Over the years, farriers have shared various techniques for applying packing to horses’ feet. While some farriers use a bilge cloth or soufflé cup to apply hoof packing, a Texas farrier not only uses an easy method for applying it, but also for making it.
In the April 2019 issue of American Farriers Journal, we celebrate the legacy of Hall of Fame farrier John Marino, who passed away in March 2019. As you will see in the article in this issue, he had a tremendous impact on the farriers who knew him. He had a lengthy horseshoeing career that took him from the East Coast to the Lone Star State.
Sure, it’s an old cliché. Yet, it’s as true today as when it first appeared in 1719 within the pages of The Free-Thinker, a popular periodical of the day.
It’s not the farrier’s job to train the horse, but sometimes it’s necessary, especially when the client is a novice horse owner. Farriers want to work with the horse safely and improve its tolerance of foot handling.
When the owner takes an active role in hoof care the farrier and, ultimately, the horse are the beneficiaries. However, it can be difficult to get that buy-in with novice horse owners because many of them are new to owning horses and inexperienced in their understanding of equine care and handling.
Many horses tend to have underrun heels, in which the main support for the foot grows out from under them. The toe is often too long and the hoof angle broken backward, putting too much weight on the heels, which tend to become low and squashed.
On occasion almost any horse will experience the loss of a shoe catching it on a gate or fence while pawing and jerking it off, or scrambling in deep mud and stepping it off, or some other abnormal situation. Some horses, however, routinely pull their shoes off due to the way they travel and overreach. In these cases, careful measures must be taken to eliminate foot contact.
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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Kawell develops and produces copper alloy horseshoes and inserts, giving horses the care that they need to fight issues associated with white line disease, seedy toe and thrush.
From the feed room to the tack room, SmartPak offers innovative solutions to help riders take great care of their horses. SmartPak was founded in 1999 with the introduction of the patented SmartPak™ supplement feeding system. The revolutionary, daily dose SmartPaks are custom-made for your horse, individually labeled and sealed for freshness.