Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I'm wondering how you guys who do long rides prefer to do your horses' 
feet. This is not a barefoot/shoe question, but a philosophical question. 
is there a prevailing type of shoeing people like.  For example, my 
favorite shoeing job that my horse ever had was done by a farrier in East 
Texas who follows the Lyle "Bergy" Bergeleen method. She moved great. I 
brought her home and have tried for a year to get my farrier to trim my 
mare shorter or shoe her shorter, and he has flat refused saying that the 
way she was done was just plain "wrong"  After an unfortunate stumbling 
incident last night (only five weeks since was trimmed and she's been 
stumbling for 2 weeks already) I've decided to look for another farrier, 
and I'm looking for one trained in this method. I think i've found one and 
I'm in the process of getting an appointment.

What I wonder is: do "dressage people" and "endurance people" do their 
horses' feet differently? Am I experiencing a fundamental difference in 
expectation and philosophy with my current farrier?  The other women at our 
barn, who all do just dressage, as opposed to a combination of both, as I 
do, think he's just the cat's meow and it seems to me that I've been 
struggling for 2 years to get her feet done properly and the toe just gets 
longer and longer. Two years ago, I rarely even considered shoeing, but now 
he take off so little and she grows so much that she's falling all over 
herself. The farrier says he can't trim her shorter unless he shoes her, 
which is not necessarily true.

anyway, i'm not interested in a shoes/no shoes thread. I am curious about 
how your keep your horses' feet though, short, long, indifferent, etc.


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