Posted by Ron West on October 02, 2003 at 11:01:54:
In Reply to: Re: p.s. to my reply on Re: Sore after trim - it's been a month! - to Jim R posted by Phil Armitage on September 22, 2003 at 21:23:15:
: : After I posted my reply, I realized that I too had failed to directly answer your question.
: : Yes, a really bad trim could definatly contribute to your horse's ongoing lameness. Especially considering the environmental circumstances you describe and the apparant ongoing lack of correct intervention/remediation.
: : Rick
: Anne you checked on your farrier and found that he recently missed a case of whitline desease and also a grass founder case?? I was wondering, was he suppose to catch that before the barn manager and horse owners who see these horses every day? These things don't happen overnight just before the farrier shows up. I know alot of real good Vets who miss grass founder even real good horsemen/women. White line can be missed also, sometimes what may seem harmless turns out to be a disaster and work up the hoof without being noticed it may or may not cause lameness. These things should have been noticed by the riders, owners, barn managers and a Vet should have been called. I have to agree with Jim R., why did you decide to remove the shoes when you knew he could not handle it? You made the decision to remove the shoes, why is that the farriers fault? How often did he come right out and take care of you after a full day? As far as the Vet goes, there is know way he can determine if the farrier trimmed the horse to short without him being right there watching, becuase you don't know what the farrier had to work with in the first place. I have had the same things happen to me and I can tell you, I was real happy when I parted ways with that kind of mentality. There are plenty of other good horsemen and women to work with out there and plenty of vets who know how to work with a farrier.
:
: Phil
Phil's right after all the most often a farrier gets to see a horse is every six weeks or more, many of us have driven 5 or 6 thousand nails and applied eight hundred to a thousand shoes over the course of a couple months. so not remembering exactly what a horses foot was like last time isn't uncommon usually if I see a problem I make a note of it on the invoice as well as advise the customer what they can do to help, getting them to actually participate is another matter. I recently had a former customer from four months ago come in and ask if I knew why his current farrier is losing shoes I vaguely remember the horses but haven't seen them for more than a couple thousand shoes, the customer doesn't understand this of course, but since he's using someone else it's really not my problem anyway.
Try to find the most experienced farrier in your locale not being able to see the horse will severely limit the ability of anyone on this board to give you truly accurate advice, I hope your horse is doing better soon btw.
Ron West
Westcliffe Colorado