Are you ready for your farrier to visit?
Your horse really needs shoeing about every 4 to 6 weeks. Some ponies manage to go 7 to 8 weeks depending on the growth of their feet. So it is good to make sure you have a good area that your farrier can work on.
First a flat area preferably concrete that the farrier can look at the horse and his hoof and work out what needs to be done.
If at all possible and area that has a roof over it so that both the horse and the farrier can stay dry whilst the horse is being shod.
A good natural source of light and if your are going into winter lights, so that the farrier can see what he is doing.
The horses feet to be dry and clean; some old towels also help take the dirt of the horse’s hoof.
A bucket of water ready for the hot shoes to be cooled off.
Have your horses or ponies in so that the farrier can get on with his work and then if at all you get caught out sometime, they are more likely to get a horse in for you.
Plenty of tea and coffee, white one sugar! Also biscuits.
It is also an idea to have the string ready on the ring ties and if you have a horse that might pull back, make sure you undo the knot so that they do not break free and are easier to keep hold of.
Remember if you look after your farrier he or she will look after you after all there is truth in the saying ‘no foot, no horse’ and 90 % of all lameness start in the foot.
We will be covering shoeing in the next couple of blog posts, so if you would like to know more about what is happening please feel free to leave your email address on the hot off the hoof blog or like our page Sam Goss Coaching on Facebook.