Farriers can do the vast majority of their work without consulting a veterinarian. Conversely, equine vets can do a lot of their work without getting together with a horseshoer.

But there are those times when they need to work together.

That’s where Corrective Farriery: A Textbook Of Remedial Horeshoeing, comes in. It is designed “to cover the grey area between the art of farriery and science of the veterinary profession,” according to the preface written by the book’s editor, Simon Curtis, a fellow of The Worshipful Company Of Farriers Of Great Britain and an honorary associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Corrective Farriery Defined

“Many farriers have a saying that ‘there is no such thing as corrective farriery — only correct farriery.’ It trips nicely off the tongue, but is incorrect,” writes Curtis. “One would hope that all farriery is carried out correctly, (the) feet are properly prepared and the appropriate shoes applied soundly. Corrective farriery is more than that; it is taking farriery skills and using them to improve a recognized condition, such as applying a mediolateral extension shoe to a foal with an angular limb deformity.”

This first volume of a planned two-volume work consists of 16 chapters, bringing together the thoughts and opinions of 23 authors from six countries. Topics covered in the 340 pages include anatomy, imaging the foot and the leg, foot balance, development of the foot and leg, making hospital plate shoes, shoeing for conditions of the hind limb, injuries to the…