Ninety percent of the horses that Rob Spencer shoes are laminitic or have other serious foot problems. His emphasis on therapeutic shoeing dictates the design and content of his rig.

“I cover a lot of miles to reach those horses,” he says. “That means I have to have with me, or be able to make, everything that I might need when I’m on the road. I don’t have the luxury of stopping back home to get anything.”

“Home” is Genoa, N.Y., his base when he works throughout the states of the Northeast. He also drives cross-country to the Versailles, Ky., area, where he and partner Eric Parsons own and operate the Equine Podiatry Center, a business they bought from nationally prominent veterinarian Ric Redden last November.

Long Bed To Short Bed

Since then, Spencer has put 40,000 miles on his 2002 Ford truck, and he expects to reach 70,000 miles this year. Covering that much ground, Spencerpays attention to his rig’s handling. “I used to be in a long-bed truck, but I moved to this short-bed because I like the tighter turning radius,” he says. 

EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE. The abundance of compartments and drawers beneath the single-wing doors of Rob Spencer’s rig make it convenient for the farrier to stay organized and to protect the equipment during travel.

The custom-made Stone Well box is longer than normal for a short-bed truck, giving Spencer more room for his shoeing tools and equipment. The box actually was mounted on his previous truck, and installing it on the new vehicle was a simple matter of unbolting it from the old one and reattaching it to the new one.

Beneath the single-wing doors on each side and the back of the Ford F350 lies an assortment of standard and therapeutic shoes, as well as the band saws, drill presses and grinders that allow him to forge, modify and fit shoes appropriate for each horse.

A propane forge swings out from the back of the rig. A large anvil on a swing-out mount is just a step or two from the forge, and a jack leg allows the anvil to be lowered to the ground easily. A smaller anvil in the truck can be carried to any shoeing station for fine-tuning or for use in bad weather.

DIGITAL X-RAYS A STARTING POINT. Rob Spencer describes X-rays as crucial to the proper fitting of therapeutic shoes, so his rig carries all the equipment he needs to produce digital shots.

Probably the most noticeable feature of Spencer’s rig is the digital X-ray equipment that dominates one side of the box.

An X-ray machine, a computer radiography processor and a printer for the digital pictures are mounted on shelves, one atop another. Adjoining drawers contain the special paper and the non-traditional, phosphorous plates designed for the digital system, as well as the protective clothing (lead aprons, thyroid collars and gloves) he needs when operating the equipment.

A laptop computer also contains the Eponatech software program for in-depth hoof analysis.

The X-ray machinery is built into a cabinet, but it “pops out” easily, Spencer says, and fits into a traveling case if he needs to take it with him on an airplane bound for a more distant job, such as a regular shoeing assignment in Mexico.

“Because the chances of failure are so great with these problem horses, I start with pictures to give me the best odds of helping them,” Spencer says. 

“I shoe everything pathologically. I don’t arbitrarily nail shoes on the bottom of a hoof capsule; we’re concerned about what’s inside.”

He adds, “I often have to drive to Maryland or Connecticut or wherever, and people are counting on me when I get there — and I count on my truck to have what i need.

SHOP IS READY. The propane forge (upper left) and large anvil are both swing-mounted and in close proximity, adding to the ease of manufacturing custom-fitting shoes.