Agree to disagree....imo if your trim can cause ((serious damage / harm/ pain/ whatever to for the horse)).... You may wanna look at how your trimming the horse..but Ricks been at this a long time so to each is own ..
LMAO!! There is a chance that the horse could kick us in the head and stomp our guts out but we all get up and go to work everyday. Everything we do is taking a chance as you say Rick, It Depends.
I'm still waiting for someone to answer that question too, Travis. I'm obviously missing something. I leave a little more foot on a barefoot horse, just being conservative, but when shoeing a horse I don't take so much off that he couldn't survive if I left the shoes off, or he lost one, or encountered some rough ground. Shoes add additional protection, but the trim isn't all that much different, in my custom. Maybe someone can educate me further. On the other hand, I don't remember ever touching tool to foot without knowing whether or not the horse was going to be barefoot or shod. Does this happen to you guys a lot? Regards
Here's the difference in my shod vs left bare trim. "Rolled Edges" I may get more aggressive if tackling distortion on a shod foot. Also I do burn 'em in more, like Travis.
I'm pretty much with what Rick Shepard said above.... with the exception of maybe "touching tool to foot" to remove someone's shoes and prep the foot a bit before we make a decision whether to shoe again or not. But, in general, most of my shod feet would probably survive without catastrophe if they had to go without shoes after having already been trimmed to accept shoes. The ones that wouldn't do well would probably be the ones with pathologies that the applied orthotics were assisting and would therefore be sore without their shoes, but not because of the trim. There is a difference between my trim for shoes and trim for barefoot, but it's not so significant that it would be likely to cripple the horse to the extent of testing my liability insurance????? I have settled on modalities that I wasn't completely on board with under a Vet's direction, and in such cases, I have the vet sign off on my invoice that the work was done " as per Veterinarian prescription/direction". If I truly think that something is so far off track that it will do harm to the horse, I'll load the truck and drive off... Dave
