Feedyard pens are typically fairly dry, but heavy rain will make a mess of them. Deep, sloppy cow manure such as this will literally suck shoes right off horses’ feet.

In the Texas Panhandle, as well as many other areas across the nation’s midsection, feedlot cattle outnumber people. Some hold more than 60,000 cattle at the same time.

Thousands of horses carry feedyard cowboys every day, and they all have to be shod. That presents an opportunity for certain horseshoers.

Feedyard horses are typically used every other or every third day and are usually ridden all day long. Those horses are ridden up and down alleys, some of which are caliche (a sedentary rock also called hardpan), gravel or even concrete, as well as through manure-filled pens. When it is dry, those pens are rock hard, but when it rains the liquefied manure may be knee-deep on a horse. Miles of imperfect conditions each day require a horse to be shod, and shod well.

Plainview, Texas, lies near the southern edge of the Texas Panhandle and the state’s cattle feeding center. John Brunson, a 32-year-old horseshoer, grew up here and makes the majority of his living at feedlots around the Panhandle.

Brunson grew up shoeing. His dad is a preacher who shod horses on the side. Brunson later married into a shoeing family. His grandfather-in-law, Bobby Wardlaw, a feedyard shoer with decades of experience, taught him some more about the trade.

Hard Work And Hard-Working Horses

Shoeing at feedlots isn’t glamorous and is even looked down upon by some farriers. The work is hard and the smell unpleasant. Other horseshoers love it. Brunson is glad some horseshoers think they are too good for shoeing at feedyards. It helps his business.

John Brunson, left, and his assistant Matt Dawson, pause for a moment while shoeing at a feedyard near Lockney, Texas.

There is something to be said for shoeing horses that work for their living and are not just pets. Brunson enjoys shoeing feedyard horses to the point he would prefer to never shoe another personal horse. Why? There are large groups of horses in one location. The feet are always soft, the horses are always there and he doesn’t have to track down someone to get paid. He says he likes shoeing horses that were caught yesterday, because their attitudes are different. “A using (working) horse will stand there while a fly is biting him on the leg,” Brunson says. “A using horse is kind of like a horseshoer. He’s had to put up with some stuff, and he’s all right with it.”

Brunson shoes for four feedyards, accounting for about 60% of his business. Those yards have about 140 horses on a 6-week schedule. Three are located near Brunson’s home, and the horses are split into groups.

A typical finish job for a feedyard horse. Function, not aesthetics, is important. Brunson prefers to set shoes somewhat full, as shown here, although it can cause lost shoes in deep mud and cow manure.

Cow manure packs into the feet of feedyard horses. Some cowboys are religious about picking their horses’ feet, while others believe the hardened manure serves as a sort of pad.

He shows up at each, generally once a week, and shoes the five or 10 horses that are due. The other yard, located a couple hours away in Dalhart, keeps all the horses on one schedule, so Brunson takes a helper or two, spends a few days and shoes them all at once. He and two helpers once shod 82 head in one trip, and not long ago, he had a four-man crew shoe 64 horses and trim four more in 2 1/2 days.

Shoeing feedyard horses does not require any specialized shoeing skills, per se, but it does require good shoeing.

 “These horses depend on me doing a good job,” says Brunson.

Cowboys who depend upon their horses really only care about two things: sound horses and no lost shoes. But, with the hard riding and tough conditions, those two things are sometimes difficult to accomplish.

Feedyard shoeing, like all other types, begins with the trim. Brunson uses his knife sparingly, opting instead to nip through the sole and wall simultaneously. It saves time, and more importantly leaves plenty of sole. He always leaves more sole on feedyard horses than other types. With all the riding and rocks, they tend to get sore without a thick sole.

Some feedyards have nice shoeing areas such as this; others do not. In the background Matt Dawson works on a saddled horse, which is a common aggravation of the trade.

“You put a slick job on the bottom, you’re going to have some problems,” he says. “The more you use your knife, the more trouble you’re going to get in.”

Big, flat feet are difficult to keep sound in a yard, Brunson says. Horses with smaller, upright feet are easier to keep sound. Cow manure packs in the feet and becomes rock hard when it dries. Some cowboys are religious about cleaning out their horses’ feet, while others never pick one up.

Some claim that the hardened manure serves as a sort of pad and protects the sole. Brunson is unsure of the validity of that thinking, though. “That’s pretty cool, unless there’s a big old caliche rock stuck in there,” he says.

Shoes And Fit

He uses a variety of shoes on his feedlot horses, but most often chooses St. Croix Xtras because the added width protects the feet from rocks and hard ground. He hammers a shallow concave into the foot-surface of shoes, enabling him to leave even more sole.

He tries to fit the shoes as full as possible to keep the horses sound, but there is a fine line on fullness in feedyards. When the yard gets wet, the cow manure gets very boggy and will suck shoes off horses’ feet, full-fit shoes in particular.

I like to fit them as full as I can,” Brunson explains. “But then it rains, and if it gets muddy…”

Brunson likes the fact that feedyards give him the opportunity to train apprentices. For training purposes, he chooses to tack shoes on with two nails, then turn the horse over to his helper.

