Jeff Swanson (Cedar Hill, Tenn.)
This mare is a very special case, and the farrier we would like to honor has literally saved her life.
Diamond was a rescue horse from Missouri in 2007 and shipped to Wisconsin by her adopter, Cheryl Sommers, to my barn. She was taken to UW-Madison and had surgery to remove necrotic cartilage. We had many issues with a damaged coronary band. The crack would not close, infection set in and there was a separation of the back quarter of the foot from the front. Many farriers have tried and given up on her, but Jeff Swanson has worked with the veterinarians with mutual respect and actually performed the resection of the hoof wall at the clinic the last time the hoof was infected.
He comes on a moment’s notice just to work on her, be it a trim or reset. This foot grows at a different pace in sections and he has hand made shoes to keep her comfortable due to the ever-changing shape and structure of this foot. This mare is pasture sound, fat and happy. She is not in chronic pain and has a great quality of life, just a mutant foot.
—Sue Thronson (Cedar Hill, Tenn.)
