I had hoped to be able to pull Miles’ shoes during the winter and give his feet a chance to breathe, but that didn’t happen. In fact, this barefoot adventure might not have happened at all, were it not for his farrier (A) mention a “N” (as in ‘nail’) word in describing what would be needed with the upcoming wet weather. I immediately had flashbacks to last year when, not only was Miles throwing shoes, but one day after the nails were tightened on a shoe one of those incredible storms came through and he tore off not only the shoe, but a good chunk of his hoof as well. It took most of the summer for that to grow out. I was not interested in going through that experience again. So I probably over-reacted a bit. I shot an email to farrier (A) and mentioned that I wanted to hold off on Miles’ regular shoeing date so that his hooves could be evaluated by a couple of barefoot farriers to see if he could transition to bare feet. I had been hopelessly naive. I had no understanding of the difference between a certified farrier and a barefoot trimmer. I only knew I had learned from reading that the barefoot trimmers believed virtually every horse would be better off without shoes, whereas the farriers seemed to take the position that there were horses that always needed to be shoed.
I had heard of a wonderful barefoot trimmer (B) who lived in the area. I was invited to watch them trim hooves, and was quite impressed. I felt certain the process, which looked deceptively simple, was, in fact, quite complex. Just the same, I was looking at nice horses with beautiful feet. I was also aware of horses at our barn who had barefoot trimmers trim their feet, and had seen more beautiful feet — some even with the Jaime Jackson “mustang roll”, which, for those obsessed (out of innate interest or fate) with hooves, were the loveliest of all. Why would I not want Miles to have a beautiful rolled edge on his front hooves? It all seemed to make sense.
But then I received an email from his farrier (A) saying the barefoot trimmers had no real training and shouldn’t be allowed near Miles’ feet. I did have some understanding of the depth of knowledge the farriers have from nearly taking a horse-owner’s farrier class at a school in the area. So, as I thought about it, this did ring true. So there I was, in the middle of ‘farrier wars’. At that point, I just became confused. I did not know what to do.
I spoke with other horse owners at the barn — they are incredibly valuable to someone as new at horse ownership as I am. I spoke with some who used farriers, others who used trimmers. I came to realize that I really needed to blitz. So I spent the better part of a morning with a notebook, just jotting down all the thoughts I had had, and attempting to define the areas of confusion. Slowly, the fog began to life, and I realized what I needed to know: (1) which is the better background and training for Miles with his ‘tricky feet’? and (2) what is the difference between a farrier ‘pasture trim’ and a barefoot trim?
So for anyone who happens to be in a fog about their horse’s hooves, I do suggest blitzing. Just take a notebook, grab a mug of coffee and a few quiet minutes, and jot down anything that comes to your mind. This strategy works really well for clarifying an issue like this.
Once I blitzed, I realized that I was not comfortable dealing with anyone but a certified farrier, at least for the present time. I didn’t know enough or have enough experience to be able to evaluate a trimmer. But then, I needed to find someone who believed that Miles could transition to barefoot. It would help to have a vet who agreed with the possibility as well. As it turned out, a barn buddy’s farrier was coming out to trim her horses hooves, and had helped transition one of them to barefoot. They graciously encouraged me to ask him to take a look at Miles’ feet. “No problem,” he said. Then, it so happened that Miles’ vet from the old barn (who had done his pre-purchase and knew his feet) happened to be at our barn to float some teeth. He spent a half hour with hoof calipers, ruler, lights, examining Miles’ hooves. “You’ll never know if you don’t try,” he said, and gave us a cautious go-ahead.
The farrier/trimmer wars had ended in a victory for the barefoot adventure…
Hooves R Us 