of the hoof. There is a reason for this which I won't go into here. But both feet should be shod the same way.

Being applied back from the edge of the hoof all the way around is not good. That means the horse is going to overgrow that shoe and there can be problems as a result. You don't want that. Gene cautions everyone that one of the worse things they can do is not take the shoes off in the fall. Some people turn their horses out with shoes on for all winter and it makes for problems. He says if you don't do anything else, take those shoes OFF before they become overgrown.

If they really aren't happy they need to ask around and find a different farrier. But none of them like to be told what to do by someone that has never shod a horse.

Horse shoers and horse trainers can just hang out a shingle that says,
"Call me. I can do it" and never have to pass any kind of test to get to where they can solicit shoing or training a horse. Too bad, too because they can do a lot of damage if they don't know what they are doing.
 
A good farrier sure wouldn't use old shoes.We only shoe ours when going to the mountains for a few days. A horse really doesn't need shoes if the soil isn't hard and rocky.

Another thing,greg does our horses,not a pro.never had a horse come up lame or sore....I would get a different shoer or like I said they maybe don't need shoes
 
There a many different reasons why horses need shoes. Not just if
the ground is rocky. Of course, that's a good reason, but there are other
reasons as well. It would be nice if it were that simple.

When we lived in W. Montana we shod our horses most of the spring and summer. That country is hard on horses feet, and the farrier better know what he is doing when he nails one shoe on after the other. The only
time our horses weren't shod was in the winter time. That is where we met Gene Ovnicek, before he founded Natural Balance Shoeing. Now Gene goes all over the country holding seminars and he is on RFD-TV with Dennis Reis. Gene says you can shoe a horse most ways one time and get by, but if you take off shoes and put another set on, you need to know what you are doing. I'll never forget once at the Kidd Cattle Co. Horse Sale at Three Forks, the auctioneer said he cries sales all over and there is no place harder on a horses feet than Western Montana.

Even barefoot, most horses need to be trimmed occasionaly. And there
is a right way and wrong way to do that too. But usually its not too complicated.
 
Yes your right Faster,I meant hard or rocky.I'm mostly just saying,maybe these horses don't need shod. For sure horses need to be trimmed regularly.
 
I asked them why wild horses can manage without shoes. They said the type riding they do on their horses, the extra weight, rocky trails and stoney ground etc, they need the shoes though they let some of them not exposed to that run barefoot in the winter. They both have ridden all their lives, one is a horse trainer and rehabilitates horses also, but they've both had it with this one farrier so I guess he'll be history.
 
Here's a website about keepin your horses barefoot. There's alot to this if you stop and think about it.



http://www.nagtrader.co.uk/NAGtrader-horse-pony-articles/natural-horse-pony-western-riding/barefoot-horse.asp
 
Sounds like.

Probably justified, too.

Yep, nr, horses are shod for support as much as anything,
as these ladies seem to know.

Good thing they were watching closely.

FWIW, For 6 years, Gene Ovnicek studied the wild horses feet at Pryor, Mt. when the BLM gathered them. Based on his studies, he started
the Natural Balance system of shoeing which is promoted world-wide
now.
 
Faster horses said:
Sounds like.

Probably justified, too.

Yep, nr, horses are shod for support as much as anything,
as these ladies seem to know.

Good thing they were watching closely.

FWIW, For 6 years, Gene Ovnicek studied the wild horses feet at Pryor, Mt. when the BLM gathered them. Based on his studies, he started
the Natural Balance system of shoeing which is promoted world-wide
now.
Click to expand...

okay i give up what's FWIW? And I thought I was the only one wearing Natural Balance Shoes.
 
My good calf roping horse chipped a bone in his lower pastern. This caused inflamation and arthritis. I read Ovnicek's book and memorized the information on his website. After conferring with the vet we decided to inject Hylauronic Acid into the joint and shoe him the Ovnicek way. After four years he has done awsome.

As for the right farrier. I have seen some that went to "Farrier School" (I use the term loosely) that were like a monkey working on a 747. And I have seen some farriers that simply apprenticed and were some of the best shoers in the country.
 
Glad to hear that you used Gene's methods with success.

He came to our place in W. Montana every 2 months for at least
5 years. We used to get all the lame or problem horses in the valley on a shoeing schedule. He worked on all those problem horses, then he would go to Philipsburg and do the same thing. He got under lots of horses. He always had apprentices with him teaching them, and them helping him. One fellow wasa deaf/mute and Gene learned sign language to communicate with him. The young man learned to shoe very well and now has his own business shoeing for the forest service in
W. Montana. Gene is one of the warmest, most sincere people
you could ever want to meet. His desire to help horses is genuine.
He has put his whole life into it. I could relate miracles he performed
on horses that were diagnosed as 'done for.'

He manufacturers his own shoes now and gives seminars all over the country, even abroad. He's a very interesting person and he has his
boys involved in his business. It's nothing to call up and get to talk
directly to him if you have a foot problem with your horse.

What he has done has been confrontational at times, but he has stuck
by what he believes in. The reason why he has been with Dennis Reis on RFD-TV is because Dennis had a client with a problem footed horse that no one had been able to help. He heard about Gene and Gene was able to get the horse rideable again. Dennis thought more people needed
to know about what Gene has to offer, so the TV partnership began.
 

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