This year marks the 50th anniversary (and 32nd year at Lessiter Media) of American Farriers Journal covering the farrier trade. We’re asking hoof-care professionals for a few words to include in a “From the Audience” section of our coverage – in the December edition.

International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame member Bob Smith, who owns and operates Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School in Plymouth, Calif., shared his thoughts below on the three questions we are asking hoof-care professionals.

Q: When you look back at the last 50 years of new technologies, what were the biggest defining moments that forever changed farriery and equine health as we know it today?

A: Digital communications in so many aspects of a farrier’s life. Prior to the digital revolution the time between a veterinarian doing a work up, the farrier finding the time to drive to the veterinarian’s office and review the radiographs and find a time for the veterinarian to be on the phone at the same time you were at a phone made immediate treatment of the horse difficult. In addition, the vet and farrier spent a great deal of time per day that did not generate income. 

Today, the vet can take a series of radiographs and within seconds the farrier has received them along with any other information the veterinarian wishes to send. The farrier can do the work and text or email the veterinarian and information that might be relevant for the next visit.

Prior to digital communications, the farrier had to have a roll of dimes and know the location of phone booths to contact clients. The more rural you lived, the fewer the population of phone booths.  

I remember when there was only one phone booth within a 20-mile radius of where I would shoe. I broke a few speed limits getting to that one booth many times. 

Today, a farrier can call, text or email clients. Hands-free cell phones and the ability to send a text message without having to stop and type the message has saved a lot of frustration and time. 

Prior to digital communications, a farrier knew he/she had to spend time listening to the telephone answering machine for anyone who attempted to contact him/her that day. Then the farrier would have to spend time, in the evening, attempting to reach the people who called to schedule or answer questions. Your day wasn’t over when you pulled into your drive.   

Today, almost all communication can be digital or that hands-free phone call driving from one client to another. When you get home it is family time.  

Prior to digital communications and the GPS finding a new client could take time and had the potential for conflict with the new client when you could not find them. Not only will your phone pinpoint the address and give you a blue line to get there, it also changes your travel to avoid congestion and accidents, making it easier for the farrier to maintain precise appointments. 

No more directions from a client, “Now ya go on down that road till you get where Jerry rolled his truck a few years back, then ya turn left and I am right next to that big ol’ barn that burnt down about 10 years ago.”

Prior to digital communications, your calendar, client list, schedule and books were all kept on paper. Today, you can be kept up to date and find anything with a touch. 

Today, with the internet, farriers cannot only correspond with farriers and veterinarians around the world but they can get access to studies concerning specific diseases of the foot, movement issues for performance horses and general health and lameness information. Farriers no longer have to try and reinvent the wheel with attempts and failures over the years. They can read, see and talk to veterinarians that have done the attempt and failure and move ahead of the curve.

Q: For the newer generation, what are the biggest ways that farriery and equine health is totally different from that of 50 years ago?

A: In 1974, when I started shoeing a coal forge was all that was available. Working and maintaining a coal fire takes training and time, not to mention the smoke and the mess. You couldn’t leave a shoe in the fire and then go and trim the feet. Your shoe would be burnt and melted. And then there was a 100-pound sack of coal in the middle of your shoeing rig all the time with coal dust everywhere.

Propane forges are neat, clean and can be regulated to fit your needs.

In 1974, there weren’t many factory-made shoes to pick from so working hot was required most of the time. Adaptation to keg shoes was a constant theme. Today, we have such a huge variety of shoes to pick from to assist the horse. 

Today, there is not much of the, “throw him out to pasture and if he is still limping in six months we’ll put him down.”

The sophistication of imaging available to the veterinarian today is amazing. Before digital radiographs, the farrier had to make sure that there was some type of marker on the dorsal wall or many times, you had no idea where it was. Helpful radiographs depended upon the skill of the veterinarian with a little bit of luck thrown in.

Today, ultrasound technology is so sophisticated that soft tissue damage can be seen and the horse is treated for conditions the vet could only guess about 50 years ago.

And then MRIs came along and are getting less and less expensive for the clients. We know that navicular disease doesn’t really exist. That, what was called navicular, is not just the bone but now an assortment of areas in the podotrochlear apparatus. Changes in treatment and shoeing to help the horse a lot better than traditional one type of shoeing. 

Q: What are some specific ways that AMERICAN FARRIERS JOURNAL magazine impacted your business and staff?

A: Before the Journal, the local farrier was totally isolated. In the 1970s, you could not go into a barn, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation with another farrier. The farrier would find the owner of the barn and threaten to quit if the new guy wasn’t thrown out or a direct person-to-person threat to leave or engage in a fistfight. 

The Journal has shown farriers that regardless of your reputation or status we all do the same thing, we suffer the same failures and the same business problems. The Journal highlights farrier successes not only in the forge and shoeing, but also in business and life. The Journal is the glue that binds farriers thousands of miles away in a common journey.

Fiftyyears ago, you would go to a clinic and there would be small isolated groups of farriers but, unless you were with that group, no discussions or conversations could be had with them. Farriers like to keep their “secrets” for success. 

The Journal has allowed the most isolated farrier to get to know other farriers, their methods, studies and products that they would never have a chance to know. Unless you read the Journal, you were looking at farriery through a toilet paper role, very narrow. The way you would shoe a horse never changed and the products you used never changed. The Journal opened up people, procedures, products and new theories that continue to improve the daily life of a farrier.

And the Journal developed and runs the largest gathering of farriers, farrier products and farrier minds in the world with the International Hoof-Care Summit. Not only are the lectures vital to the success of the modern farrier but the comradery is a commodity that cannot be purchased at any price.