We See All These Roadster Shoe's Made For Contests. Are There Any Roadster Shoer's Out Here ?

When I was growing up in New England there were quite a few 5 and 3 gaited saddlebreds and Park Arabs and of course More than anything else there were Park Morgans.
shown at the Big E and Syracuse and all over New England.
These animals were shown under saddle then many came out and were brought right back in in a jerrold or 4 wheel show cart. Blanket over the woman's legs and a driving whip in her hand.

Are there any shoer's left who shoe the toe weight-side weight-heel weight- Shoe's packaged-
Half rounds were used on the rear with a trailer on many of these show animals.

Also how many Trotter/ Pacer shoers are out here ? When I started my shoeing career back in the early 70's I did a lot of trotter/pacers.

I just wonder how many of you clinic shoer's actually know how to shoe a park or gaited horse ?
There was a thread not long ago about forgeing and over reaching. Now a gaited shoer learned how to cope with such problems in order to shoe these animals to perform.

I remember the show shoer had 15 minutes from the time he entered the show ring,(If I remember correctly) to put a shoe back on an animal that literally threw it off in the show ring. Many times half the hoof came off with it.
Now this is where a farrier used all his bag of tricks so the horse and rider could finish the class.

my 2 cents worth

I have a couple saddlebred barns up the road that would really like me to get into them. I just don't see any money to be made.
I reset a pair of roadsters yesterday.

I did horse's like this when I was apprenticing, along with road horses for the Amish .... When I went out on my own I swore I'd never go back

I can barely shoe a sound horse that doesn't interfere or does more than walk trot lope. Much less anything you guys do , thats why I give out y'alls phone numbers

If you make 3/4 fullers and fit and nail them your Roadster shoeing

Since moving to NZ I've been doing caulk and wedge for the fox hunters ('cept there's no foxes in NZ so they chase hares ) in the winter and station** horses.

Not roadsters but sorta similar. Never did them before coming here.

**station = ranch. They like c&w because of the very hilly country and unstable soil.

Bruce, the class hold for a lost shoes has always been 7 min. On occaision in the past, the Ringmaster would toss the lost shoe to a helper to bring to me for clean up while they officials were "looking for me" and the announcer calling. The time started when I entered the ring. Sometimes it was 2-3 nails driven not thru the shoe but thru the pads and then a few wraps of that special black duct tape. Only a few horses were excused from the class under my watch and then there usually blood and/or lameness involved.

Brian this form of shoeing is very interesting and some what foreign to many shoers.
What a chance to show some pictures and explasin what makes a gaited shoer what he/she is.
If you have the urge and want to write about your experiences, I for one would read with total intrigue./ interest....

my 2 cents worth

The WCB guys hate it when I point out that they may as well be making door knockers. It just seems like they could concentrate on something a lot more useful. I mean, if I'm gonna take a coupla days off and drive across a coupla states, and spend a few hundred dollars, it ought to be to attend a clinic where I can gain skills I can go home and apply.
And, yes, drawing, packing, roadsters teach so much, blah, blah... I've heard it. Just because I'm not interested in practicing a skill set that I'm not gonna use, doesn't mean I don't care. I'd love to see some clinics on shoeing rodeo horses, reiners, etc.. Being able to help reiners with sore hocks will keep about any of us making money. Fitting roadsters.... not so much. If there was a market for it, I'd be all over it.

Travis - drawing and bumbing aren't skill sets that you will use?

Not all that often. The modification I use the most often is to cut and reshape heels for horses that are in between sizes.

I was visiting with another farrier the other day, and he saw one of my keg rim shoes; he wanted to know where I was getting my concave stock!

When I can get to where my clips aren't so piss poor, I'll probably do more of them, but I mostly just hot shape and fit keg shoes.

Rotfl, the showhorse barn down the street needs you,but you can't see any money in it? Because you just can't get into them? I wish you would just "STOP" it,you are starting to act like Fill?

I didn't say anything about needing. There's no saddlebred shoer's in the area. I can make a lot more money shoeing hunters/jumpers/dressage..... If I could make more money shoeing them I'd probably invest a little time learning how to shoe them.

If you're just shaping and fitting kegs I doubt your ready to point things out to wcb members.

Eric, I don't know what your fees are for shoeing sport horses but setting up a Saddlebred in a show package can be and usually is, a lucrative proposition. And, once you've got the horse dialed in, resets are pretty straight forward. I will offer that IMO it takes more than 'a little time' to learn how to shoe them correctly. Shoeing a foot waver is a 'speciality' area. Sometimes, the trainer will be good enough and experienced enough to help you get the package right. I also note that it can be time consuming to get the horse 'dialed in'. And, your inventory of materials will grow considerably.

And I believe that is the key to the whole situation - doing what you do and doing it well. Like here - ever so often I get someone who whats me to do some trotters. I tell them I don't set them up, but I got a good friend who does and refer them over. I like doing reining horses and he refers reiners over to me.

Would it be a fair point to say if anybody could shoe a horse well over there
you could clean up

No, good shoeing doesn't have much to do with shoeing in my area. Being dumb, doing what your told, going along with the vets and trainer will get you a good business.
Smitty, your accent would get you a good business. Without that your work would not be acceptable in my area.

so you just need to do poor work and tag along with the vets
nice place

You got it smitty..Eric has pointed this out before and for the most part he is right..some refuse to play ..well as for me ..call in a organ grinder and watch this monkey dance and put on a show..