At some point during the first couple of weeks I spent as an editor at American Farriers Journal, I asked a farrier if he could give me a simple definition of hoof balance. Over the years, I came to appreciate the fact that he kept a straight face as he answered me.

It seems almost counterintuitive to think that building and applying the complicated appliance often needed in therapeutic shoeing could be a losing proposition for a farrier. But that can easily become the case unless some thought and reasoning are given to properly charging for the work.

As horses age, they present new challenges to horse owners, as well as to farriers. Because farriers are usually the equine professionals who see horses and owners most regularly, they are frequently the first person a horse owner goes to for advice when senior horses begin to have new issues.

If you’re a horseshoer, you work with metal every day. But how much do you have to really know about metallurgy — the science underlying the working of metal — to be successful? That might depend on how you define success and what kind of farrier you want to be.

There is no shortage of horseshoes, in size, style or material. It will take no more than a few minutes inside a well-stocked supply store to convince anyone of that. Jeff Ridley, a farrier from Leighton, Iowa, recently was struck by that fact during a clinic at Anvil Brand’s headquarters in Lexington, Ill. The clinician was Shayne Carter of West Mountain, Utah.

Performance horses, by the very nature of the work they are asked to do, are more prone to injuries than horses that are being used primarily for recreational riding. There are a number of studies that offer evidence that certain injuries are more likely to occur with certain disciplines, but an informal survey of several experienced farriers indicates that across disciplines, more common injuries such as sore feet and abscesses are the culprits that farriers most often have to deal with.