It’s not often you hear about farriers being treated as celebrities, but one who received at least a degree of “star treatment” is part of what got Bob Lanners interested in a shoeing career 41 years ago.
When a farrier has trimmed and shod hundreds of horses thousands of times, it stands to reason that he or she will have reached certain conclusions about how trimming a foot this way, or applying a shoe in that way will affect a horse.
As we noted here, long-time AFJ Managing Editor Pat Tearney retired at the end of 2013. While cleaning out his office, I came across dozens of bins and folders of farrier images, all of them predating the very comfortable and convenient age of digital images.
Sonny Pistilli has been shoeing horses since 1967. As you'd expect, he's seen a lot of clubfooted horses during that time. But for the last couple of years, he's been dealing with a horse that presents the biggest clubfoot challenge he's ever faced.
If you ever get the chance to attend a clinic by International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame member Mike Wildenstein, stay on your toes, listen closely and keep your eyes open. Let your attention wander for just a minute and you'll probably miss something.
Danny Ward, the late farrier from Martinsville, Va., might have been as well known as a "tool guy" as he was a horseshoer. But the member of the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame, maintained that at least some of his penchant for tool repair and maintenance was a matter of necessity.
Farriers come into the business in many different ways and from many different fields. But Matt Frederick, who shoes in Napa Valley, Calif., may come as close as any to having a unique beginning.
There are many shoes used by farriers in therapeutic work and not all of them are specifically designed to treat an injury. Rather than simply reaching for a heart bar shoe for a laminitis case, or a straight bar shoe for palmar heel pain, it’s important to first think about what you want the shoe to do and why.
Your first career therapeutic shoeing situation is likely to be a surprise. You're called in to tack on a "lost shoe," and discover that the shoe has taken a pretty big chunk of the hoof with it. Or you discover a horse doesn't want to bear weight on a front foot. The owner - who is new to the horse world - can't understand it. The horse seemed happy enough when it was chowing down on all that lush green grass in the pasture a few days earlier.
Greg Martin, CJF, of Boerne, Texas, takes the unique approach of marketing his hoof-care practice with a Christmas parade float in Boerne and Comfort, Texas. The award-winning float boasts a variety of surprising features.
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