When hot fitting a shoe, most farriers use a set of tongs or Vise Grips. Hall Of Fame farrier Myron McLane takes a different approach.

“When I bring a shoe to the foot, I carry it on a pritchel,” he says.

The Somerset, Mass., farrier’s use of the tool is all about efficiency and precision.

“If you look at the shoe, you’ll see the pritchel sticking through the bottom of the nail hole on the foot surface,” he says. “When I put the shoe on the foot, you can see where that outside branch is and where that particular nail hole is because the end of the pritchel burns into the foot, too. You can see it’s nowhere near the white line. So that tells me that this branch needs to come in.”

Get more tips from International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame member Myron McLane by reading, “Forging A Heart Bar Has Never Been Easier,” in the November 2017 issue of American Farriers Journal.