Keeping in mind she’s at 5 weeks…
Front right:
Front left:
Hind right:
Hind left:
You can clearly see the toe wear mark, exaggerating any bull nosing. I’m just trying to keep enough foot to give my farrier something to work with!!
Remind me how many times he’s worked on these feet? I wouldn’t be happy with these at 5 weeks. To me, it appears not enough was done 5 weeks ago, and I would have put the shod feet in a bit of a wedge to at least correct the bony alignment asap, while the trim is working on allowing a healthy foot to grow in.
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The xrays were more recent than the trim/shoes, so he didn’t know what was in there. He’s been doing her since she was 3, she will be turning 6.
I imagine he will put the fronts in wedges this next round. The hinds, maybe frog support pads. She will be done the 20th, so next Monday.
These were her feet from before I got her. I pulled her shoes and she was barefoot for a year? Two? I don’t remember.
TBH, a farrier who couldn’t see what the inside of the feet were doing based on obvious external symptoms, for 3 years, isn’t who I’d be having do her going forward. The trimming caused this, or at least worsened what might have already been starting.
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That’s fair. We don’t exactly have a plethora of options around here, so I’m going to give him a 6 month chance with the xrays we’ve got. I will re-xray in 6 months and if there’s not improvement, I’m honestly going to get stuck hauling 2 hours to go to a farrier I know is good.
Around here you either get “good scheduling and decent farrier (but not great)”, or you get the guy who is pretty good but will flake on you over and over and that flat out does not work for me. I can’t handle someone who will push a 6 week schedule to 10 weeks and then act like you were harassing him.
That’s also fair 
How frustrated you must feel. Are there any others in the immediate are who would be interested in having the good farrier do their horses? If so, if there are enough, that farrier may be willing to travel to you.
That farrier is so good, he won’t travel for anyone. He’s got his corridor and that’s it. He may not even have room for me as a client, I’d have to beg a little.
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Bummer 
I might be able to meet him at the dressage barn down there. Shoes and lesson, to make it worth my while. It’ll all be good. Horses are hard and I don’t know why we do it sometimes, but it will all work out.
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Finding a farrier that’s a good fit for your horse can be difficult.
While scheduling etc can be a nightmare I had very good results having vet and farrier out at same time. Trim X-ray trim x ray shoe x ray type thing. I’m likely looking at repeating that every 6 months but it beats hauling off for farrier appointment every 4 weeks for me
I had a horrible experience with that, despite it being the gold standard. Horse had to have the shoes pulled in less than 24 hours and was dead lame.
It also cost me nearly a grand. Yes, a grand. I about choked.
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Well that’s unfortunate to say the least
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Why would they Say it would not cause issues? I had a two Years old with spur and arthritis and hé was lame AT 4. A Friend of mine also had Bad xrays of hocks ans so far so good and she IS 6
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Sorry, what was thé terrible expérience ?
It’s written there. The $1000 shoes had to be pulled in 24 hours because the horse was so lame with them. I think the xray guidance gave the farrier too much confidence to make too big of a change at once.
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How upsetting. In my case the vet directed the farrier. I understand some farriers object to taking directions but fortunately my farrier is accustomed to doing what the vets say and that this vet gave good guidance.
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I couldn’t tell you. My wife was the one present during the PPE because I couldn’t be there but the vet is very highly regarded. But that paired with his possible NPA in the back end I could see that being what would cause an otherwise harmless spur into something damaging.
Ditto in that I think that’s a pretty POOR farrier job. Certainly not helping horse at all.
And you don’t need xrays to know that’s a poor job. 
So, not an excuse that he “didn’t know what was in there”.
If I were you … I would be doing this.
I get it. It’s time. It’s money. It’s inconvenient. But I don’t like your current farrier’s work. At all. If he feels it is acceptable to trim/shod a horse this way, I highly doubt anything you tell him is going to change how he’s worked for you for the past 3 years.
But that’s JMO.
In my area, the only farriers that are worth going to, you haul to them. They do not go to anyone. They are too busy and they don’t have time. And they honestly can serve more clients by having people come to them. It makes perfect sense.
My regular farrier, is a solid 45 minutes drive time one way. If he happens to be out of town and I have a pulled shoe or something, then I am driving 1 hour 45 minutes to the next one.
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I understand what you’re saying, but I’m going to give the current guy a chance. She’s at 5 weeks and she grows a ton of foot (wears it off when barefoot). 2 hours each way will be a huge issue with my work schedule. I can MAKE it work but it would be extremely inconvenient. Plus I don’t even know if the other farrier has room in the schedule for me.
6 months of aggressive attempt to correct, then we will reassess.
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