The ball has dropped. Toasts have been made. Another year has passed. Father Time has relinquished his mantle to Baby New Year. But before running headlong into 2017, it’s a good time to reflect upon 2016. After all, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The December 2016 issue of American Farrier’s Journal featured the article, “A Prelude To Understanding Duckett’s Dot.” Based on a presentation delivered at the 2016 Northeast Association of Equine Practitioners Annual Symposium in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Duckett touched on the history and principles of his work on the Dot.

When a well-clipped shoe is applied correctly, it sure looks sharp on a horse’s hoof. Some farriers will even go so far as to call them sexy. Proclivities aside, they serve an important function. “Clips are mainly used to improve the security of the shoe on the foot and relieve stress on the nails,” says Tucumcari, N.M., farrier Jim Keith. “They can be applied anywhere around the wall perimeter, but usually only in the anterior half due to their ability to constrict wall movement. They may be used to contain wall flares.”

Pal is always lame. He was taken off a slaughter truck about 10 years ago and bought by James Work, a small animal veterinarian in Greenfield, Wis.

There are noteworthy figures in farriery who are closely associated with significant developments. Whether it is a tool, forging technique or creative application, these people left a mark on the industry. But among these, only one name is universally recognized by farriers in association with external reference points of the foot.

Is the practice of grooving beneficial when managing a quarter crack? Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that it does. However, Bed­minster, N.J., farrier Bob Pethick had doubts. So when a client, who happened to be a veterinarian, bought a Quarter Horse with a bleeding quarter crack and a displaced heel quarter on the front foot, the Hall Of Fame farrier was presented with an opportunity to experiment.

Over the past 28 years of my shoeing career, clients, veterinarians and other farriers have asked three common questions about hoof angle. What is the ideal hoof angle? What angle do you like the front hooves? What angle do you try to achieve for hind hooves, etc.?