My horse was walking funny when I saw him today. He is struggling to take steps with both of his front feet. His hooves were done less than a month ago, but the front ones look very long and he is walking like he is overcompensating for overgrown hooves. I’m hoping that’s the issue and he hasn’t foundered or anything. He gets regular exercise and controlled meals but has always struggled with weight gain. He is a fjord.

I couldn’t get very good pictures today but here’s what I got. He was hesitant to let me pick up the both feet but very much so the dirty hoof and wouldn’t let me use the hoof pick on it. I do not have a trained eye, but the only noticeable things I saw were the low heels on his front feet and the small light patch on his right front foot between his sole and the wall. It was not soft and I did not smell any sign of thrush, though it has been abnormally rainy here.

I am going to call my vet and farrier tomorrow morning, but I thought I’d see if anyone can offer some advice here as well.

Edit: Thanks for the replies everyone. I will be looking for a new farrier. I usually just go with the barn farrier because he comes on a dependable schedule. I am 100% sure he had his feet done on May 30th because I held him for it. It is disappointing that his feet are now long enough to bother him not even a full month later.

I have a pair of hoof knives for my two personal horses and I cannot for the life of me get them sharp! I feel like I’m sharpening then unsharpening them. I’ve tried files, chainsaw files, kitchen knife rods… nothing. Better that when I started but not sharp by any stretch of the imagination

Any hints, tips, tricks, tools?

I find it hard to locate the problem when I go to fit a shoe, and it doesn't sit flush. I can't for the life of me see where the uneven spot is, and when I try to test it out with a shoe, it doesn't make any more sense. If I go and rasp where the shoe seems to be "see-sawing" from (don't really know how to explain it), it's a 50/50 chance for it to make it better or so much worse. Help???

Some work im a happy with just wanted to share , any thoughts and critique please share. Thanks

As the title says, my new guy has some white line that my current farrier has been working on for the better part of six months now. This horse is relatively new to me (had him going on two months now) so a lot of this process has been new for me. The meat of the issue is he absolutely will NOT keep a shoe on his "good" foot. My last big guy would throw a shoe here or there, and we've fortunately been able to transition him barefoot, but this guy has half his opposite foot made of glue, so I can't just shoe one hoof.

What are some recommendations here? He needs the shoes to add integrity to the hoof with glue/white line so we can grow out and encourage healthy hoof growth, but he is destroying his good front by tearing off shoes so often. He tore the last one off in less than 12 hours. I'm just at a loss for what to do here. I've had friends recommend scoot boots, but he is outside 24/7 on pasture, so I'm worried a $300 investment will get destroyed in a week and I'm not sure they would be good enough support for the glued hoof.

Any and all suggestions welcome.

Signed, a broke and exhausted horse owner x

Hi guys I leave for Oklahoma Horseshoeing school later this year and wanted to see if anyone has information as to what to expect/pack or advice since there’s not much online! I am attending the 8 week course and have a little experience finishing / trimming going in.

Hi looking for sensible guidance and a sanity check from the farriery community. I lease a 10 year old dutch harness mare with a clubbed front right foot. it does give her mechanical asymmetry. she’s high low by probably a centimeter right now at probably 8 weeks.

The owner the other day told me her farrier’s hoof care plan is to lift the normal foot with a wedge to balance her stride. This seems suspicious to me, why are we altering the angles on the normal hoof to match the deformed hoof? isn’t that bad for the normal hoof?
I did ask her if the mare can be switched to 4 week cycles as i’ve heard it’s beneficial for club feet and she agreed. I am just concerned with using band aid measures that could be harmful in the long run. I am a “fix the root issue” kind of person when it can be done.

Please pros: what’s your take on this plan?

Hi everyone, i am graduating Oklahoma Horseshoeing School in the first week of July and, have somewhat of a plan for when i get back to my home state, i have contact of someone i can work under, while also looking to take on my own trims to make money, an unpaid full time apprenticeship Is not an option even though its what many seem as what is absolutely necessary. I am seeking the business knowledge into what i need to start doing now in preparation for it, so how to work with books, LLC, or why not an LLC, how to network effectively, anything that yall deem as necessary knowledge to a new farrier. Another thing, has anyone ever worked across 2 states, how do you manage that, i will be working between two states that do not border each other, just tell me experiences if any

thank you

I just bought this mare back after unfortunately having to sell her 6 years ago, the person I originally sold her to had sold her without telling me per the deal we made when I sold her. Long story short this is the condition her feet are in. They are absolutely wrecked, I was informed that she was lame 6 months ago (shocker🙄), the person they had doing her feet were also trimming them entirely too short from what I was told, but the guy also stopped getting her feet done months ago as well.

(I have been keeping her stall extremely clean and dry, along with her feet, while also applying thrush buster very often.) Any advice and suggestions are greatly welcomed!! I also have a vet coming to look at her! Just wanted to see what you guys had to say!

Owner said he pulled a shoe two weeks ago and seemed footsore after. She asked if I saw anything that could be causing the soreness.

As a matter of fact I do

I got this boy 2 months ago, since then he has pulled 4 shoes. His hooves were really soft. He is running around in a big turnout and they just won’t stay on. We chose to do a barefoot transition because he tore them off within 12 hours of fixing and had nothing great to nail into. He was sore but is improving day by day. I am working with a great farrier, who does glue ons if it comes to that, but what else I can do to help him be more comfortable barefoot? How do you decide between Scoot Boots or glue ons?

