Re: RC: Virtual Farrier

[Abby Bloxsom <goneriding@snet.net>]

guest@endurance.net wrote:

> Kathy Mayeda kathy.mayeda@att.net
> Abby - you must have been up LAAATE!  I logged of pretty late Pacific Time
> last night.


<chuckle> Well actually I first sent my mail at 2:30 am ... but then 
after a night's sleep I realized that it was too big to get thru John's 
virus filter!  So I cut it into pieces and remailed it this morning.

> 
> I want to thank you for your discussion.  It gave me a lot of food for
> thought.  I printed it out and will hard archive it.  Now I have to figure
> out ways to get my farrier to discuss this stuff without his ego getting
> in the way!  I've been pussyfooting around him a little because he's the
> only one that I've been able to get to shoe Beau so that he can at least
> function.  We are not yet perfect.


Discussing with a farrier is often a touchy situation.  I wonder 
sometimes if it is related to (where's my Nomex suit?) their not fully 
understanding all the varying principles.  There are about  100 
different things that all have to be weighed and balanced, and they 
often counteract each other in weird ways.

The average farrier does not have the good fortune that I do of 
shoeing/trimming a large number of horses that I watch carefully every 
day.  I see them all run down the hill to their stalls every morning and 
back up at night.  I watch them go round and round the ring during the 
day.  I ride behind and in front of them on the trail for hours at a 
time.  I can make a teeny little change and watch the effects over a few 
days, then make another change.  I keep my rasp nearby at all times, and 
in the last 3 years I think I"ve become a pretty dang good shoer. (been 
trimming a lot longer than that).

When an owner starts asking questions the answers to which they barely 
understand themselves (and I really believe that this can be in spite of 
many years practice!) they get defensive.  Rather than say "gee, I don't 
know, what do you think?", the conversation goes south.

> 
> Jaye Perry had offered to view a video of my horse's gait,


Well, I can view a video of your horse's gait, if you want!  I'm no Jaye 
Perry, but I'm at least another set of eyes.  Can't help you with the 
farrier issue, though ...

-Abby B


-- 
* * *
Abby Bloxsom
ARICP Certified Instructor
Level III Recreational and Distance Riding
Colebrook, CT USA
goneriding@snet.net