I had a chat with a podiatry client the other day and she admitted that she used to think that £40 for an applied equine podiatry consult was a lot of money, especially when considering the price of a farriers trim. Now, however my client declared that the £40 I charge for podiatry consults was THE BEST £40 SHE HAS EVER SPENT!
The reason for this she feels is due to the enormous amount of incredibly in-depth and enormously useful information given at the time of the consult (and on the phone/by email, whenever support is needed) and that this is saving loads on pointless and harmful supplements and vet bills as her horses are in the best health EVER!...
On the flip side I have been known to lose clients as they couldn't (for whatever reason) commit to the idea of whole horse health care and AEP. What I do is try and help the owner create an environment (see previous blog) which is condusive to health. I do not provide a one-stop trimming service although I could make loads more money doing this than the average 1 to 2 hour consult I do now! If you want a bog standard grass trim for an already healthy horse and are not expecting to perform at a high standard barefoot; use a farrier and get what you pay for. If you want to have a horse with a hoof that looks like a wild mustangs, then get a pair of binoculars and live in the wild west (or you could use a natural barefoot trimmer on your domestic horse). If you have a horse with diseased hooves (WHETHER IT IS CURRENTLY SHOD OR NOT) and/or want to perform barefoot; use an Applied Equine Podiatrist. Fixing hooves and getting the best possible foot under the horse is what we do!
I probably charge an average price for my podiatry services. This does not just mean I come along and trim off the hoof, call it something fancy which justifies charging a high price. As a DAEP, I always evaluate the horse first and this includes an examination of the feet and the horses environment. A big part of this is the 'spectrum of useability'. This is where I rate the structures and give them a score out of 10 with 10 being extraordinarily healthy. The type of spectrum I use depends on the horse, its age, its current use and its intended use. For example, a 20 year retired shetland pony who lives out and has reasonably good feet would be scored on a health spectrum. In this instance, good feet for this horse would score about a 6/10 and this is what it would need to be able to do its job and stay healthy and sound enough to rummage about the paddock and run with the other ponies if it feels like it!. A barefoot eventer on the other hand would need to have totally different structures to enable it to withstand the stress of high performance barefoot work. It is rated on a performance scale and for its intended job. These scores and the way in which I evaluate the structures would wildly vary in comparison to the shetland pony pet and the eventer would require scores of around 8 or 9/10 on the performance scale to compete barefoot sucessfully. In direct comparison,(and hypothetically speaking as I do not know of a shetland eventing!) the shetland on this same scale would score around 2/10. Likewise, I would evaluate and rate the feet of a 3 year old cob differently as these feet are still developing and I use a 'development' spectrum for young horses.
The spectrum evaluation allows me to know what changes have happened since last time, what is currently happening to the foot, what structures and good and why and what structures are unheathy for the job and why. Why is this important? Well this means I know what do do when I trim using the High Performance Trim (HPT) method but also what recommendations I will make.
So I spend about 20 mins evaluating the currect health of the feet and the environment and make notes on that. I may spend even longer during this part of the consult, depending on what I find and may ask the horse to be lunged or even ridden. If it is a first consult, I take a full set of photographs using a special camera. Repeat consults have 'after' photos taken only but I sometimes take 'before' shots if there is something special to record, such as disease or when I want to visually record the effects of wrapping. Then I do the HPT method and this can take between 45 minutes to several hours! I have been known to take 3 hours trimming very diseased feet where hooves are grossly overgrown! At the end I also treat infection. Then the horse is re-evaluated, photos taken and the horse rewarded with a thank-you and a rub! I then give recommendations. In this part, I advise on environmental changes such as diet and exercise and using the spectrum of useability I can advise on proper exercise and management practices which will provide appropriate stimulus for the health of the feet. So the spectrum also protects the horse from harm as it provides guidelines for correct conditioning and mangement, thus helping prevent excess stimulus and therefore trauma and pain. I also recommend, where necessary, the involvement of other professionals auch as vets or physios. Team work is important in treating and rehabilitating the diseased horse.
All my paperwork is signed by the owner as having been read and understood. I then give a copy of the paperwork to my clients. I also liaise with vets and other professionals and this is all a part of the service too and can be time consuming but immensly rewarding.
So when you break down the £40 cost, it is one hell of a thorough service that not only helps the happiness, health and welfare of your horse (and so your happiness too) but can also save a fortune on vet bills! By correct understanding of true foot function, and by using efficacious methods in returning the health of the foot, it is proactive as opposed to reactive and can prevent a host of illnesses and diseases from laminitis to navicular to back problems and performance issues.
The old saying 'no foot...no horse' is truer than ever in the world we live in now where horses health is compromised by modern domestication. For example I am convinced a lot of horses are being poisioned by bags of commercially mass produced feed and modern forage and this is made worse by the ever presence of 'experts' all giving their 'professional opinions' based on insufficient and innaccurate knowledge of the horse on forums and chat rooms. But what do I know?...I'M JUST A HIPPY HORSE HUGGER! (and glad of it!) :)
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