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Oregon shoer Zach Morris.

Arabian Show Horse Farrier Plays the Angles

Oregon farrier Zach Morris keeps mounts sound through challenges of shoeing rules and conformational faults

Farrier Takeaways

  • Arabian show horse farriers must ensure that the shoe packages and measurements meet the strict rules.
  • Zach Morris typically keeps the horses on 5- or 6-week shoeing schedules. However, because of the shoeing rules, horses heading for shows sometimes are left to go long to ensure they fall within the appropriate hoof measurements.
  • Since most of Arabians have high-low, Morris must adjust his shoeing packages to accommodate them.

These are busy days for Zach Morris.

The Lyons, Ore., farrier is logging significant miles — both on the road and in the air — as several of his clients will be making the trek to Tulsa, Okla., for the United States National Arabian & Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show. With a little more than 2 weeks before the show, Morris has his work cut out for him.

After spending the previous week in New England, Morris will be on the opposite coast for the upcoming weekend as he prepares more clients’ horses that are stabled in the Seattle, Wash., area. In the meantime, clients closer to home at Prestige Farms in Hillsboro, Ore., are on his immediate mind on this “Shoeing for a Living” Day.

A big part of ensuring that Morris’ work is performed at a high level is the help that he receives from associates such as Lillian Wenham, who accompanies him today.

“It’s really easy to be successful when you have good help,” he says. “It’s not just the physical aspect of it. Their abilities to perform…

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Jeff cota 2023

Jeff Cota

Jeff Cota has been a writer, photographer and editor with newspapers and magazines for 30 years. A native of Maine, he is the editor of American Farriers Journal.

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