Was shaping a front shoe for a draft horse in Newton and the propane flow just died. Took me 20 minutes to find the spider web in the nozzle. Anyone else deal with bugs in their burner setup?
Old timer I helped out back in 2019 swears by cold for everything. But this mare had a nasty quarter crack on the right front and I didn't want to risk it splitting more. Hot shoe let me shape the shoe exact to the foot without pressure points. Healed up fine in about 8 weeks. Has anyone else had better luck with one method over the other for crack repairs?
I was at a clinic in Boise last spring and this older farrier walked up and said I was spreading thrush between hooves by not having separate rasps for each horse. Has anyone else switched to dedicated tools per horse or am I overthinking this?
Last Tuesday I had a horse with a quarter crack that kept splitting every time I tried to shoe it. I was about to spend 3 hours prepping it but then an old farrier told me to soak the hoof in warm water with epsom salt for 20 minutes before trimming. The crack stopped running and I got the shoe on in 45 minutes flat. Has anyone else tried this or do you just patch it and pray?
Last Tuesday it was like 15 degrees out and I was trimming a draft cross in an unheated barn. Hit a tough spot on the hoof wall and my nippers just chipped right at the edge. I finished the trim with my backup pair but it slowed me way down. Has anyone else had issues with tools getting brittle in the cold?
Last Tuesday I showed up for a re-shoe on a paint gelding outside Boise and found quarter cracks on both fronts. Then Wednesday's job, a draft cross, had the same thing on the same hoof location. By Friday I'd seen 4 horses with near identical quarter cracks (right front, lateral side) and I started to think I was going crazy. Turns out they all came from a pasture with super sharp rocks after a dry spring, which splays the hoof wall weird when they land. Has anyone else run into a batch problem like this where a bunch of horses suddenly show the same issue from one environment?
I went to a clinic over in Billings last weekend and one of the old timers showed me this method with wet felt and epoxy for patching cracks. He used it on a mare with a quarter crack that went halfway up, and after 20 minutes it felt solid. I tried it yesterday on a draft horse with a heel crack and it held up way better than the acrylic I usually use. Anyone else mess around with this kind of patch or stick to the standard stuff?
He just pointed at a quarter crack and said 'look at the stress lines before you grab your knife, son' and it saved me a good 40 minutes of guesswork on a tricky draft horse last Wednesday, anyone else had an old hand drop some simple wisdom that stuck with you?
I saw a bunch of guys online raving about that magnetic leg pad for shoeing, supposed to help with posture and grip. Dropped $85 on it last week, tried it on 3 horses today. Thing slides around, caught a nail head on it, and actually made my stance worse. Wasted my money or did anyone actually get these things to work?
I started keeping track back in March just to see how many barefoot horses I was seeing compared to shod. 500 came faster than I expected, and honestly it made me rethink my whole approach. I used to think barefoot trims were just for easy keepers, but most of these horses were working ranch animals with rough feet. The biggest surprise was how many owners stick with it even after a rough transition period. I saw 14 horses go through pretty bad sole sensitivity before things leveled out. Has anyone else hit a trim count that changed how you look at your own work?
I tried it on a tricky navicular horse last Wednesday and he actually moved better after 3 days, has anyone else had success with that approach on problem feet?
Last month I had 5 horses scheduled at the county fairgrounds near Springfield. I drove 45 minutes with my truck loaded up, got there at 7 AM, and three people just never showed. No call, no text, nothing. I charged one guy a cancellation fee but I'm still sitting on lost time and gas money. Anybody else deal with clients just ghosting you like that?
I was fighting with a shoe that kept rocking on the anvil last Tuesday. Finally tried setting the hoof stand at a 45 degree angle to work the toe instead of fighting straight on. It squared up perfect on the first try after that. Has anyone else got a weird angle trick they swear by for shaping?
I kept hearing from other farriers that you gotta spend big on premium rasps like the ones from Nicholson or Hellers to get a good finish. Everyone in my local group swears by them. But after dropping $45 on a top brand, I grabbed a $12 generic rasp from a farm supply store outside Denver just to try it out. Turns out the cheap one cuts just as fast and doesn't clog up as bad on wet hooves. I've been using it for three weeks now and my prep time actually went down. The handle feels a bit rougher, but a wrap of tape fixed that. Anyone else tried going budget on rasps and found it works better for them?