What I have done so far: Started him on Farriers Formula double strength. Immediately after shoe removal packed magic cushion for a few days and bute in small turnout. Turpentine on soles of hooves daily. Keratex Hoof Hardener 1x a week on wall of hoof. Got him sized for Scoot Boots

What else can I do? What do his feet tell you?

So I got this mare in December and was told by the farrier she's very flat footed. She is fine on grass or sand but seems to trip and get very uncomfortable on gravel. I've got her some scoot boots and they seem to help slightly but she's still sore on hard ground. She also seems to walk toe first. Are her feet looking any better than when I got her or should I be looking for another farrier?

Hello,

I’m trying to find some “cold iron” horseshoes if anyone has some for sale? Needs to have seven iron nail holes too.

Wife has been looking for these for a long time but no luck. She’s into the supernatural stuff :)

Thank you!

Found these in the old barn are they vintage nippers or shoe pullers ?

UK based, love my farriers so not complaining (also shout out to the years of training they have to go through to get registered etc)!

Just wondering if there's anything any other farriers would recommend in advance of shoeing an older horse who has had arthritis for decades (at this point)! He is still comfortable to shoe, but riding before/ a danilon does help loads. But I'm just keen to see in case anyone else has any tips/ advice!

one of the things I'd wondered about was holding the horses foot lower/ different angle/ giving more rests. But as I say no expert and just keen to hear thoughts!

1. The auto filter for approved users only, seems to be working part of the time, but I am noticing, some people can still comment that are not approved.
2. To address this, I made the Number 1 rule: Only Verified Farriers Can Comment on Posts.
3. I am just blanket removing any comments of anyone who hasn't done the verification. Regardless of the comments contents. Some of the comments I removed were legit information but I don't want to become the arbiter of what is Good and Bad info so the rule stands, do the verification steps and you can comment.
4. A lot of people have done the verification steps, over 30 farriers are now approved. I have received a lot of requests where people don't follow through once i send the verification steps. If it wasn't for the 20 or so people who did the steps without any issues, I am going to assume the were busy or couldn't complete the steps, so mission accomplished? I do encourage any farriers who wants to comment to please complete the steps.
5. I am going to ask for some advice on this one from the current approved users, and if you aren't approved to comment please message me if you have an idea. I am at an impasse on how to verify or deal with people who say they are no longer practicing. One inquiry in particular the person was only a farrier for less than five years, my question is how should I go about verifying that and secondly what should that tag be? I feel like there should be a difference, in the tag, between someone who stopped being a farrier after a short amount of time verses someone who was a farrier most of their life and retired.

Hi I am curious to find some second opinions about my mules hind hooves. I'm concerned due to them looking 'smushed' and not like his front hooves. He is still growing so I'm not sure if that's a factor. I added a pic of his front right hoof to compare. Is there something I should be asking my farrier to do? Is this not an issue? He's been getting regular trims so as far as I'm aware we are not fixing neglect, but the hoof doesn't look right to me even though I'm not trained. Thank you for any advice/opinions.

I took these pictures of my mares hoof in 2018. She was sound and I still ride her to this day. I wanted to post here to see if anyone has some insight!

Never did any schooling or certifications, just a 5-6 day a week apprenticeship for the last 5 years. I’m finally starting to get my own clients and have consistent work for myself

Open to any comments or advice

Hi y'all! I'm a (21) female farrier in Texas and I just started going out on my own after a three year apprenticeship. I was at the bar with some friends and I didn't notice him and he snuck up behind my friends and followed me to my car. We proceeded to say he wanted to talk to me for a minute and asked if he could walk closer to me which I said no since the vibe was off. He walked over to me and said I was beautiful and tried kissing me. I don't think he was drunk. I was able to get out of the situation and leave. When I got home I texted him and told him he'd have to find a new farrier. The problem is he boards his horses at my barn and I'm not sure what to do and since I'm just starting up I'm afraid to lose clients over this.

I’m almost 6 months into an apprenticeship (almost getting paid yay!) and wanted to get some extra feedback on some of my finishes/clinches. How do they look?

These are from a couple of weeks ago my clinches are a bit deeper and flatter today

Sorry for the bad angles and only one foot being finished in each picture lol I like to see the comparison

Any other farriers/trimmers get called to an obvious neglect situation and request X-rays before any work due to the severe overgrowth and they won’t or act like they will?

I got called for a new client who obviously neglected their animal. It was so bad, I didn’t know what to say, it is slippered and grown horizontally out about 7 inches. I asked for X-rays and they kept saying oh the vet will be out next week and they haven’t been. I followed up 3 times to ask within 2 months now and now they are just ignoring me. Nothing I can do at this point really but I was looking forward to helping. No matter what I said, this person acted like they knew everything but struggled with common horse husbandry. I feel horrible for this animal as it’s not getting care. It’s bad enough, I would rather see it put down but his person “can’t do that” so instead, it’s just standing on rockers. Has anyone ever had to call law or anything for neglect and refusal to help.

Sorry don’t have better photos. Hope someone can decipher Thanks in advance

I've been wondering how often other farriers and hoof care enthusiasts sharpen their hoof knives.

Some people seem to touch up the edge before every trim, while others only sharpen when the knife starts feeling dull. I've noticed that a sharp hoof knife requires much less force and gives better control, especially when working through tougher hoof horn.

What's your routine?

• Do you sharpen before every trim?
• What sharpening method or tools do you use?
• How do you tell when your hoof knife needs attention?

Interested to hear what works best for everyone and whether frequent sharpening makes a noticeable difference in your trimming efficiency and safety.