Elkhorn Farrier Services

 


Trim day! Meghan McGann with Elkhorn Farrier Services came up today to work on some of the horses. She does a beautiful job with their feet, as well as being a valuable advisor. She is patient and sensitive with the horses, so they tend to enjoy working with her. She comes up every four weeks to trim, and it has made quite a difference in the horses. Today, we did mostly maintenance trims. We touched up some of the broodmares as they get closer to foaling, two of the retirees, and a couple of the stallions.

Marla had her first trim with us. Her feet are not in bad shape at all. Dreamcatcher did a trim on her before they came, so her feet looked pretty good. Meghan touched her up. Marla stood great!

Some of our broodmares are becoming large enough that they are not able to stand as well for the hind feet. The horses were also a bit on edge with the cold and windy day. We do what we can do, though. Sometimes that just means trimming with their feet on the ground or lifted a small amount. The broodmares deserve the consideration.

Our stallions, Warby and Kevin, were good boys today, but they usually are. Warby had to overcome some thin soles, sinking in his hoof capsules and mild remodeling when he came off of the track, but his feet have improved leaps and bounds. He is sound and barefoot full time with zero issues now. He had wonderful care at the track, so it was by no means neglect or poor care. Some of the research is suggesting that there is a shearing effect on the hooves during athletic work. It doesn't seem to be limited to racehorses but also affects other horses in a variety of sports. I'll try to find the research to link.

That being said, all of the feet we did today looked good. A no drama trim day is what we strive to achieve.

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