New Farrier

Chrome doesn't look too happy in the above picture but I promise he wasn't upset. I don't know what that expression was about unless maybe I had just gotten on to him for being mouthy. It look like I'm petting him in the pictures so maybe he was just chilling. I don't know but aren't his new feet pretty? I'll get pictures of him on the road out front tomorrow or something so you can see them better.

Anyway I really like my new farrier. And, get this, he lives two miles down the road. I could literally walk to his house if I needed to. I also found out he actually trims for my neighbor too. He doesn't do shoes at all, just barefoot trimming. He seems really nice. He brought his wife with him and the four of us stood around and talked for a little while after he was done with Chrome. He invited us to go squirrel hunting sometime so his dog can teach Jackal how to hunt (yay!). They were both really nice.

The poor guy was in a lot of pain. He hurt his back a couple of days ago and was hurting almost as bad as my husband. Well maybe not that bad. The reason I don't have many pictures is because my husband broke out into a sweat just holding my little digital camera. :( He's fine once he sits down though.

Anyway the farrier said that Chrome has really great feet and that I shouldn't change a thing I'm doing with him because I'm doing everything right. He was surprised and happy when I told him I use salt water for the thrush because that's what he tells his clients to use and nobody will do it because it doesn't have a brand name. *rolling my eyes* Some of the people around here are really stupid. He was happy, and not at all surprised, when he heard I was having such great success with it.

He said Chrome's feet were very unbalanced because they haven't been trimmed before, but that structurally they are very strong and healthy. He said he naturally has steep angles (his rear legs are pretty straight) so he said don't worry about the short toes so much. We'll work on getting his heels lowered slowly over time so we don't make him sore.

He trimmed him, balanced his feet and trimmed back the frogs. He did point out an area on one rear hoof where the white line is separating a bit, but he said it'll grow out fine when we trim them regularly. He likes to trim his own horses every three weeks, but normally does his clients' horses every five weeks. He said I can go longer than that if I want since I have rocky ground. Depending on the money situation I might do it every three weeks for a while. I can always do a little rasping in between visits. He said the fronts were much better than the backs so apparently the rasping I was doing was helping.

Here is a picture of the rear hoof with the mild white line separation. The farrier was full of compliments for Chrome and I could tell he was genuine and not the type of guy to toss around compliments for flattery sake. He agrees he's going to be big and he'll make the 15.2hh mark easily. He liked Chrome's temperament and said I was doing a great job with him. I love getting compliments on Chrome. It's like being told your child is a genius by the school principle lol. :D

Anyway I am so happy I found a farrier I like. He seems like a nice guy who seems very genuine and honest. :) He was very nice to Chrome, even gave him a bit of a cuddle, and was very patient with him. He's just so different from the jerks we had available when I was a kid who would hit our horses with a rasp for trying to pull away (we did not have that particular farrier back ever again). And I'm so happy he didn't see anything to be majorly concerned about. He did notice the rear hoof looked clubby, but we should be able to get it back to normal. If it is a club hoof it's very mild. I'll just have to keep in mind when he's older that he has steep angles and straight rear legs so there won't be any jumping in our future (which I'm totally fine with). :) I'll get more pictures when I can.

Oh and thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. I do feel like downsizing is the best thing right now and as one of my followers pointed out it'll give me more time to go riding in a couple of years when he's ready. :) I'm so looking forward to that!