Where do you start when working on feet?

Routines are part and parcel of daily hoof-care work. Some farriers prefer starting with the left front, moving on to the left hind and making their way around the horse. Often, they find that it’s more efficient to follow this pattern. Others address the front feet first before the hinds. While some might find it efficient, it’s a more practical starting point for Danny Anderson.

“You can go around a horse,” says the Whitesboro, Texas, farrier. “I did it for years. But I do them in pairs.”

Anderson waits to pull the hind shoes until he’s ready to work on them.

“I would see horses in cross-ties sit back and just wrack their hind feet,” says the American Farrier’s Association Certified Journeyman Farrier. “We can’t do the hinds while we’re doing the fronts. So, let’s do the fronts, concentrate and keep them balanced and square. I’m going to finish my fronts, then I’m going to go to the hinds and keep that focus on those pairs. If the horse sits back or kicks at a fly, it doesn’t trash its hind feet.”

While some might balk at the extra time that it requires, Anderson is just fine with it.

“I’m not in a hurry anymore.”