No matter the type or brand of shoe, feedyard horses can rarely be reset. Often the shoes are worn completely in half at 6 or 8 weeks. Brunson will reset the occasional horse that was not ridden much. A shiny finish is unimportant in a feedyard, so Brunson and his apprentices don’t spend any extra time or effort on it. Strong clinches are essential — aesthetics are not.

Most feedyards only employ one horseshoer and feedyard management writes the check. A few yards give their cowboys a horse allowance, and the men pay their own shoeing and other expenses. This is typically a nightmare for the horseshoer and Brunson won’t shoe for feedlots with this policy. Too often the cowboys won’t keep their horses on a schedule or are tough to collect from. The yards Brunson shoes for all pay quickly, and two of them even pay by direct deposit.

Feedlots are notorious for not wanting to pay a lot for shoeing, but many will pay a fair price. Some horseshoers give feedyards a quantity discount of $5 or $10, but Brunson charges the same price for any horse he shoes and his price is aligned with most of the other horseshoers in the area.

The feedyard manager plays a big role in how well a horseshoer gets along at his yard. Some managers, no matter how necessary the horses are, consider them — and the horseshoer — to be an expense and a nuisance. Things run much more smoothly when the manager is a horse guy.

Resets are rare in feedlots, since the heavy riding and hard ground wear shoes thin or even all the way through very quickly. The horse that had been wearing this shoe had been shod 6 weeks earlier.

The cowboys themselves are generally fairly easy to get along with, but there are exceptions. A feedyard horseshoer has to please anywhere from five to more than 20 cowboys, which isn’t always easy. Brunson jokes that often every one of them thinks he is a corrective horseshoer.

“I just nod my head and tell them yes, and then I shoe the horse the way I think is best,” he says.

Matt Dawson worked as Brunson’s apprentice for 3 years through his school’s co-op ag program. He is now attending college, paying his way with a growing shoeing business.

Occasionally there is a cowboy who really can shoe horses, and problems can arise when he wants to shoe his or all the feedyard’s horses on the side. Even more often, a cowboy’s brother, friend or neighbor shoes horses and the cowboy lobbies to get that man the job, which causes dissension.

Feedyards are a great place to train apprentices, which Brunson appreciates. The attitude at yards is different than with someone’s personal horse. Brunson always keeps an apprentice. He works with the local high school’s co-op ag program, where participating students get out of school at 1 p.m. to work.

Matt Dawson, Brunson’s most recent apprentice, assisted him for 3 years through the co-op program. Dawson now has some of his own customers, including one feedlot, and plans to pay his way through college shoeing horses.

“The best part of this is being able to teach helpers who can go on to college and pay their own way, like I did,” Brunson says.

Brunson’s assistants always pull shoes and finish. Once they’re capable, he has them begin trimming and eventually even has them shoe entire horses. In between those points, though, Brunson trims, shapes and tacks on the shoes. He likes to tack the shoes with two nails and then turn the horse over to the helper. His apprentices can always drive nails great, before they ever begin trimming.

While he uses a variety of shoes, Brunson typically selects St. Croix Xtras, both for their durability and the added hoof protection.

Things vary from yard to yard, but most feedlot shoers can count on adverse shoeing conditions. Some yards have a barn or a concrete pad, but most of the time the shoeing area is just the most-level area near the horse barn with a good fence to tie up horses. The ground is always covered in several inches of manure and occasionally muddy.

Feedyard cowboys have to work in whatever Mother Nature throws at them, and they expect the same of their farrier. Waiting a few days for better weather is frowned upon. Brunson lives with this, but it doesn’t bother him much. He shrugs it off, saying, “If they need shoeing, that’s my job.”

He wasn’t that easygoing about the time he spent 3 days by himself shoeing at Dalhart when the high temperature during the entire trip was 8 degrees. At times sleet was falling, and dried cow manure was blowing on him the whole time. Either out of pity — or a sick sense of humor — the feedyard built a barn soon afterward.

Even though feedyard horses are usually easy to work on, every yard has a cowboy or two that rides outside horses. Many of these colts have not been shod much and are difficult to work on. Worse yet, the cowboys, who are always working, cannot or will not hold them.

A few years ago, Brunson recalls getting a new feedyard account that needed 12 head shod. That first day there were two horses that were easy to shoe, two he sedated, and the other eight had to be tied down to shoe. He never went back.

Brunson generally nips through both the sole and the wall at the same time. He uses his knife sparingly, leaving as much sole as possible to avoid soreness.

Fortunately for horseshoers, feedyard policies and insurance over the last few years have eliminated much of the colt riding. Horses must be gentle or they are not allowed at the yard.

Brunson recalls an occasion with a bad horse several years ago. The horse was tied to a fence and was basically attempting to lope circles with Brunson under it. Frustrated, Brunson asked the owner if he had been picking its feet up. The cowboy replied, “No, man, that’s what we’ve got a horseshoer for.”