When you read the first timestamp for this "Shoeing For A Living," you may think that this day started slightly late. While it may be true that many farriers usually have a foot in the air by 9 a.m., this isn't a case of the subject - or editor - sleeping in.
There are very few advantages to having had a lot of birthdays and some gray in your hair, but the big benefit is having a lot of experience and a personal sense of history. In the 40 years I have been shoeing hunters and jumpers, I have witnessed a lot of changes. The biggest is the shift from using ex-racing Thoroughbreds to European warmbloods as the primary breeds.
Farriers are lucky to have a wide variety of skills, tools and materials to take care of horses' feet. When that new client calls, we sometimes need all three to do the job. I've always tried to stay on top of information that can help me do the right thing for my customers in all three areas.
When Mike Givney talks about how he built his Otter Creek Farrier Service of Johnsonville, N.Y., into a successful hunter and jumper shoeing operation, he repeatedly refers to the underlying principles that have become the mainstays of his business: having options and paying attention to details.
Pads may not have been around quite as long as horseshoes, but they are far from a new invention. Farriers have been adding materials to horseshoes for years — to change a hoof angle, provide added protection, to attempt to alter a horse’s gait — and from just about the first time a farrier added a pad, there was someone else that though he’d made a huge mistake.
Despite the advent of clipped keg shoes, there are still plenty of farriers who prefer to draw their own clips when a hoof calls for them. The ability to draw clips allows a shoer to place the clip exactly where he wants it, as well as to forge it to the length that’s needed.
In this episode, Mark Ellis, a Wisconsin farrier who learned the ropes with Renchin, recalls Red’s relationships with area veterinarians, his legacy and the second career as American Farriers Journal’s technical editor.
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