The efficiency of shaping of shoes hot or cold is in the hands of the farrier doing the work, according to Jim Poor. It takes a great deal of time and effort to learn the skills to become efficient at hot shaping shoes. You also need to find someone that can teach you those skills  —  which is not always easy.

There are a lot of opinions on this subject but there are few people that are truly efficient at both ways of shaping shoes. To be efficient at shaping shoes cold means taking the time to make some alterations in the type of anvil you use. Turning cams are most useful to bring heels around smoothly, with a smooth round horn for opening toes. An anvil that is solid, although not necessarily big, is important so it does not jump and move while you are working on it. If it jumps, moves or vibrates it will steal energy from you  —  energy that you will need for the next horse.

Shaping shoes hot has the same basic rules, but you will not need all of that trick stuff on your anvil. You also won’t need to exert as much energy striking the shoes and can use a smaller hammer and lighter blows to accomplish the same task. You will need to think ahead and plan your shoeing a little more. You’ll want to light your forge before you need it.

While trimming two feet, throw two keg shoes in the fire. When you get ready to trim the other two feet, the shoes will be heated and ready to shape. When you have fit the second of the two shoes, throw the next two in the fire, nail up and then fit the last two. If you wait until you need something or run around looking for it, time has been wasted!

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