re: paring of sole and frog

["mary h golden" <mmoore@imcnet.net>]

hi laura hayes...and everyone else who has responded

this is becoming SUCH a quandry for me.  i want to do the best for ALL the
horses that i have (four of them).  the farrier is doing ONE thing...the 
barn manager has a completley different philosophy...then the vet (who
happened to stop  by last night to say hi...so i asked).....and then theres
ridecamp!!  help!!

so this is what im getting from all sides.  yep.  everything is pared down.
 dottie (the problem mare im speaking of), does have concave sole anyway. 
she just is ouchy.  problem:  we took a good look at ole dotter's feet last
night.  she definitely has a frog problem..and growing it IS the problem!!
front feet have always had a thrush problem, but she never truly grows a
real good cushy frog.   in fact. im lucky if she ever gets one at all. 
time for hoof supplement suggestions!

so now the farrier dilemma:  colin gaskell of cazenovia new york is our
farrier at this barn im at.  colin is good at what he does -- event horses
and high speed show horses (he used to do all the farriery for the canadian
olympic team before he moved to the states).  colin knows a lot...but he
does NOT take criticism lightly.  well, let me facce it -- he doesnt take
it AT ALL.  (and if he's on this list...i will have to find a new farrier. 
and there are NONE around here).  right now we all spent half an hour last
night trying oto
figure out how to tell colin that it looks like ole dot is growing out
funny...or is it the trim job?  her heels on three feet are uneven.

then theres the frog thing.  my  vet (former endurance rider/UC Davis grad)
isnt so sure she buys the leave the sole alone thing.  maybe i just didnt
explain it to her well enough.  she thinks it may cause the sole to grow
convexly if you just trim the outside and where the shoe goes.  i can see
her point.  maybe its the way i lamely tried to explain it.  we both can
see the issue with leaving the frog along.  my other three horses have
fabulous feet (of course they do;  theyre arabs), but poor paint dotie was
bred at a time when teeny feet where the range (morons) and now there is
this frog thing.

its like pulling my hair out.  not sure which way to turn.  not a darn
endurance person that i know of within god know how many hours
of me......Help???  can anyone out there give me a full in super-detail
description of this trimming/shoeing method so that i can delicately
present it to the farrier this monday morning?  i am already going to order
that TB Journal article...even if for my own information.

Mary Golden
Northeast ------ watertown, new york actually (on the st. lawrence river)
Getting pretty depresssed over this whole thing...even if some of you might
find it trivial :-)


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