There is something special about making and using your own tools. That feeling may be lost a little for well-known tool makers such as Texas farrier Jim Poor and New Mexico shoer Jim Keith, but making a tool that I’ll use still gives me that tingly feeling.

Jim Ferrie ranks among the world’s best possible sources for advice about bar shoes. He’s earned his way into the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame during his more than 30 years as a farrier, and he specializes in therapeutic shoeing while working in Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland.