Today is the first day of the fall AEP course being held in Ocala, Florida. It is always encouraging to meet horseowner, farriers, and veterinarians that are seeking knowledge and that are open minded to new ideas. I am excited to be including information and education on achieving dynamic balance. This will be the first course in the U.S.A. in which I will be using the newly released "Dynamic Balance Hoof Level". More on the level to come. It' going to be a great course.
I've been saying it for over a decade; our profession does not offer up a solid model for learning how to apply, with consistency a balanced trim. Recent studies suggest that today's farriers may start out handicapped, in that they are not provided the tools needed to quickly develop the skills needed to consistently apply a correct trim. This is not my finding, evidenced based research supports these statements. The fact; regardless of how skilled one is at forging and shoeing if the shoe is applied to an imbalanced foot the results are going to be less than desired.
So what is the answer? One of my pet peeves is when someone constantly comes up with a multitude of problems, and then wallows in the woe of the seemingly unsolvable, never offering positive input. I for one believe that there are solutions to most all problems, so long as we approach the problem from as many perspectives as are available. Before we can do that we first need to state the problem in as many ways as we can. Wait a minute, didn't I just say that was a pet peeve of mine? No, I said those that wallow in the seemingly unsolvable was my pet peeve.
The problem: Difficulty in applying balance to the hoof. The lack of consistency in applying a balanced trim. Difficulty in teaching the application of a balanced trim. Lack of a solid model for teaching a balanced trim. Difficulty in defining a balanced trim. Lack of tools available to aid in achieving a balanced trim. I am sure that you could add to this list of problems and for each you may be chomping at the bit to offer a solution, but before you start pounding at those keys to submit your comment let me offer up one more problem.Contemplate this problem; how to implement the solution.
You don't believe there is a problem? Well you may be among the minority in the farrier industry. Dr. Doug Butler, author of “The Principle of Horse Shoeing II,” and renowned educator, once stated in the American Farriers Journal that most farriers have difficulty visualizing the internal bone structures and their relationship to the hoof capsule. I find this remark to be of paramount importance. If a trim is based on one’s ability to visualize and the experts are finding it difficult to do just that, then my belief that a problem exist that handicaps our prospective farriers from the start is justified. I invite your comments.
You go out to the barn to feed in the morning and your horse doesn't approach you like he usually does, he just stands there off at some distances with his head hanging a bit lower than usual. Then when he begins to move, ouch he is really lame. You note that he is pointing his right front. Panic sets in, you immediately start looking for signs of injury, you find none. You feel for heat in the affected limb and foot, and you find that the hoof feels warm, warmer than the others. If you have experienced an abscess before you may breath a little easier, even feel a sense of relief. But if you have not experienced it you are likely to call your vet in panic mode, with thoughts of laminitis, broken bone, or stone bruise bouncing from one side of your brain to the other. What I am talking about here is the onset of an acute abscess. An abscess that forms quickly and often works its way out of the hoof following a path of least resistance in a relatively short time. Sometimes your veterinarian or farrier will help things along by probing, creating a path of less resistance that allows the abscess to drain. Once a acute abscess has drained the horse usually feels immediate relief.
Being well versed in the hoof, you would think that if my own horse developed a acute abscess that I would have no difficulty identifying it, and aiding in alleviating my horse's discomfort. The wrench in the works here is the descriptor used in that sentence "my own horse". No one knows my horse better than me, at least that is how I usually see things.
I recall several years ago while teaching at our facility in north Florida my wife interrupted my class to say that one of our horses was really lame. As described above, she went to feed and found our big warmblood was not weight bearing on his right hind, he's a big guy over 17 hands tall.
