Well… I didn’t get hoof pics after the farrier yesterday. Extenuating circumstances. I will try this week.
In the meantime I’m trying to decide what is me not communicating well, what is just different from my expectations, and what is simply not working. I am not a farrier, I couldn’t do their job, but do I think I have a fundamental understanding of hoof anatomy and also geometry in general.
The hooves are still quite far over the front of the shoes on a fresh reset. However, the front wedge pad shoes are set tight on the heels, with heel bulb hanging over the end of the shoe slightly. In the past, my old farrier always left shoe sticking out a bit so his heels had support? I think? Horse only pulled shoes off himself when it was spectacularly muddy and he got wild in turnout, but now he’s on stall rest and wears bell boots 24/7.
The hind shoes have trailers, and those look more normal to me, though his toes are still over the front of the shoe. My old farrier (who is 2 hours away and I’d have to haul to, otherwise I’d be there), also took WAY more toe off from all 4. Which I asked for yesterday. The toes still look super long to me, though I don’t know if there’s a reason we couldn’t take more off.
This farrier also uses a power sander to take the entire outside layer of dirt and horn from the hoof, and sands the toes down after the shoes are on? Is there a reason for this? The toes are still over the front of the shoe, but maybe they’re rolling them? The shoe itself isn’t rockered or rolled from what I can tell so I’m confused.
I would ask the farrier, and I did try, but the assistant (who does all the shoe pulling, the trim, and the sanding), has a terrible habit of just talking over everyone with their opinions on feed, treats, management, etc., even when directly and firmly told “thanks but no thanks, I feed my boarded horses the way their owners tell me”. The farrier is, I suspect, somewhat hard of hearing which doesn’t help. So, I attempted to ask good questions but was either misunderstood or talked right over by the peanut gallery.
If anyone has insight on what could be the thought process here? Or questions to ask if I can corral the farrier to ask them?
(FWIW the boarded horses are fed true free choice quality T/O hay, live outside 24/7 in balanced groups, and eat low NSC grain or RBs with quality supps to fill in any gaps - E, MSM, CU/ZN, salt, etc. These guys aren’t on sweet feed and 3 flakes of fescue.)