Had my horses feet trimmed tonight and it got me to wondering "how do you know if your horses feet are getting trimmed properly and correctly"???

Have really started to think about it recently due to a couple of conversations I have had with a few other horses owners. A couple of us were using the same farrier, then two of them suddenly decided that this person wasn't doing it right. Said the farrier was trimming to short and making the hooves look blocky. I haven't noticed this with my horses. This is the third farrier I have had over a 20 year period and am pretty satisfied with her. I have always trusted them cuz I assume they are a skilled professional and know what they are doing. The other two have only been horse owners for a few years, so I am not quite sure why they switch farriers so much other than they aren't educated enough yet. So how does a person really know???

Any information that you get here like length recommendations are just that, recommendations!  Each horse is different and each hoof on that horse is unique.  I like to find highly trained farriers that come with professional association memberships (not breed clubs but the journeyman farrier association, etc.) and always the reference of an equine vet.  If you've owned horses long enough to know what a good farrier is, then you just know in your gut that your horses are getting the hoof care you feel suits them.  Not every horse needs $1200 front shoes, nor does every horse need a $25 trim job...to each his own.

If you hear a farrier tell you that all horses of a certain breed should all be shod/trimmed one way, please find another farrier!

That is kind of what I have always thought...The one gal told me that she called the farrier who used to trim her horses hooves and he said that one she had before trimmed them too short. The other gal said that the guy (same guy as the first gal had) said that her horse's hooves were too blocky....The person who trimmed them (the 1st time) is the same one that came to my house tonight and I couldn't see anything wrong....Will look at them more closely tomorrow...

Some horses get "ouchy" if they don't have enough toe/heel/sole under the part that hurts.  Other horses can't have longer feet because of reasons like cracks, thrush, collapsed heels, etc.  And some owners just want feet that look a certain way, which is really, really the worst way to care for the hoof IMHO.

If you are happy, your horses are happy and your vet likes what they see then you are with the right farrier for the time being...and sometimes things change.

There are several websites that discuss barefoot trims.  They give description, have pictures and some even have videos on YouTube.

Just google barefoot trim

I'm not suggesting that you want a totally barefoot horse.  But these sites are very vocal about Barefoot being the best solution. Whether it is or not, at least they will help to educate you about what a trim should look like.

The owner of Pacific Bailey (yes, that goes back about 30 years) told my farrier "Just shoe them the way they stand"

The performance of your own horses as individuals with individual needs, and the ability and willingness of the vet/farrier to collaberate are good indicators. 

This is our business, of 40 years, Congress and World champions, and $$ TB's, fixing problems that HAD to have a solution...........and more is to be gained by letting your work and ability to improve a horse and letting that speak for you, rather than run down someone else's work.

If barefoot works, great, if not, shoes are great also...it is an individual animal in an individual situation, with individual needs.  

We have used the same guy for years now and still not real happy.  He gets in a hurry, talks on the phone the whole time. He only does 4 half shoes and 6 trims every 6 WEEKS just like clock work.  The last few times we have noticed that 4 or 5 of the horses, look like they are low in the heel.  All he said was he would fix it!

So we found another man that is into the "natural barefoot" trimming.  We have done 3 of ours that we leave barefoot and just after the first trimming we can tell a big difference in the hoof and hoof wall.  So we are now going to go barefoot on everythiing.  The only reason we did half shoes was because we live on rocky ground and we had a couple staying tender footed.

I had a similar problem in trying to figure out if the farrier was doing well or not.  The average horse owner, IMO, is just not educated enough to know if they should be taking their farrier to task for the job he is doing. 

Last year I must have read every website on trimming there was.  I ordered Gene Ovnicek's videos and watched them all 3 times, even loaned them to the farrier.  My conclusions?  That while my current farrier was doing well on most of my horses, there was one that was deteriorating, something I had suspected all along. 

Last week I hauled that particular horse 2 hours away to another farrier who trimmed him beautifully, and for the first time in 6 months, the horse is sound, sound, sound.

We are the last line of defense for our horses.  Choosing between the old farrier's potentially hurt feelings, and the ability to walk soundly for my gelding, is not much of a decision at all.

My farrier has been doing my horses for fifteen years. He's not cheap but I don't want to mess up a good thing. He trims according to the conformation of the horse. I had only two horses that needed shoes.....One due to laminitis and corrective shoeing was needed, the other had thin soles and crappy frogs.

In the spring the horses can be a little tender, but with gradual exposure to gravel roads and rockier trails they toughen up without any bruising etc......I look at it like human feet. If you always wear shoes......