While most of our work at DFS is based around traditional trimming and shoeing techniques on sound horses, most especially english sport horses, there are times that we need to work on horses with extra special needs due to some type of pathology. When these needs arise it is imperative that we have the education and skill set required to help these horses.
During the course of normal trimming and shoeing appointments we are constantly correcting imbalances and distortions but it generally all falls within the scope of normal maintenance for the horse. For most horses with some type of pathology we are able to forge or fabricate a steel shoe that will help solve the issue we are dealing with. Unfortunately there are times when a nail-on shoe simply won’t work for a horse, such as a white line disease case we are currently working on, in this case a glue on shoe may be the best option.
Since we don’t use glue on shoes on a daily basis it is crucial to pursue continuing education so we can be ready for whatever therapeutic situation we find. Thankfully, we were just able to go to yet another clinic on glue on shoes for therapeutic purposes. The clinician, Dr. Craig Lesser, is both a farrier and veterinarian at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky. Dr. Lesser specializes in lameness cases and was able to share a lot of great information and techniques.
The clinic was held over two days. The first day was a mix of lecture and demonstration with the second day being hands on. During the hands on we discussed and worked with both direct and indirect glue on shoes. This will enable us to continue to better serve our clients by having yet another tool available for us to use for keeping horses sound.
