Few professions can compare the physical strength and prowess needed to stay physically sound as a farrier. You bend, lift and twist all day, often with your head at the level of your hips. All the while you are handling and being handled by a sizable animal with a mind of its own and under environmental variables of temperature, footing and lighting, as well as a third person, if you have a handler. The last thing you need is to have your feet weigh you down and trip you up.

A study by the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research in 2018 found that 63 to 72% of the population are wearing the wrong size shoe, most often too short, but also oftentimes too narrow. Odds are high that you are in the 63-70%. But how does this happen?