NEWS AND NOTES

July 17, 2013
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy, Spring Valley Tribune

"They get new shoes every six to eight weeks if they're used for riding a fair bit. The shoes are for traction, support and protection," said Cresco farrier Jarred Lund, speaking to visitors at Historic Forestville's new "New Shoes for Horses" interpretive program last Saturday as he inspected, filed and shod a horse as part of a demonstration meant to illustrate what is necessary to fit horseshoes to horses, animals which were the main source of transportation in 1899.

Lund showed program attendees how a horse's hoof is first cleaned, then filed on the sides and bottom. "You clean the foot and get it ready, go ahead and trim it. Proper maintenance keeps hooves healthy. They shed their hoof wall about two to three times a year, on average, and it's best to keep them trimmed to keep bacteria out, so top-dressing them is as important as anything - if a hoof starts getting long, it puts pressure on the tendons and ligaments. The hoof grows out as far as it is wide and down the same length, so if you don't keep that filed, you don't have a healthy 'frog'...a tight foot is a healthy foot, so keeping shoes on a horse helps keep the horse supported."

Lund has been in the business for the past 11 years and trained in Kentucky because "it's hard to find a horse shoer, and even then, a good horse shoer...plus, I don't want to work in an office or on someone else's hours, so I might as well do something I enjoy."

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