All farriers will work with a veterinarian at some point in their careers. If we are diligent in our pursuit of knowledge and proficient in applying that knowledge in the field, we can develop a cordial and friendly relationship with the vets we work with. Such was the case with Larry W., a vet who entered the field at about the same time as myself, and, therefore, we shared many aspects of getting established in a profession and developing working relationships with those in a related field.
The incident I am writing about happened with a rather unusual client. Perhaps you have had a client like this, but I had never encountered such before. The woman had some money and enjoyed watching horse shows of which there are many during the warmer months. She especially liked the paint shows, I suppose because the horses were somewhat flashier than the other breeds. She fancied herself a paint horse breeder, and a pasture full of pretty paint horses was what she wanted. She was, however, rather timid about actually handling the horses, and when there was need for them to be worked on (farrier or vet work), she would hire someone for the day to halter and hold them for whatever was needed.
On this particular day, there were several to be trimmed and two to be pregnancy tested. Dr. Larry arrived when I was in the process of trimming one of the mares that was also on his list to be tested. It was a typical spring day with the wind playing a major role in how things unfolded. The horses were unnerved as usual with a stiff wind, and I had a hind foot in my lap as Larry approached. His approach somehow gave the mare the notion that having her foot in my lap wasn’t a good idea, and she tried to wrestle it away. I had just got started and didn’t want to retrieve the foot again, so I caught it halfway to the ground and hung on. She was shaking the foot rapidly back and forth to the point that my hand was a blur and maintaining my balance took some effort. As he got near enough to be heard over the wind, Dr. Larry jokingly said, “Boy Dave, I’m sure glad you do what you do, and I do what I do.” I just smiled back and continued my work.
A half-hour later, I had finished the last of the trimming and was walking back to my truck when I passed Dr. Larry in the process of preg testing the same mare that was shaking me like a wet rag in the wind when he arrived. This was back in the day when the surest way of determining whether a mare was pregnant was to manually inspect her. As we all know, the entry point is the anus, and the inspection cannot be done with fecal material in the digestive tract. Thus, the remnants of the previous meal must be manually removed.
Dr. Larry was in the process of withdrawing his arm, which was inserted up to his armpit, and shaking off the aforementioned partially digested forage. I casually strolled past, and as I did, I said, “Boy Larry, I’m sure glad you do what you do, and I do what I do.” But I think I said it with a bit more conviction.
