Hot take: Seeing more fancy shoes than healthy hooves these days

Back when I started, we mostly fixed feet to keep horses comfortable and working. Now, I get asked for flashy shoes just for shows or photos. It's a gray area for me because the horse's needs should come first. For example, a barn owner once wanted silver tips on all his horses' shoes, but one had a history of laminitis. I said no to that horse, and he wasn't happy about it. Losing that job made me think about how the trade has shifted. I miss when our biggest concern was a horse walking right, not looking pretty. We have to remember why we do this work.

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin1793mo ago

Seriously, my buddy who trims hooves told me about a similar situation. A client asked for fancy decorative shoes on a horse with bad feet, and my friend refused to do it. Stuff like that shows how priorities get messed up sometimes.

phoenixp652mo ago

What kind of person puts looks over the animal's actual health? Did your friend say if the client understood why it was a bad idea, or did they just get mad?

wesley_martinez3mo ago

Decorative shoes on bad feet? That's messed up. Good call by your friend.