Rant: I was trimming a draft horse's heel too short for years

An old client in Springfield pointed out his horse was always sore after my visits, which made me rewatch my own work. I realized I was taking the heel down flush with the shoe instead of leaving a proper cushion. Has anyone else had a specific flaw in their technique pointed out by a client?

2 comments

2 Comments

drewc6211d ago

Wait, flush with the shoe? That's how a lot of farriers do it around here. Are we sure the soreness was from the trim and not something else, like the ground being hard that week or the horse having a low-grade infection? Sometimes clients notice a coincidence and blame the most recent thing. Not saying you're wrong, but a horse's foot is tough. A slight trim difference seems like a small thing to cause constant soreness.

keith26411d agoMost Upvoted

Flush with the shoe is a huge problem if the sole is already thin. You're basically leaving zero protection between the shoe and the sensitive structures. A tough foot can still get bruised from a bad strike on a rock. Saw a horse go lame for weeks from a trim that looked fine but was just a bit too much sole. It's not always a coincidence.