The farrier

One of the most important grooming tasks you will carry out on your horse is looking after her feet. Without healthy feet, you can't ride, and any money you spend on hoof care can be seen as an investment in your riding.

The farrier has an essential part to play in looking after your horse’s feet. In the UK it's illegal for anyone without proper training and qualifications to call themselves a farrier, or carry out farriery work on horses. This is to prevent the ill treatment of horses when shoes are fitted - it's a skilled and difficult job.

Farriers not only fit horse shoes, but look after the general health of the foot, cutting back growth and identifying disease. Even if you don't have your horse shod, it's still necessary to get the farrier to keep hooves clipped and neat and identify early any problems. They can also trim chestnuts, which are small hard lumps about halfway up the horses’ legs, and on some horses these can grow quite fast, and can pull and tear the skin if not looked after properly.

Most livery yards will have a farrier who comes out regularly and takes care of all the horses in the yard. Your horse will normally need to be seen about every five to six weeks, depending on how quickly the hooves grow. You can tell when they need to see the farrier because the hoof will begin to grow very slightly over the shoe. Like all other horse matters, it takes a while to be able to tell when to call the farrier, unless of course there's an emergency, but it will come with time and experience.

It's best to ask around and get a farrier from personal recommendation, but you can also look at www.farrier-reg.gov.uk/ which has a database of registered farriers.

The cost will depend on the farrier and type of horse shoe, but to have all hooves shod will be from about £60 upwards.

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