Shoeing working horses

[Iron Rose]

I have been shoeing horses professionally for more that 40 years and will agree with Carl that it’s not rocket science. Although there are somethings that a person should know before attempting to do his own. The anatomy and function of the foot and leg should be at he top of the list. You have to know what you are working with. Second his if you are unsure of how to fix a problem don’t try it, chances are you will make it worse. You can’t learn everything from a book a lot as to be learned under the horse . Over the years I have taught many people to trim there own animals . I would rather show someone how than to have to try and fix a bad job.

One last comment on the price of shoeing “you get what you pay for” The shoer that charges the least may not be giving you the best service. There are a lot of shoers out there that are only interested in how much the can make and not the quality of there work or the horse. Basically there philosophy is “IF I CAN’T DAZZLE THEM WITH MY BRILENCE I’LL BAFFLE THEM WITH MY BS”

Enough Said for now
Dan
SE MN

[Rod44]

I have mine shoed with drilltec. Just bought a couple sets this week. Had about 3 years and about 4-500 miles on them. Came to about $21 a set for 1’s and 2’s. Use them on my Haflingers. Use the shoes on the road not so much for hoof wear as safety. We do have alot of gravel roads around here and that will wear them if barefoot in a hurry. If you are going at a road trot barefoot, they can slip and fall.

My amish farrier charges me $20 per horse. They stay on.

[Anonymous]

working horses barefoot in adverse conditions may lead to splits and cracks in the hoof wall if the edges arn’t maintained properly. but if they are, read, kept rounded over, to the point of useing emery cloth after the rasp, all the way around, it’s not a problem. but the working hoof has to be maintaind as such , it’s a year round balance. my horses, have never had shoes ,never will. i’ll say it differently here, a horse without shoes on is not a barefoot conditiond foot. my only expence in hoof care are rasps, and sharpening the knives every now and then. oh, and occasionly a sore back. bob h.

[Iron Rose]

My amish farrier charges me $20 per horse. They stay on.

Just because they stay on dose not mean they are propery shod!!!!! I’ve had to fix way to many Amish screw ups.

Dan
SE Minn

[MNMULE]

If you can find a good Amish Farrier, they’re worth their weight in gold. Maybe its just me but it seems like the Amish Farriers I’ve dealt with are the only farriers that haven’t given me a headache. Before a few years ago when I started using Levi Yoder in Canton MN, every farrier appointment started off with me calling the farrier, and calling and calling and calling and then maybe if I’m lucky I’ll hear back from him. Then I’ll hear something about how he’s to busy right now or thats not enough horses for him to travel that far for (six head oughta be enough) either that or it’ll be that I never hear back from him ever. Then if I do get him to come he’s late, doesn’t have the right shoes, doesn’t want to shoe that horse because he’s a little touchy…….. and on top of that he wants to charge me a hundred plus dollars a head to shoe. OR I can make an appointment via a letter which gets confirmed with a phone call take my horses and mules down to Levis, he shoes everything i bring and never complains once and all this for 25 dollars a head plus the cost of shoes. I’ve been using him for four years now and never had a thrown shoe, never had a lameness issue, I guess maybe I’ve just had bad luck with the regular farriers out there but I have no intentions of switching back anytime soon. and just for the record I’ve never written a shoer a bad check or had a horse or mule that was mean to shoe. I understand there are plenty of bad amish farriers out there I think this is due to the fact that a lot of Amishmen shoe horses with out actually being trained in the craft, I have a lot of faith in the farrier I use, he shoes horses all day everyday six days a week and a lot of his customers are other Amish who count on their horses for transportation, if there’s one guy that oughta know what he’s doing it would be Levi.

[jac]

Bob, the barefoot conditioning intrests me greatly. We have Clydes that do a fair amount of wagon work on the tarmac and field work also.. How long is the transition period ?.. Is it a universally trained skill from a farriers point of view ?.. One thing our farriers do that troubles me is they rasp the outer wall of the hoof smooth to the point of seeing a hint of purple just below the surface!! All the old farriers said never to do that. I’ve said to them but get very vague answers.. think its done just to look good but not to my eye it doesnt..
John

[Anonymous]

jac, to understand more about what i’m talking about, try googleing ”barefoot for soundness”, it will take you to pete ramey’s website. there is tons of info there. there is also , ”the horses hoof”, which is a news letter, good info and links also. i can’t answer the transition time issue. i’ll say though, the more abrasive conditions the horse has exposure to in it’s living environment the better. if their on pasture a lot of the time, or if it’s just soft in general, it may not work. but there are things such as, gravel surrounding the water trough, even shale. i happen to live in a more arid environment where it lends itself to keeping a horse barefoot. having said that, it still wouldn’t work if i didn’t diligently keep that hoof short and rounded over. it takes a whole lot of nature to keep a horse’s foot in pristine condition. living out west i’ve had the opportunity to see wild horses feet up close while they were in holding pens, and they are truly amazing. there is no difference from one to another. some may say, yeah but were talking drafts here, so am i. suppose i’d better get some pictures. bob h.

[jac]

Thanks for the reply Bob.. Im going to research this .. fotos would be great. do you think the tarmac could do the same job as the abrasive shale you mention. Our land is heavy clay type but we tend to try and keep the horses off in the wet season.
John

[near horse]

Although not horse hooves, when I was at Washington St University my advisor had some mountain goats (wildlife). They were kept in some large outdoor pens (like 6 acres) but the sod didn’t keep their hooves in shape so we had to trim them every so often – in their rocky abrasive natural environment, there was no need for a farrier 🙂 This sort of reinforces what Bob is saying about natural hoof care.

