Having loyal clients is a key to running any successful footcare business, but sometimes you have to work closely with them, maintains Karen Trebitz. Operating in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania, the East Stroudsburg, Pa., farrier says her area of the Poconos has been known over the years for its vacation resorts.

When I was in horseshoeing school, the slipper shoe treatment for navicular disease seemed like just the ticket. The idea was that by beveling the hoof surface of the shoe from the quarters back to the heels, you would force the heels outward and relieve the compression stresses on the internal structures of the hoof.

Q: How long can it take lameness to show up from a blind quicking? Is it likely that a possible quicking could be the cause of lameness that shows up 27 days later?

I had a customer call me tonight asking about putting a hospital plate on a young horse that has an abscess. I have an idea that I need to fit a shoe and cut an aluminum plate to fit it, drill holes through the plate, drill holes in the shoe and tap them. I need to use bolts in holes — careful not to go through to hoof. Do I have all of this right?