Barefoot Trimming

[deirdre1]

Help! Does anyone know of an (accredited and fully trained) barefoot farrier working in ireland?
Thanks, Dee

[Elaine]

Hi Dee, I don't know of any offhand, but you could try the Irish Farrier Authority on 045 520768, who are the umbrella body in Ireland and might be able to help, or direct you to someone who could. The BHS in the north are running a barefoot talk next July, so they might also be able to put you in contact with the presenter. Would your local farriers/vets know of anyone?

[Elaine]

Thought I saw this somewhere....... I don't know what his qualifications are, but you could ring and have a chat....
_____________________________

"Hi ya, we use TJ at our yard and he is fantastic and does a brilliant bare foot trim. The great thing about TJ is that he doesn't try to convince you to go back to shoes. He works with a lot of young horses. He pointed out conformation faults with my mares feet which I had never noticed before and he balances them out each visit for her. He charges €25 each time and we call him out every six weeks and we don't then need to do any trimming ourselves in between which is a real bonus. I know he does a lot of work in Cork (he is a Cork man) so you could give him a call and if he can't do it I am sure he could recommend someone. We got his name from the Master Farriers of Ireland. his number is 087 2280768. Hope this helps. "

[Dee1]

Thanks a million Elaine, will do.
Dee

[Elaine]

Here you can find a list of fully qualified Irish farriers.

www.irishfarriers.com

The Irish Farrier Authority has had Dan G (barefoot USA) over for a demonstration for farriers, so they are probably the best people to call about getting a fully qualified farrier with barefoot knowledge / expertise.

[Kim Douglas]

Hi there,

Tj Whelan is a fully accredited farrier with the Master farriers of Ireland. He specialises in barefoot trimming and I would highly recommend him! He has transitioned our ponies over the last 2 years from the start and they now have beautiful hard disease free feet! At present we are taking a connemara with very poor hooves (from bad shoeing) through the barefoot phase. She is in the early stages and is very ouchy and footie, this will pass with time and care and in the long run will save her feet. I can confidently say that thanks to Tj she will have gorgeous feet in about 6 months time. If you want any more information please feel free to contact me on [e-mail]

Bestest
Kim

[Dee 1]

Thanks everyone for the info- I feel as they would say in the USA 'very supported'. Spoke to TJ Whelan and will contact Master Farrier.

[manda]

I'm moving to Co Roscommon in the next couple of months and all my horses are barefoot...............My UK trimmer was Sarah Braithwaite www.performancebarefoot.co.uk/

She's Co founder of UKNHCP a branch of AANHCP. She is coming over to trim for me as a one off as I have a 'problem' horse but I don't think this can be long term so I too am keen to find a good trimmer.

What are the feelings in Ireland about barefoot??

[manda]

Here's another good site if anyone is interested....(Co founder of UKNHCP) www.barefoothorses.co.uk/index.html

I've got loads of links if anyone wants anymore.

[Tj Whelan Master Farrier]

how r u doing,
Tj whelan the master farrier here, i now have a massive head and can not get into my van after reading this site. so i have to increase my fee to 35 euro as i need to employ a driver and pay the diesel.
kind regards
tj whelan registered master farrier ireland.

[Tina]

manda said:

I'm moving to Co Roscommon in the next couple of months and all my horses are barefoot...............My UK trimmer was Sarah Braithwaite www.performancebarefoot.co.uk/

She's Co founder of UKNHCP a branch of AANHCP. She is coming over to trim for me as a one off as I have a 'problem' horse but I don't think this can be long term so I too am keen to find a good trimmer.

What are the feelings in Ireland about barefoot??

[Tina]

manda said:

I'm moving to Co Roscommon in the next couple of months and all my horses are barefoot...............My UK trimmer was Sarah Braithwaite www.performancebarefoot.co.uk/

She's Co founder of UKNHCP a branch of AANHCP. She is coming over to trim for me as a one off as I have a 'problem' horse but I don't think this can be long term so I too am keen to find a good trimmer.

What are the feelings in Ireland about barefoot??

Don't know how this works but i'll try... I am also in the process of finding somwhere in Ireland to live i have 3 barefoot horses and intend to get my trimmer over from England 3 times a year at least and keep up the trimming myself in between. My mare had laminitis and has recovered from it through the KC Lapiere method of barefoot trimming. don't know if you get this ever as it's such an old post but if you want to get in touch my email is [e-mail] cheers tina

[Patricia Ridgeway]

We have multiple horses and ponies in our yard barefoot and doing great, we use the wonderful Dermot McCourt from County Down who travels where needed, you can reach him on nagtrader.com as 'hoofsculpture'. Can't recommend Dermot highly enough.

We also ride bitless, almost exclusively now. We had nine horses/ponies on the beach cantering today (with both kids and adults riding) and not a bit between them, it was wonderful to see that; watch the horses and people having such fun.

We would be happy to help in any way we can to get the iron out of our equine friend's lives :-)

You can reach my husband at [e-mail], his name is Tom.

[Elaine]

Hi Patrica,

Where abouts are you based, and what kind of training so you do with your horses? Do you use Duallys, rope halters or something else? I think we may also need some pics!

