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Tried a barefoot trim on a horse with chronic laminitis and it actually worked better than I expected
I've been a farrier for about 8 years now and always went straight to shoes for laminitis cases. Last spring I had a client in Boise whose mare kept pulling shoes anyway. Owner asked me to try barefoot with some heavy rasping and a bevel. Three months later that horse is sounder than she was with shoes. Made me question a lot of what I learned at school. Any other farriers had a case where going against the standard protocol paid off?
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the_rowan4mo ago
Jumped on a similar case about two years back, a rescue pony with founder so bad I figured he'd be lame forever. Owner was dead set against shoes, said she'd rather put him down than keep fighting with them. Did a really aggressive barefoot trim with a ton of heel relief and a mustang roll, and that little dude is now sound enough to do light trail rides. It totally shook my whole belief system, you know? Like, here I am thinking I know the science, and then a horse comes along and proves the textbook is just a suggestion. Makes you wonder how many other "rules" we follow are just old habits that nobody's bothered to question yet.
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vera1954mo ago
Dude talk about a plot twist, right? I swear half of what they teach in school is just tradition dressed up as science. Glad it worked out for you, sometimes the horse knows better than the textbook.
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rileygarcia4mo ago
Wait, is that actually true for a lot of people? I used to totally roll my eyes at that kind of stuff, like "just read the textbook and you'll be fine." But then I had this history teacher who was super into the standard version of events, and I found an old letter from a regular soldier that told a totally different story. Made me realize the textbook is just one person's version of the truth, not the whole picture. Kinda humbling honestly.
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