When attending farrier clinics, sometimes the best ideas you leave with come from fellow attendees you talk with. Warrenton, Va., farrier Marc van der Rest shared a tip at a clinic that he attended about 10 years ago.

The other farrier explained how he attached a plate to his Hoofjack to rest a hot shoe while under the horse. 

“So many barns have rubber flooring or rubber mats, and the clients don’t want you to put the shoe down on those,” van der Rest says. “This is an easy way to keep the shoe from burning marks on the floor and keep nearby.”

For his modification of this idea, van der Rest uses a piece from an aluminum diamond plate mud flap. He cut the piece to the necessary dimensions, drilled several anchor holes in the plate and cleaned before adhering to the stand with an ounce of leftover Equilox I. A decade later, the plate remains attached to the Hoofjack.