DJ Talbot
DJ Talbot is my farrier, but he is more than that to me now. I now call him my friend, too.
I had several shoers in the first year that we moved here to Missouri from Illinois. Most of the shoers I had when we first moved were uneducated and not too skilled beyond being able to do an OK trim. They were what I would call a “backyard shoer.” Most are self-taught. This is a real problem that we see here.
The second year we lived here we rescued a yearling filly from very bad conditions. She was in sad shape with her feet and legs due to neglect and poor nutrition. She was down in the back legs and turned out pretty bad in front. The right front was especially turned out. After her other issues were addressed I asked my vet who I should get to address her feet issues. My vet highly recommended I give DJ Talbot at Safire Farrier a call. My vet did shoeing when he was going through vet school, so I trusted his opinion on getting a good shoer.
So, I called DJ later that day. He came out as soon as he could.
When I first meet DJ I knew he was different. My horses and donkey were calm around him. That was important, as my new filly had never had her feet touched by a shoer. I also own a mini donkey (who was pregnant at the time), and she fell head over heals in love with him. She still loves him and brays when she hasn't seen him in a while.
When DJ first came out he first looked over each horse from head to toe and moved them —evaluating the whole animal not just there feet.
With my young mare (at the time a 1-year-old solid golden champagne paint mare) we decided that due to the fact she was still so young, we would try and correct what we could with issues she had going on.So, we decided that we would put special shoes on her front feet and trim corrections on her backs. It worked. Over the course of the next two years or so, we have corrected her back feet completely and the left front completely and we got her right front to the point that you can hardly tell that it turns out at all. As she is now filling out in her chest (she is now a 4-year-old) her foot is less and less turned out. She is now able to go barefoot with no issues, and we can keep her corrected with just trimming her feet. She still has to be trimmed just so or she will move off funny.
I do credit DJ for her turning out as good as she has, and realizing that it could be corrected in the first place and knowing how to do it. DJ has been the only one I have totally trusted to do this mare. She has had to have other shoers when she was away at a trainers for 30 days, but when she got home I had to have DJ out to correct her again. She really does have odd feet.
My Donkey (Lucy) had a foal (Addy) and like her mom, she loves DJ. He is the only Shoer that has ever done her feet. He has always been slow, calm and understanding with her. Donkeys don't trust easily and do lose trust easily. They have always trusted DJ. So do I.
I have one other horse (a 16-year-old QH mare named Penny) that took a fall shortly after we moved here. This caused her to have issues with one of her shoulders, which caused her to be lame on her left front. Working with my vet for over a year, the vet thought that it was in her hoof. DJ and I both thought it was actually an issue in her shoulder. We were right. The vet did want us to keep shoes on her so she would break over at the toe. This did prove to help a lot, so do to the fact that I don't like to keep shoes on my horses, DJ was able to trim her in a way that she stays sound and still can be bare foot. I like that he takes the owners wishes into consideration too.
What I have come to see is that DJ is always up front, honest and has you and your equine’s best interests in mind. He loves my animals, and he loves what he does. I am very proud to call him my farrier, and I have also come to call him my friend.
The pictures I have sent are of DJ and Rose, my Champagne mare that we save, and of our younger donkey, Addy. These pictures where taken when DJ did a project with a cut out named Stanley. It was a paper cut out of a boy that was sent to him from a school in another state. The cut out went with him for a week, and he had pictures that where taken along the way that he than sent back to the school he came from, along with the cut out that they sent to him and a short story of what he did when he was with DJ. We loved being a part of it, and DJ loved doing it. He took him many places in the area, not just on his shoeing jobs.
— Stephanie Sanderson (Holt, Mo.)