Keep in
mind that most farriers, like vets etc., have to deal with a lot of AWFUL
customers - between misbehaving horses and owners... people who've read an
article & decide they know all about shoeing... those who don't pay their
bills.... those who leave post-its on the stable door ( they are NEVER there
just so they don't have to pay straight up) "please ensure feet are
trimmed properly" ( happened to my husband last week, came from a
person who cannot pick out her horse's feet herself 'cause horse is so
uneducated he won't let her), young horses which have never been handled
and it's up to the farrier to teach them to lift their feet & stand...
not to mention some of the awful conditions some horses live in
& the constant losing of shoes due to very muddy fields, people riding twice
a month & going for mad gallops in very deep footing... stables
with layers & layers of acid manure eating away at the horse's feet
& people complaining about hoof condition ( must be the farrier's
fault!) etc etc, those owners who treat their horses like motorbikes....
AMEN to that! I could
tell you story after story of farriers getting blamed for some problem or
another, and the conditions that they work in. Can you imagine trying to shoe a
horse in SNOW? How about 6 inches of mud?? Yet people expect it to be done.
Then there are rogue horses that need a good disciplining and you can’t
do anything while this horse is ready to pound you into the ground and the
owner is standing there at their head keening, “Oh he’s sooo scared
and nervous!” Good grief.
I trimmed a blind Appaloosa
several weeks ago that was standing in a stall with… no lie… at
least a foot deep solid manure. The only thing that kept me from calling the
SPCA is the knowledge that the Appy and his pony friend lived outside almost
24/7 and only came in the stalls for shelter.
Had a lady a few weeks
back getting her large Thoroughbred shod tell me that she’d had an equine
massage student out to look at her horse. Well this horse has a very sore back
and the girl said the horse’s back was sore because the angles of his
hooves were wrong, and the owner believed her. After feeling the horse’s
back and taking one glance at the saddle on the wall I asked, “Have you ever
had your saddle checked for fit?” She replied,
“Yes, I know it
doesn’t fit well at all, I just had it restuffed but I need to get
another one. They’re just so expensive.”
I could see without even putting the
saddle on that the pommel wasn’t cut out enough. This horse had monstrous
withers.
“Have you tried a
channel pad or wither relief pad?”
“Well, no.”
This is the same woman
who doesn’t understand why her loving 17hh Thoroughbred would buck her
off one day in a field when she hadn’t ridden her in 4 weeks and was
riding in a saddle that was crushing her withers. Of course, it MUST be because
the angle of her hooves was wrong. Ummm yeah.
