Bad farriers

[Katie12]

A few mini friends and myself hare having an aweful time with farriers in our area.I have had big horses for over 10 years and never had any problems. The past 4 farriers dont take enough toe or heal off. They all leave the heal square and hardly take anything off which has resulted in a contracted heel on a few of ours. We would like to see some pictures of what some mini hoofs should be trimmed like please. It seems like there should be a little angle to the back hoof to set the hoof down to take pressure off that bone instead of so straight up.Please some pics PLEASE !

 

[Lauralee]

I don't happen to have any hoof pictures but I will tell you this:

You will never be happy with the horse's hooves until you learn to do them yourself.

I have found that MOST big horse farriers despise the thought of having to stoop lower and trim a miniature horse. They view our miniatures as "pets" not as horses that need a good balanced trim. They do not see their hooves as important as a riding horse, thus you get a crappy job all the while they gripe and complain.

Because of this recurring theme, I learned to trim the hooves myself 8 years ago and have not regretted it since. You can do wonders for your horse with a little corrective trimming and ward off possible problems in youngsters legs.

And think of the money you will save!

 

[kaykay]

ughh i am sooooo picky about how my horses are trimmed. I feel your pain. A good thing though to keep in mind is that a horse MUST be trimmed with the angle of the pasturn. The pasturn and hoof angle have to be the same or you can really mess a horse up. But what this also means is if you have a horse lets say too straight in the pasturn, then the hoof is too straight also. I have seen people try to correct a too straight pasturn by putting too much angle on the hoof. This can cause a horse a lot of pain etc.

Another thing I have noticed though is some (*not all!) people who trim their own horses take off heel and then rasp the toe. this ends up making the hoof grow very pointed instead of a nice curve to the toe.

If you imagine a picture of a horseshoe its nice and curved NOT pointy. This also leads to contracted heels.

 

[Warpony]

I'm so pleased to have found my farrier! She LOVES the mini's. She sits down if she has to to work on my boys, since I have the mini and an old pony who can't pick his hind feet up very high because of arthritis. The ponys feet always look awful because he has so many issues (they look hideous but he is SO much more comfortable now that she is trimming him) but so far I've been pleased with how she has done my mini. I'd love to learn to trim my own but with the disability I have in my arms there is no way i can do it.

I don't have any pictures of his feet though. She trims them to look just like big horse feet, only... tiny. She balances them to help his legs grow nice and straight, and checks the angles to make sure everything lines up to work the best with his joint angles and such.

 

[Jill]

I have had minis since 1999 (full sized horses for longe). I have been through several farriers. I was happy with the job most of them did, but they do not "love" to do minis especially not a dozen plus at a time. SO, over the years, H and I got pointers from our farriers, got the video about trimming minis, got a book, and bought some nice equipment ("expensive" nippers are WORTH it!). We started doing our own every other time and have evolved now to the point where we've been doing our own soley for a few years. H actually does the trimming while I hold the horses and make over them

Between me looking at their feet and him looking and doing them, "we" have gotten pretty good. Now we can do a few a day until they are all done or all in one day -- whatever we feel like. It saves us both time and money and we're happy with the job and can do "touch ups" whenever

:

 

[Margaret]

I have learned to do my own thru the coaching of an experienced farrier years ago.

It is an advantage to do them yourself, once you know how, as you are in control of when they get trimmed and how they turn out..

Here is a mare of mine, after trimming.

 

[irishmini]

hi

well i have just started to do my own....my farrier is good.. but he lifts thier legs far too high and the horses mess about and it just becomes an ordeal......so i had a chat to him.. he showed me what to do, i bought the tools......and bobs your uncle.

its great.. because the horses know and trust me...they dont even notice i,m trimming.. they think i,m just picking....and they are much happier....

i just do a bit at a time.........and i follow the general rule of the big horse..after all, our little ones are meant to be replicas in miniature to big horses....i think the pic before is a good example..

i do however think that if your at all concerned about how a foot is growing.. consult a professional

 

[Shari]

I can't physically do mine any more. So a good farrier is needed.

Am using Susanne's Farrier and so far he is doing a good job on all my horses.

The farrier before my current one....ended up severely pigeon toeing every horse on the place.

Needless to say I let him go. He is also one that went to Farrier school! Scary.....

 

[susanne]

There's also a lot to be said about speaking up and insisting that your farrier trims them as you want. You are paying him/her, and you and your horses deserve what you are paying for. If they get upset and don't want to work for you anymore, how is that any worse than their doing a bad job? It's certainly worth a try!

We are so lucky to have found a farrier who enjoys minis and does a good job, and his prices are very good. He also accommodates my last minute appointments, so we try to treat him right!

(Shari, I must have been writing as you were posting!)