I had a guy at a clinic in Kentucky watch me set a shoe and say 'son, that clip is gonna cause a quarter crack in 6 weeks.' He was right. I was putting my toe clips too high up on the nail line. I dropped them down a full 3/16 inch lower and stopped having horses come back with stress cracks. It felt wrong at first because I thought higher meant more hold. But the lower angle actually lets the hoof flex natural. Has anyone else gotten handed a harsh truth that fixed a problem you didn't even know you had?
I had this 14-year-old Arabian mare with hooves so brittle they'd chip just walking on gravel. Started her on a biotin supplement and switched to barefoot trimming every 4 weeks instead of 6. Anyone else see big improvements just from shortening the trim cycle?
He said I was leaving the nail tip a quarter inch above the wall, which was why I kept getting quarter cracks. I dropped it down and haven't had a pull-through since. Anybody else get a tip like that from a seasoned hand?
I had to pick between a proper farrier rasp and a standard Nicholson file for my weekly trims. I went with the farrier rasp because the handle felt more balanced in my hand and the teeth seemed sharper out of the box. First few horses were a dream - the rasp cut through hoof wall like butter and I finished each foot way faster. But after about 12 horses, the teeth started loading up with hoof dust and I was spending too much time cleaning it with a wire brush. The Nicholson I tried later stayed sharper for maybe 20 hooves before needing a clean, and it was half the price. I'm thinking of switching back for my regular work. Has anyone else tried both and found one lasts longer between sharpenings?
I was at a clinic in Lexington last month and this farrier took off way too much heel with a power grinder in one pass. Horse went lame on the spot and the vet had to come out. I've been hand-nailing front shoes for 12 years now and I swear by it. Anyone else see people get lazy with grinders?
I was at a clinic in Boise last spring watching a guy demo on a standardbred and he pointed out how much flare my horse had in the heel. I told him that's just how the hoof grows and he just laughed and said 'no, that's how you trim it.' Went back to my shop that night and compared photos from the last 18 months. All my horses had the same wedge shape because I was nipping off heel way past the live sole line without thinking. The next morning I left more heel on a mare that always looked clubby and she stood flatter than I ever saw her. Something about hearing it from a stranger in front of 20 people made it click. Anyone else have a basic habit that took a public embarrassment to fix?
Everyone in this group seems to swear by traditional nailed shoes for everything. But I got tired of dealing with cracked hoof walls on my two geldings after every reset, especially during wet seasons here in Oregon. So about 6 months ago, I switched to glue-on aluminum shoes and it took a while to figure out the prep work but now I get 6 weeks between resets with zero cracking. My farrier buddy says I'm crazy but has anyone else found glue-ons worth the extra effort?
I used to swear by standard square nails for everything. Been at this for about 12 years now and that was just what my mentor taught me. Then last spring I took a clinic up in Kentucky and the guy running it showed me how concave nails actually let the shoe seat deeper into the hoof wall. I tried it on a couple of horses that kept pulling shoes on muddy ground and it made a huge difference. The nails grip tighter and I don't have to use as many of them either. It took me a few tries to get the angle right but now I'm using concave on most of my heavy sport horses. Has anyone else made that switch and noticed a difference with certain hoof types?
I did a test last month on the same horse, one front foot aluminum, the other steel, and rode through a muddy field after a rain. The aluminum shoe slipped three times on a simple downhill slope while the steel held steady every time. My farrier buddy in Lexington told me steel gives better traction on slick surfaces and I thought he was exaggerating. Now I'm swapping all my clients' trail horses over, but has anyone else noticed steel wearing down quicker on gravel roads?
I put a pair of Easyboot Clouds on a mare last week for some barefoot transition time, and within 3 days she had a raw spot above the coronet band. The sizing chart said medium but I should have gone large and added a pad... anyone else deal with fit issues on those?
It was 18 degrees in Colorado last Tuesday and the shoe just pinged across the shop like a bullet, so now I preheat my anvil with a space heater for 20 minutes before I start, has anyone else had a shoe launch on them in winter?