As many farriers age, it is better for the horse to forgo vanity and admit when assistance is needed. Reading glasses purchased off the shelf require a minimal investment for those who spend time looking at material close-up, like a foot. When it comes to selecting a pair, an ordinary drugstore set with or without an eyeglass strap/lanyard seems like the apex of design, but a few farriers have found something better.

Birmingham, Ala., farrier Mark Rikard had been using a pair of drugstore reading glasses for years. As a tool, they perform fine, but he did have to tolerate their weaknesses.

“I’m bending down all the time, and my normal pair of readers tended to slide off my nose or just hinge on my ears and flip up,” says Rikard. “Even with a cloth loop or strap on the glasses, you have to keep reaching back to tighten them to keep them in place.”

Two years ago, Rikard happened to pass over an ad on his Facebook feed for Clic Readers. The design included a magnetic closure on the bridge and continuous temple pieces that form a flexible wrap-around neck band. When the glasses weren’t in use, they could be broken apart at the nose and hung around his neck. When they were in use, the strap could be fit snugly around the back of his head to prevent slippage.

“The fact that they stay in place is really why I got them,” says Rikard…