Author Rob van Nassau wrote Hoof Problems in collaboration with his brother, Antoon van Nassau. Both men work as farriers specializing in therapeutic shoeing in the Netherlands. The book was first published there in 2004 and was recently translated into English for sale in the United States.

Rob van Nassau has more than 30 years of experience as a farrier, many of those years spent working in an equine veterinary clinic. He is also a farriery teacher and lecturer, as well as a former European champion farrier and a national champion in the Netherlands.

Although the back cover describes van Nassau as “internationally renowned,” he might be virtually unknown on this side of the ocean.

Notable Endorsement

Given van Nassau’s anonymity, it is worth noting that Hoof Problems receives solid praise in a foreword written by English farrier Simon Curtis, who is widely known and respected in the United States due to his lectures and writing. His shoeing ideas are often cited in American Farriers Journal, and he has spoken at the International Hoof-Care Summit.

Curtis calls Hoof Problems “a much needed text that can be studied and enjoyed by farriers, veterinary surgeons and horse owners.”

Curtis believes Hoof Problems addresses an important change in farriery since the 1970s. “This book reflects the fact that we are no longer shoeing, in the main, working or military horses but are mostly concerned with leisure, sports and athletic horses. These horses bring a different set of problems to the horse owner and…