[monflat]

Hi i would be delighted to hear from those people on this board who keep thier horses barefoot.
What activities do you do with the horses? Do you continue to do the same activities with your horses now as when you had shoes on ?
How long have you found the transition from a previously shod foot to complete barefoot with trimming by the recognised BF farrier.
Have you seen changes in your horses? In what way? Behaviour way of going.
What other changes other than not such a big hole burned in your poca because it aint as expensive i gather as getting shoes every 4-6 wks

Keep me posted

[lauradomenica]

Hi Monflat,

During the clinics i have done with klaus there have been instances where Klaus was not willing to work with horses. This was almost always a barefoot horse. In his opinion some of these horses were lame an all four feet.

At the second clinic in England we saw him do very little work at all because almost all the barefoot horses (and one who was shod i think just in front) had problems. As you can imagine there was a lot of bad feeling about this but this is a man who will always put the horse first.

His view is that horses are not built to carrying man or for going on hard unforgiving surfaces when they do so . They need the help of shoes. The shoes have to be right though, big enough ,support on heals etc.

I was on a very busy blog in the states and there were so many stories about barefoot versus shoeing and it seemed there were as many opinions as there were stories.

My Friesian is barefoot and she has had two recurring abscesses since!. It is a huge area and there are just so many views. Even though i understand the reasons why barefoot should be good for the horse, (blood flow etc I'm sure you know all the theory yourself) I think it is something each person has to try and monitor in their particular horse.

There is a girl studying with Strasser herself, on the Klaus course with me.
Perhaps i can ask her some specific questions for you next time.
Sorry not to be of more help. There just isn't time to learn it all in a lifetime is there!at least not in mine, too much gone already

[monflat]

Hi there thanks for your feedback ;D
it is good to hear other views!! Its getting more popuar in Ireland now and i was talking to someone there last week who does all their own horses and swears by it.
Then you read so much negative about it also !
yea if you get any info from that woman do post !!!

I suppose it is what suits the horse and the job its doing
But Klaus is right as this is Horse Centered and if the horse is not comfortable doing a job it may lead to other problems
THANKS

[ecklandshorses]

This subject is obviously worth investigating.

I know very little about Barefoot and asked my farrier today what he thought of it. His answer in typical laconic fashion was,

"The only people who use the system are mean B*@@s who are to miserable to pay for shoes"

Eventually however he did say that it was in his opinion very worthwhile for Cobs, Ponies Etc who are used in light work but he felt that it was or could be detrimental for horses in heavy work.

He mentioned that some UK TB trainers where running horses barefoot in training but horses where breaking down and owners didnt like the practice at all. He also felt that if you wanted to be serious about barefoot then you had to keep your horse barefoot all the time and that in his opinion older horses who have been shod for long periods might suffer if reverted to barefoot.

I like this particular guy and respect his views as a fellow horseman as well as master farrier but do recognise that he might be somewhat biased in his opinions but I have shared them here for what they are worth.

Cheers
DaveK

[Lu]

There is a guy in UK who races all his horses barefoot and I think has them outside most of the time too....

www.horsesfirstracing.com/

.. in UK tho I think issues have some up where people have done short courses, and then set up as trimmers and done very bad damage, people have been convicted of cruelty etc. Its like anything, if the person doesn't know what they're doing, it can all go pearshaped very quickly, especially when you're dealing with horses feet.

I know the irish farrier authority/association has in the past organised barefoot clinic or two for registered Irish farriers who are interested.

[hoofsculpture]

thanks patricia, glag to hear that u,r good. just a word to people looking for trimmers. dont be fooled by all the different methods you read about, the end product will much the same, this of course does not sell books, my method must sound different to another,s method, but the fact is, given a good sound hoof, there is only one trim. ivery trim is a variation on the perfect trim. it it not always possible to acheive a perfect shape in one trim, but you must go as far as you can with the perfect trim in mind. as for farriers, they should make the best trimmers, but unless they know the trim principal, they must start again. i dont think owners should be encouraged to set up trims, it can be very difficult in the early stages, and dead easy to maintain after that. so have you,r horse set up by an experienced trimmer, and he can teach you how to maintain it after that. there is no professional body of natural trimmers in the world. the aanhcp kc. strasser, are all people who have set them selves up as experts, they issue diplomas etc and send people out to deal with horses foot problems that they can not deal with. i see it every day. i do vert little barefoot trimming these days as most of my time is spent working on lamanitic an navicular cases. this is a completly different method and should not be tried by anyone who has not been taught it. final word of advice.,if you want to go barefoot. then you,r horse must have a good sole, if he has not got a good sole then he can not go barefoot, unless gently on sand to toughen his sole. co to conclude, can you,r horse go barefoot? yes he can, but if his soles are thin he must work on sand untill they toughten up, if he has just been de shod he will be overloading his frog, that will flatten out, if you cut the frog back you will tender his frog. he will suffer no pain under his hoof wall, but he may need his bars trimmed, as removing the shoes lowers him down ,and if the bars are big he will be point loading on them, good luck, call me any time ;D