I had adopted him at age 6 from a dressage barn in New York. While in training he was plagued with stifle and hock issues so they retired him to the warmth of Florida. Did you catch that? They retired him because of stifle issues, right hind to be precise. He would often hike his right hind as though he suffered a locking patella. I have always battled with hoof deformity in the right hind, this because of how he moved. Well, we took a break from class and I went out to the yard to examine the big guy. Sure enough he was hiking his right hind. I checked for heat in the limb and hoof finding nothing significant, even probed a little with my hoof knife. Knowing his history and seeing him hike that limb in the same fashion as he has may times, I simply assumed he had injured the stifle. We called our vet out for an x-ray. You guessed it, it was an abscess. You see, even us experts can fall into the trap of vertical thinking, especially where patterns have been established. The vet followed his set pattern of thinking and in this case was correct. I don't regret calling the vet. Though it was tough chocking on such a big piece of humble pie, I can appreciate the lesson learned; Never Assume. I had once again been taught to respect one of the greatest teacher of humility in my life, My Own Horse.
Perhaps I should mention that recently that same horse presented the same scenario, and even though I had been served up a huge helping of humble pie the last time, I still called in the vet. Why? Because I looked at the situation from a lateral perspective, approaching the situation as if it were a client's horse and not my own. The result; it was not an abscess this time.
As a school whose mission is to produce graduates that place the welfare of the horse above all else, it is only logical that developing communication skills has become a priority.
I learned a long time ago that customer service did not end when my tools were back in my vehicle. I learned that there is more to it than being on time, or doing a pretty trim or shoe job. If I truly had the welfare of the horse in mind, I needed to learn how to communicate with all involved in the care of that horse, including the owner, and veterinarian.
Below is a exert from the AFJ blog that illustrates the importance of developing communication skills. I respect the farrier for understanding the importance of listening. "When an owner asks him a question at the barn, He takes his apron off, makes eye contact and listens to what they have to say. He addresses their concerns by answering in a thorough, understandable manner." Communication. Our program promotes the use of a Spectrum of Usability, a form which documents the current state of health of the hooves and horse being worked on. This form keeps the owner engaged and the hoof care provider connected. While it does take time to fill out, it gives the owner time to ask questions.
For the Applied Equine Podiatrist it is important to develop these communication skills, skills that promote team work. For the Applied Equine Podiatrist a team may include owner, vet, farrier, or a host of other care providers. Customer service is all about communication and team work. When it comes to the welfare of the horses in our care, there is little room for ego. That being said, we all need to be very careful not to mistake confidence and good communication skills for ego.
El Paso, Texas, farrier Doug Hogue conducts
90% of his work at the clinic of Dr. Paul
Jenson in Sunland Park, N.M. Hogue in a conversation with Jeremy McGovern, Executive Editor of
the American Farriers journal, explained that he sometimes finds local farriers
who are angered because another farrier has temporarily taken over the horse at
the clinic. He states; I disagree with the opinion, but I understand why that
reaction sometimes occurs. Those farriers react as such when they mistake a
farrier carrying out a vet’s script as an unwarranted critique. That’s vanity
and pride manifested in unprofessional reactions. Furthermore, it is a missed
opportunity to learn and a failure to recognize a deficiency may exist in one’s
own work that may have caused or contributed to the problem. Not to mention,
what’s more important… the health of the horse or your pride?
A more curious reaction Hogue
also told McGovern about is
when another farrier is mad because the client didn’t tell him or her that the
horse went to the clinic. Obviously this is a case of misdirected anger. And it
is a reaction that misses the point entirely. Hogue sums it up best that the
other farrier should, “take a step back and realize that there is a problem is
in the relationship with that client … they don’t feel there was a need to let
that farrier know there was a problem.”
Hogue says the farrier as the
cause of this problem is avoidable by staying engaged with the owner. He lets
the client know he wants to know as soon as they believe there is an issue with
the horse. When an owner asks him a question at the barn, Hogue takes his apron
off, makes eye contact and listens to what they have to say. He addresses their
concerns by answering in a thorough, understandable manner.
All of this is quality customer
service. More importantly, this level of engagement lets the owners know you
care about the horse and their business. And it makes finding out about visits
to the clinic after the fact a rarity.