 

[Lil' Horse Lover]

I started trimming our minis this summer. We didn't want to make our farrier do it when she already has seven full sized horses to do and my mom didn't want to do it anymore so.....I took up the job. I like doing it myself better anyways because I know my horses and they trust me more then they do the farrier and I get to do it the way I like it. I am definately happiest (along with my minis) with me doing the trimming. I am thinking of taking up trimming minis as a job. There aren't many farriers around here that want to do minis and personally I love doing the minis, just being around them. I have already done some trimming for a local breeder and she likes the way I trim so I don't know, it may be something that I would like to do later on, but for right now my three little guys keep me busy enough.

:

 

[Fred]

I am a farrier and I do a LOT of minis! I also do a lot of other horses also. Ther is NO EXCUSE for your farrier to trim like that. I would confront him or her and tell them point blank they are to be done like a FULL SIZE horse. You are paying for a trim whether it be for a full size horse or mini there is no excuse for sloppy work. There are good farriers out there and sadly there are too many egotistical idiots who think the minis aren't horses. My husband is also a farrier and he doesn't like to do them but does not give the owners a hard time about it. He won't touch my horses though! He's afraid if he messed them up he'd be the one sleeping in the barn. Linda B

 

[wrenhart]

I have learned to do my own thru the coaching of an experienced farrier years ago.

It is an advantage to do them yourself, once you know how, as you are in control of when they get trimmed and how they turn out..

Here is a mare of mine, after trimming.

VERY NICE FEET!!!!!! :aktion033: Ren

 

[^T-bird89^]

i have gotten lots of advice from both regular farriers and a special Mini horse farrier. I have watched a lot and also read books on hooves. Mini horses hooves should have the same angles and such as big horses- they are no different. however, donkey's hooves should have more heel and stand more upright than horses. they do have "Special" farriers that will do minis only also, so look for those. unfortunately, it is true that regular farriers despise trimming minis do to back pain. ours got kicked in between the legs because he cranked our pregnant mini's leg up too high a couple years back, so he taught us to trim to save himself the trouble. as a result, i have been trimming our minis for almost two years now, so here are some pics of ours. i like ours to have a little bit of heel though, and some like less. either way won't hurt the horse.

hope these help!

 

[D.M. Minis]

I do alot and have hear that there is a big problem .I have had the most prblem with ones that think they know how Pro or not. I had a gal that had me do hers and it was one that had no toe so i did it juast heel.

When I left she redid it and lamed it on 3 legs then blamed me. The owner told me she redid him and she told people what happend. That is why I don'nt do that meny outside horses anymore.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

It can be difficult to find a good farrier, so I value the one we have! It would be nice to save the $$ and know when/how they're done, but our farrier is great. On time, knows his stuff, likes the minis - hard on his back, but he doesn't get hurt. With our herd of 60+ we do 10-15 at a time, but all are always trimmed correctly!

I would like to say, some of you on here do a great job, but I've seen some really badly trimmed 'home done' jobs and really felt for the horses. It isn't something a newbie should jump into doing without competent advice and tutoring from an experienced farrier.

 

[Jill]

There's also a lot to be said about speaking up and insisting that your farrier trims them as you want. You are paying him/her, and you and your horses deserve what you are paying for. If they get upset and don't want to work for you anymore, how is that any worse than their doing a bad job? It's certainly worth a try!

...

But the thing is, when you reach the point where you know enough to insist that your farrier trim them the way you want, you are pretty much ready to start to do the job yourself in my opinion, unless you have physical limitations that don't allow you to do so.

 

[BeckyP]

Here is a good website for you www.barefoothorse.com/.

I do my own trimming and refer to this site constantly. Lots of good photos, instruction and information.

I hope this helps.

Becky P

 

[Charlotte]

T Bird89, those are good pics of good hoof trims. Thank you for posting.

If you find a good farrier....MARRY HIM! :bgrin That's what I did :bgrin Of course, the client horses get trimmed and our herd WAS on the bottom of the list till I made a pact with Frank. Now he is trimming 3 a week of our little herd. Working out great so far.

(just my suggestion :bgrin )

Charlotte

 

[capall beag]

Personally, I like to have my Farrier do mine. She(posted here) is a professional and no matter how much I learn she will always know way more than I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same with my vet I like to have my vet do their shots.

I would be very upset with myself if I made a mistake.

I guess I am Lucky having a wonderful mini farrier nearby. Heck she has also given me clipping training while she was here

 

[Jill]

Personally, I like to have my Farrier do mine. She(posted here) is a professional and no matter how much I learn she will always know way more than I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same with my vet I like to have my vet do their shots.

I would be very upset with myself if I made a mistake.

I guess I am Lucky having a wonderful mini farrier nearby. Heck she has also given me clipping training while she was here

This makes me smile

I do my own shots unless it's on a horse who is for sale or has been sold since I want that sheet from the vet saying the horse got XYZ on _____ date.

The part that makes me smile is the clipper training farrier!!! Like I said, H and I trim our own feet, but oh my gosh!!! I'd pay and pay GOOD if someone would come on out to my place and show clip my horses. That is probably my least favorite part about shows -- the clipping.