The Many Reasons I Love my Farrier

• ·       She does what’s best for the horse

She’s not concerned with what’s pretty or trying to make the hoof conform to an “ideal”. She’s more than happy to change what she’s doing depending on feedback from the horse. Her goal is a comfortable horse, regardless of what that looks like for that specific horse. Jetta is one of those weird horses – she gets sore every time her bars are trimmed. So we don’t trim her bars and she’s happy and sound. She has a slight medial flare on her hind feet. But she needs that or she would have very unbalanced feet with all the weight-bearing falling laterally. She travels well and is comfortable with what AC does.

• ·       She drives an hour+ to come do my horses.

She says she’s semi-retired and just trimming part time now. “Only the people I like”.  She has a kid and lots of her own animals to take care of at home, but she makes the time to make a long drive up to see my girls. I had a moment of panic when she said her plan is to retire in three years, though I doubt I’ll be living in the same area once I get out of vet school. I’ll miss her!

• ·       She is just a plain good person, the kind that gives you faith in humanity

She doesn’t charge me for trimming baby. She says that because baby horses can change so rapidly, she trims them for free for their first year of life because she never wants someone not to call her to trim due to money. Some babies can need trims every 4 weeks to help prevent or reduce angular limb deformities.

When I got Jetta as a 2-year old she used to come out 2 or 3 times a week and just trim one hoof at a time and helped me work through her many hoof- and behavior-related issues. Jetta used to try to kick her in the head or lay down while trimming and since she considered her a rescue horse, she didn’t charge me those first couple months and she was always good with handling Jetta.

When I was looking for a farrier before AC I had a lady out and she smacked my horse Jazz (the NICEST most polite horse ever) with her rasp and I definitely didn’t have her out again. AC also rescues animals and retires horses to her little farm just to give them a good life.

Adorable little baby feet

• ·       She’s just so dang nice

There was another farrier at my barn doing shoes while she was trimming Jetta. He was REALLY rude but she just took it in stride. He stopped what he was doing to come watch her trim and kept asking her questions about “why wasn’t she doing this” or “what about that, are you just leaving that”. Then he ridiculed her for how little she charges for trimming. But AC was just her normal polite self. Jetta has always been happy barefoot and I have no complaints about how she does her feet. She grows them like she does for a reason and we’ve fixed a lot of problems barefoot – she had ridiculous quarter cracks on her hind feet, recurring abscesses, etc. I make no secret of the fact that I believe horses will have less problems and have healthier feet long term staying barefoot. I won’t ridicule people for choosing the convenience of shoes, but it’s insane the amount of ridicule I receive for having a happy barefoot horse.

AC also brought me fresh eggs “because I know you’re a college student and you need healthy food”. Have I mentioned I love this woman?