Singing My Sorrows
As I began the writing of this, Bono and the rest of U2 were wailing my sentiments about farriers: "I can't live/with or without you".
I had let down my guard yet again, and the resulting effect was a boiling to the surface, like the pus of an abscess, of yet more hoof issues. My ever vigilant scrutiny of any professed expert working on my horse had taken a vacation. Perhaps it felt the calling of much needed rest, but it was AWOL too long. Sage once again would bear the brunt of my mental R&R upon her weary hooves.
Two and a half months ago a trim left Sage even more sore than normal. I hesitantly compared pictures of her hooves to those taken one year ago when she was having a lot of soreness, too-low heels, and long toes.
To my abject horror, the pictures of then and now looked the same. I had focused on the toe length before, but I saw now that her pain might be more a function of low-heel. The trimmer explained that she was keeping the heels low because that is what the heels look like of the wild horses.
I had let someone take me and my horse to their preordained destination of what horses' hooves needed to look like, guided by the roadmap of their own particular bias and training. This one happened to be from the natural hoof care movement, and so was the one before her.
I had, of course, also had many disappointing dealings with "normal" farriers. What to do now? I was running out of names to call in my county.
Jittery Horse and Jaded Owner
I was pretty set on finding someone who would put my individual horse first. I wanted them to forge their training and experience in the fire of my individual horse, not the horse in the books they studied at farrier school but the one standing right there in front of them.
It would also need to be someone who could earn back the trust of a pain-scarred-now-jittery horse and her jaded owner.
In the last year alone, we had gone through three farriers, and previous to that we averaged about one a year. We seemed to be changing more frequently now, and since Sage herself was the common denominator I cannot lay blame at the feet of all the different hoof "experts". I was not, however, willing to keep washing their feet in worship either.
I did pay attention to the other common denominator that all providers seemed to have in common so far: they seemed almost as un-bendable as the steel shoes and/or tools of the trade in how they approached my particular horse.
I had brief glimpses of hope from some of them, if I was ever-vigilant in my oversight and reminders not to remove sole, not to trim too far, etc. But if I was to let up for one trim, out came the ravenous nippers and off hobbled my lame horse.
Its Been a While Since the Wild
The barefoot trimmers seemed bent on honing her foot to the shape of wild horse relatives; this seemed reasonable to me at first, but it became apparent some time into doing it that it was not working. And anyway, she resembled more her closer relatives like Doc Bar, Poco Bueno, and a Thoroughbred named Three Bars. However, she was ultimately different from all of those horses and had her own unique hooves and conformation. Far enough removed genetically from all of those horses to make a difference, I have come to believe.
Perhaps what I had been slowly and incrementally discovering over the years was that the only way Sage might have pain-free feet was to not trim her like a mustang, or like a Doc Bar, or even like a Quarter Horse; she needed to be trimmed for Sage a trim to reflect her own conformation, hooves, and growth and wear patterns.
I was trying to keep an open mind through all of this, but my head kept echoing with the soft hoofbeats of my very sore horse. Neither "side" barefoot nor conventional seemed to be the panacea that I had hoped for all of these months going on years.
Continued:
The Grace of a Horse
But one thing about hooves, they keep growing. Thus, I still needed to find someone who would be able to help my now farrier-shy horse achieve some peace with her pedicures.
Fortunately, I had not yet exhausted all of my options in the county where I reside. I asked around for recommendations again, and I heard a name for someone whom I had not yet tried. After a phone call and his explaining that he likes to shoe and trim for the individual horse in front of him, Jerrod was out within the week to see what he could do for us.
The most interesting part of the dance between this new farrier and my horse when they first met was that Sage seemed smitten with him, even in spite of his profession. Maybe it was the chewing tobacco he kept in his front pocket; I may never know. I have to admit he seemed good with her, and probably is just generally good with horses, but I was still amazed at my horse's reaction. That is because this horse who used to stand perfectly still for farriers had understandably become over the last couple of years quite hesitant to do so; that she even stood near him or any recent, previous farrier at all is quite a testament to her "try" and her general attitude.
Barefoot Is Great, But Pain-Free Is Better
Jerrod checked her angles, and he confirmed for me that her heels were terribly low. Probably painfully low. He didn't take anything off, and just took back some of her toe that had become long in the front. When he came back eight weeks later, he still didn't take off any heel and just used his rasp to lightly balance the rest of the hoof. We discussed the probable, eventual need for shoes to really affect her comfort level since her sole is flat as a pancake, and pancakes are not forced to walk on rocks. I still want shoes to be a last resort, but I am not at all opposed to them anymore for this particular horse. I believe that the ideal is barefoot, but I would rather have a pain-free horse with shoes on than barefoot and stepping gingerly with every move. She was not bred by nature, she was bred by man, and she ended up with very flat feet (like her owner, by the way, who wears orthotics).
I have done my due diligence to come to this conclusion, so when I recently received a newsletter saying that no horse needs shoes and all horses should be barefoot, I just had to press the delete button.
Getting Easier
Sage had been better over the eight weeks between Jerrod's two visits, not walking so painfully slow, so I am hopeful. So hopeful that I even tipped this farrier, something I had never even considered doing before. But just so he didn't get too cocky I reminded him that he was just one in a long line of farriers, I had fired about 7 before him, and it was getting easier with each one.
As it should.
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IMPORTANT POINTS I HAVE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY:
1) DO take pictures of your horse's hooves - lots of them, every few weeks or months - at different angles and top to bottom, so that you have references points and can see changes and similarities.
2) DON'T hog-tie yourself to any one method, belief system, trainer, horse book author, or farrier; be flexible (and on-guard) for your horse's sake.
3) DON'T be afraid to ask your farrier for explanations and the rationale behind their methods, and remember that their methods may work for most of their clients but not necessarily for YOUR horse.
4) DO question everything, especially if your horse is sore after a trim; demand answers and change, and/or move on, if you horse is consistently sore.
5) DO ask around for recommendations, including ones from your veterinarian, but remember that is not always a guarantee; continue to follow tips 1-4 above.
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About Eleanor
Eleanor Van Natta is a wife, a mother of two little girls, and a caretaker to one dog, one cat, and one horse. She has a Zoology degree from the University of CA, Davis, and prior to becoming a stay at home mom she had a career in environmental and pharmaceutical sales. You can find more of her writing on her blog Sage By Nature.