[Matthew]

Being able to shoe your own draft Is a huge help to you for the average draft owner. In the farming world keeping drafts is a huge expence and unless you are in the show world we could all use any savings we can get. They eat more grain more hay, cost twice as much to worm and by all rights the farier gets twice as much to shoe them. The farier is in buisness to make money and when he has a foot that is twice as big a leg on a horse that weighs twice as mutch and a steel shoe that is twice as thick he is going to charge you twice as mutch. It is true that some horses can go bare foot and do exelent with out shoes but some horses need shoes all the time thair feet become a mess with out shoes. A frend of mine had a belgan that had such flat feet if he was with out shoes he could hardly walk, he had no hoof wall and was walking on his soles. I went to horse shoeing school a few years after I got out of high school I ended up chooseing another carreer but I am glad I will be able to shoe my own. It in my opinion is not some thing you can learn to do out of a book you need someone to teach you how to corectly trim a foot before nailing on a shoe. More harm can be done to a horse than good if the foot is not level, balanced and at the proper angle. The shoe needs to be properly shaped and flat too many people hot shoe a horse because they cant level a foot and shoe. Hot fitting is fine but you have to first level the foot and shoe you cant burn the foot level. You also need to learn to nail on a shoe for your benifit and the horses finding good hoof wall can sometimes be tricky if the horse dosent have a lot of new hoof growth nailing the back nails into the quarters can also be tricky the wall is very straight and you sometimes need to bend your nails so they come out and dont qiuck the horse. Nailing on a shoe is in my mind the most dangeros part of shoeing a horse once the nail is through the hoof wall you must ring the nail off if a horse decides to take his foot back when you have a size 10 or 12 nail sticking out of thair hoof that could really hurt in your leg or hand. I dont want to discurage anyone from shoeing thair own horses I beleve that it is a must for most owners and the horses will usualy act better for the person who cares for and drives the horses, but for the well being of the horse and the safety of the shoer it in my opinion is something that should be assisted in learning by some one who has experince.

[jac]

Bob I found that web site. Thers a lot of them on the subject of barefoot conditioning. We have 2 Clyde mares that have never been shod in there life. Our farier is willing to try it for me so we’ll keep you posted. The transition can take up to a year for horses that have had the shoes pulled. Its a lot faster for unshod horses that have only ever been trimmed conventionaly. A lot was said of improved circulation. Clydes have trouble with CPL and a contributing factor is poor circulation. Do you know if Belgians benefit from this trimming in that respect as they have the same condition ??
John

[TBigLug]

Wow, most of you guys are getting RAILED by your ferriers. Furthermore, to insinuate you shouldn’t use a ferrier because he’s Amish is an ignorant (bordering on racist/ predjudice) thing to say. I’d put Henry Detweiller- Shaytown Blacksmith (my Amish ferrier) up against ANY other ferrier in the country. He’s rasonable on his rates ($20 for trim $20 for new shoes $10 for drilltec per horse), he’s experienced (35 years shoeing horses) and he’s good witht he horses. There’s NO reason it should cost $250 PER HORSE FOR ANYTHING! That’s insane. Figures out to about $500 an hour. Let em guess, your ferriers drive brand new Chevy 3500 Duramax trucks too? 😀 I jest, but seriously, don’t write off a ferrier because they’re Amish. The Amish are who we should be looking to for ideas given that they are the ones who have been using REAL horse power and CONTINUE to use horse power to this day.

[Carl Russell]

TBigLug;16920 wrote:

… There’s NO reason it should cost $250 PER HORSE FOR ANYTHING! That’s insane. Figures out to about $500 an hour. …… The Amish are who we should be looking to for ideas given that they are the ones who have been using REAL horse power and CONTINUE to use horse power to this day.

I have to agree with a lot of what you say, but I have seen some pretty poor feet on Amish horses. Even though as a group they have kept alive the art of farming with horses, there’s no guarantee that you will find the best hoof care just because that is true.

There are careful and caring people, and there are shoddy operators in both cultures. The main thing is that you know what you expect from your horse, and understand how hoof care relates to that. Then whether you do the work or hire someone else, know what you expect to have as a final product, and make sure you get it.

Carl

[Iron Rose]

. Furthermore, to insinuate you shouldn’t use a ferrier because he’s Amish is an ignorant (bordering on racist/ predjudice) thing to say.

There are a lot of good Amish farriers out there and I have worked with many of them. My problem is not with the Amish but with the people that think that just because they are Amish, they know all there is to know sbout horses. Thats like saying that because I drive a motor vechile I am a mechanic. A good Farrier is a good Farrier be he Amish or English.

As far as cost I too am blown away buy what some people pay or charge. There seems to be Two schools of thought on Farriers, use the one that will work the cheapest , or use the one that charges the most because he must be better . True drafts are for the most part more difficult to do and shoes are higher priced. I Charge by the hour plus material ($75.00 hr working time) So figureing travel time, insurance, vechile expense, and time spent on continuing education, then figure in your expense of hualing and time spent My rates are not out of line.

[grey]

When you get out of Amish country, the availability of farriers who will shoe a draft at all drops dramatically. Some of these folks are paying these comparably-astronomical prices because there is very little competition in the realm of draft shoeing in their geograpic locale. I know that if my shoer quit tomorrow, I’d have a heck of a time getting shoes on my horses for under $200 apiece. We also pay more for horsedrawn equipment because the majority of it comes from, again, Amish country. The stuff that some of you can find in any ol hedgerow is thin on the ground over here. Have pity on us, sure, but don’t think we’re suckers just because we sometimes pay through the nose to have the same goods and services as some of you folks.

[Author]

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