My horse just got trimmed today, the farrier who's been shoeing the horses for the past year wasn't able to come out, so his dad who used to do the shoeing before him came instead. I'm pretty sure he semi-retired and hasn't done much shoeing in the past year. Anyways, I was picking out Titan's feet and noticed they seemed shorter than they usually are after a trim, but didn't think much else of it. During the lesson, he seemed not "stiff" exactly, but a little reluctant to step out, definitely abit off. I thought maybe the bugs were just bothering him because he kept swishing his tail and kicking at his belly. He kept resting his back feet while we were in the middle more than usual too, so I felt his legs for heat after and they were fine. Then, when I picked his hooves again I looked more closely and found that on the hinds(which he isn't shoed on), part of his frog was dead even with his outer hoof, so that when he stepped, the frog must be touching the ground and he'd feel any rocks or landing hard after a jump. Not sure if you can actually picture what I mean, but that's the best I can explain it. Could it be causing him to feel off? And if it is, what should I tell the farrier? Should I be expected to pay for it, when it could potentially make him bruise his frog and go lame?
