Shoeing performance horses don’t require bells and whistles. Quite the contrary, says Lexington, Ky., farrier Bobby Menker.

“Just keep it simple,” he told attendees at the Wisconsin Equine Clinic & Hospital in Ocon­omowoc, Wis. “We start at the coronary band and then try to build a base all the way down. This is what I like to build for.”

It’s the shoeing philosophy that he follows each day, regardless of the horse’s experience or value. Menker shared some cases involving heel problems during the mid-February clinic.

Heel Relief

Menker and his son Austin were intro­duced to a horse that is just weeks away from the All-American Quarter Horse Congress, which takes place much of October.

“There’s a lot of pressure going on in the back half of this left front foot (Figures 1a and 1b),” says the elder Menker, noting the horse had on rail shoes before Austin pulled…