"Cribbing is a common vice in domestic and captive horses, although there is no official documentation of it in free-roaming wild horses or other species"  Introduction Cribbing is a common vice in domestic and captive horses, although there is no official documentation of it in free-roaming wild horses or other species (Waran, Clarke et al. 2008, Wickens and Heleski 2010). Cribbing horses latch on to an object, usually wooden, with their incisors and contract their neck muscles to draw air into their oesophagus (McGreevy and Nicol 1998, Wickens and Heleski 2010). This behaviour has been ..read more

Over the last few years a horse owner noticed their horse was a little stiff on a certain rein, a little tender on a certain surface, a little more hesitant approaching the jump. But nothing gets said, its just a thought in the back of their mind, the horse is fine at the next ride so they forget all about it for a while. Then, one day, he starts refusing to canter. He's clearly lame on hard ground. He has started to refuse showjumps. And they ask me what I did different at the last visit. "Nothing, but now that you've told me there is a problem, maybe we can do something for him. Can we get a ..read more

Here's a little (read: long and angry) post about what I like to call the spring time shuffle. Around this time of year, every year, two things happen. 1. We get complaints from a handful of (generally predictable) people whose horses have been trimmed just fine for the last several months suddenly saying their horse was "trimmed too short" this last visit. And 2. We get a massive influx of enquiries from new clients who are looking for a new farrier because their last farrier "trimmed them too short". Now, I can understand this logic if you're either new to horses, or this happens on the ..read more

Had trouble finding a good farrier and now not sure how to keep them? Keep having farriers come once and then never return your calls again? Or maybe you're delighted you've had the same farrier for 10 years but you don't understand why they won't return your neighbors calls? Consider the following tips for how to keep your farrier happy! 1. Be at the appointment and have your horses caught and tied up before the farrier arrives. (Like this wonderful model client has!). If you can't have them tied up, have them yarded and quick to reach. You might think it only takes 10 minutes to put one b ..read more

"You're the BEST farrier ever! The last 27 that I've used were all terrible. But not you, cause you're SPECIAL!" If you've been in the industry long enough, I'm sure you've heard this before. However, I thought for a long time that I was the only numpty that hadn't realised this was a red flag until I'd been burnt a few times, especially when its more subtle than this. But more recently, and especially with the influx of young / new trimmers and farriers coming through, its been brought to my attention more and more that hoof care practitioners are being unpleasantly surprised by these cu ..read more

"In the nail department I'm the equivalent of a wild mustang..." A few weeks ago a good friend of mine was visiting, she's mad in to acrylic nails and I decided it would be a fun, girly thing to go get our nails done together. Ohhhhh how wrong I was.  In the nail department I'm the equivalent of a wild mustang, my natural nails are amazing! Hers are apparently closer to that of a 20 year old thoroughbred with laminitis. When she gets her nails done its a liberating, helpful, beneficial experience. For me it was like some sort of medieval torture   See photo above of my beautif ..read more

It's been a busy year for us this year, so sorry for the gaps in the posts! But I finally have a spare moment to update regarding out little weekend away at a Pete Ramey clinic. I attended the ISAE Regional Meeting in New Zealand (preceded by several days of Hobbit hunting around the countryside), presented, caught the RedEye home, home for 8 hours, drove 9 hours to Canberra stopping at as many of Australia's Iconic-Big-Things as we could on the way, arrived in some sort of overly tired, V-fueled daze, and then had a bit of a breakdown over dinner when we needed to produce ID, pay a $2 members ..read more

"Barefoot vs Shoes? Is the question ever really that simple?" “The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision. - George Eliot” Barefoot vs Shoes? Is the question ever really that simple? And then ask a certain subculture of barefooters and it will be "Yes, definitely barefoot, but not THEIR barefoot, OUR barefoot". The same happens with farriers! (Just, in my experience, to a lesser extent). We have so many different qualifications available, and as always there are certain individuals in any school who like to perpetuate the "our school is better than yours" routi ..read more

"Trimming is a subtractive process, shoeing (composites, glue or otherwise) is an additive process" First of all, apologies for the delay in writing this post, but my goodness I have been flat out! Between uni, trimming, the online store, my own horses, and my personal life there has hardly been a minute to catch my breath since this workshop. Largely because I've been so busy using all the information I've learnt from it!  Daisy Bicking, of Daisy Haven Farm Inc., is an dynamic, innovative (ha, see what I did there? She's PERFECT for us!) farrier from Pennsylvania, USA, who spe ..read more

Feb 8 2016 You know the scene all too well, you get a wall post from one of your facebook horse health groups. "Hai guyz, this chunk off hoof is just like falling of my horse, is there anything i can feed him or rub on it too make it heel up quicker?" (abysmal spelling not a typo, I'm adding to the realism here). And the photo that accompanies the post: "Oh my GAWD, FIRE your Farrier!" Says one person. "I hope you didn't pay for that trim!" says another person.  And the poor poster who maybe never meant anything harmful about their farriers work starts to wonder "Maybe they ARE doing ..read more