Tamtam and Eric meet the farrier

14 February 2016

Valentine's day.....but no cards or flowers for this blogger! Sunday too....but we're still working at Willy's! As is he!

The farrier arrived in the morning to shoe Eric and Tamtam.  Serge, the farrier, informed me that the vet, Yves, had called and talked to him about what needed to be done. Eric went first. He was last shod on 9 January about 5 weeks ago. He made a number of changes to Eric's feet and shoes:
(1) He fitted lighter 8mm thick shoes as opposed to the 10mm shoes he had before. I asked why and he said that they are lighter and therefore the horse moves easier in them;
(2) He fitted shoes with a wider bearing surface and with a slightly broader surface still at the outside heel to provide the heels with more support;
(3) He fitted rear shoes a size larger than had been fitted before;
(4) He rebalanced all the feet but paid particular attention to the right hind. He explained that the shoe was twisted on his foot;
(5) He shod him cold. He told me that it is better than hot shoeing. I was surprised. I have always been led to believe that hot shoeing is better as it allows the farrier to tailor the shoe to provide an exact fit. This farrier said that often hot shoeing (or burning) is used to cheat rather than seat a fit. I looked on the internet and there is a lot of controversy on discussion forums about this. A useful informative article I found is this one http://www.equiworld.net/horses/horsecare/hoofcare/hotorcold.htm

Here is a photo of Eric's hinds before:

And here is a photo of the right hind hoof with the new shoe. If you look carefully you can see how much further back the last nail is on the shoe...in contrast to the small difference in the holes from the previous 2 shoeings. Notice the support for the heels.

Tamtam was next. The key with Tamtam is providing sufficient support for his collapsed heels. Eric has very good feet and strong heels so he doesn't have this problem.You can see the collapsed heels very clearly on this photo taken before he was shod:

Here is one of Tamtam's front feet with the new shoe in place:

You can clearly see the support for the collapsed heels.

Serge explained that there is a huge element of fashion with shoeing these days. For example he has noted that a lot of horses are being shod with quarter clips in front rather than toe clips. In his view this restricts the natural expansion and contraction of the foot during movement and this can have long term consequences as the horse carries most of his weight on his forehand. For sure the management of the horse's feet is a controversial topic in the horse world.

We will see how Eric and Tamtam get on with their new shoes. They will be shod several times by Serge before they return home.

In the afternoon we left with Argenta in the horsebox to return her to her rider, Josephine, and to visit the family's farm. We watched Josephine ride Argenta over fences in the indoor school. Josephine rides quietly and the mare responds well to her. They have a good partnership.....the three of them...Argenta, Josephine and Willy. Afterwards we talked about Josephine's ambitions (she wants to go to the olympics showjumping) and how the family have been influenced by Willy's approach. Josephine told me that she has learned to listen to her horse, to work with a strong support team and to ensure her horse is well nourished. We will be visiting again in the coming week so that Josephine can profit from Willy's advice during the school holidays.

On the way back Willy, Geertrude and I talked about another controversial topic "alternative therapies". Willy told me that he is completely open to anything new. He will try anything but the most important thing is the results. If he doesn't see the results he stops.Some time ago I wrote a "spoof" article about these alternative therapies. It is funny but there is an important message and some questions for you to ponder at the end. You can find the article at http://learningrider.blogspot.fr/2011/08/story-of-stones-by-kerry-turner.html

On our return we went out for a hack. Willy and Geertrude in a carriage pulled by Antonio (one of Willy's new forest pony stallions) with Casper (the other pony stallion)  in tow. I accompanied them on Eric. There had been a lot of rain and the river had burst it's banks. The little stream I had forded with Willy when we did our previous hack earlier in the week was a raging torrent. If it had been my choice we would not have crossed....but Willy was in charge and as determined as ever we crossed. The water came up to my saddle! My heart was in my mouth! But we made it.

This is Willy's way. He does nothing by halves. He believes and he commits. He is like that raging river....carrying me along to a new destination.