Kirk Underschultz Farrier Services

09/02/2026

It is amazing to watch this horse compensate for his rider and do his job willingly and by choice! Horses are AWESOME!!!

06/06/2026

This is a very well written article. Really makes you think!

THE SYMPTOM IS IN THE FOOT. THE CAUSE IS OFTEN SOMEWHERE ELSE.

A horse becomes footsore.

The natural assumption is that the problem must be in the foot.

Sometimes that's exactly what's happened.

An abscess is in the foot.

A puncture wound is in the foot.

A crack is in the foot.

The problem and the symptom occupy the same place.

But not always.

A horse lands toe-first.

What you see is in the foot.

The cause may be hock arthritis.

A horse starts wearing one foot faster than the others.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be a change in how the horse is loading its limbs.

A horse repeatedly loses a shoe from the same foot.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be a movement pattern that has changed because the horse is uncomfortable elsewhere.

A horse develops bruising in the same area over and over again.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be altered movement from joint disease higher up.

A horse develops contracted heels.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be persistent avoidance of loading part of the limb because something else hurts.

A horse grows noticeably uneven feet.

The symptom is in the feet.

The cause may be asymmetry elsewhere in the body changing how those feet are loaded.

A horse struggles on hard ground.

The pain shows in the feet.

The cause may be endocrine disease affecting the lamellae.

A horse develops laminitis.

The pain is in the feet.

The damage is in the feet.

Yet the process often begins with insulin dysregulation or other hormonal disturbance long before the foot shows it.

A horse develops recurrent abscesses.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be chronic lamellar damage that has been present for months or years.

A horse struggles to turn.

The symptom may look like foot pain.

The cause may be the hocks.

Or the stifles.

Or somewhere else entirely.

A horse doesn't want to go forward.

The feet may be blamed.

The cause could be orthopaedic pain.

It could be gastric disease.

It could be respiratory disease.

It could be something else altogether.

The point is not that the feet are unimportant.

Quite the opposite.

The feet are often the first place the horse reveals that something is wrong.

But they are not always telling us where the problem started.

One of the most valuable habits in equine healthcare is learning not to stop at the first thing you can see.

The foot matters.

But it is attached to a whole horse.

And sometimes the foot is not the problem.

It's the messenger.

01/18/2026

This is a very good explanation of DSLD.

Two experts describe this degenerative suspensory ligament condition in horses and what new information researchers are learning about it.

05/21/2025

I am often asked “How often do you pick out your horse’s feet?”. My typical response is “Every time I trim them.” That is not often considered to be an acceptable answer!

All this flitted through my mind one day as I was trimming, and picking out, feet. So, I took some photos.

You can clearly see the bottom of the foot is filled with dirt. This gives great support and protection to the frog, sole and hoof wall. Leave this dirt in the bottom of a flat footed, thin soled thoroughbred and they won’t be ouchy on gravel.

With the dirt cleaned out you can see that this foot is long and needs to be trimmed. The last photo is the piece I trimmed off with a double A battery laying beside it for scale. The horse in my example happens to be barefoot but my observations apply equally to shod horses as
well. Overall length doesn’t matter. Dirt will give equal support to freshly trimmed feet, long feet or shod feet.

Over the past 10 years or so, great advances have been made using polyurethanes for hoof protection, frog support and sole support. One now common form used is called “pour in pads”. These pads are poured into the bottom of the foot as a liquid which quickly sets up as a soft, yet firm, gel, imitating the dirt for both form and function. Here is a link to a short YouTube video showing the procedure for a pour in pad.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ3cHAG1Hww&pp=ygUXcG91ciBpbiBwYWRzIGZvciBob3JzZXM%3D

Dirt - free.
Pour in pads - $40 to $80, every 6 weeks.

05/12/2025

Hi Folks. Attached is a letter from Ken Davis and Sons. They are a farrier supply warehouse in Richwood, Ohio. For the past 48 years I have purchased 85 plus per cent of my farrier supplies from them. I have received similar letters/warnings from both of my other suppliers as well, as has every other farrier I talk to. As such, be prepared for trimming and shoeing prices to increase as well. Some costs can and will be absorbed within the business, taking the best care possible of our clients, but at some point costs must be passed along in or to stay solvent and profitable. Thanks for understanding!

04/08/2025

I thought this was a fascinating read. Put out by the American Farriers Association.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanfarriers.com%2Farticles%2F11787-how-hind-end-geometry-improves-performance-and-balance%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6ZVpbezDwYwr5pnV1jZOzC0jAESrCNHsWkzM59ETg9E7JmLtDyWY0NH4pPZQ_aem_GBfrciQSu41Xj3YmG7h-1w&h=AT0ymZLdAInhWedkoGYvY7wYlcnKBNyYEQsMbYlA0b32FG5HCtmtC3748SbNHdoSHk9NsxeUxzfqj6jG6Ic3o4rr-ZKNmkWatH_CvO-iWkbc8xs7NAqFr2X_awvbwGu3pQTb8M1IET0FHryip4E&s=1

Car manufacturers know placing the power at the rear of the vehicle allows for better balance. Nearly all race cars are rear-wheel drive so that when accelerating from a stop, the vehicle’s weight transfers to the back of the car and provides increased traction.

02/23/2025

When riders sit/ride lopsided, it directly and negatively affects the movement and the soundness of their horse. The following illustrates this brilliantly!

🐴DRESSAGE SOLUTIONS🐴 Understand How Crooked Riding Affects Your Horse ...

Load a wheelbarrow heavily to one side as in the center illustration. Now push the wheelbarrow, and feel how it pulls to the weighted side and how you are forced to lean in that direction to compensate. That’s how your horse feels when you sit unevenly in the saddle, as shown in the left image. When you sit evenly, the horse will be centered and balanced as shown in the illustration on the right.
— Sharon Sweet

01/02/2025

Here is a link to a short video by Bryan Farcus. He is demonstrating how a horse owner can pull a shoe. https://www.facebook.com/share/3dU87gdo2d25rJ2E/

Demonstrating a safe and easy way to pull off a bend or loose horseshoe.