Posted by Phil Armitage on April 26, 2004 at 23:58:05:
In Reply to: Correction to previous post [Re: questions (long) ] posted by Patience on April 23, 2004 at 19:21:26:
: Regarding heel differences on my Haffies front hooves, that was supposed to be a 3.5 - 4.5. Thankfully there isn't a 1.5 cm. difference though 1 cm. is bad enough.
: Also, in my last post I said the farrier said she'd get "navicular"; meant to say the farrier says she's going to get navicular disease. Actually, 2 farriers said that.
: Oh, and of 3 farriers, they all hated her hooves because of how "hard" they are. Is it okay for her hooves to be so hard?
: Thank you.
: Patience
Hi Patience, I attended the NB Clinic in VT. it was very good. I am located in southern Maine, South Berwick. A friend of mine who also attended the clinic is a farrier that is located further north, I do not know if your close to him or not, but maybe I can refer him to you. If your interested just E-mail me and maybe we can work something out. It is difficult to try and trim your own horses, farriers do it everyday and the whole proccess becomes second nature, kind of like the differenc between a full time carpenter and a one that does it as a hobby. It is not impossible to learn but to really aquire the skills you have to trim many and often for a couple of years. It is OK for horses feet to be hard, but they can become to dry and sore. Horses feet need to be right in the middle of not too dry and not to wet, both extremes are harmfull. A good test for proper hydration, is the frog should be like an erraser not hard but not very soft either. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
Phil