I asked this of Smitty on horseshoes.com, not meaning to put him on the spot but to ask a general question that seems to be bantied around so often as to whether a horse was shod or trimmed ...right/wrong...correctly? Just interested in how the definition is arrived at. Regards Ray Steele
I would say it's a culmination of a bunch of things. Obviously the horse should walk out just as good or better than he walked in. Everything about the job should look intentional. It should be clean good looking work.
Common sense, good coverage of the heels , shoe shaped to the foot, good nails, and good basics. I agree that everything should look intentional !! Ray what do you say ??
William, A good sound job to me reflects the needs of the horse at that time and the owners needs. I have only one blanket rule and that is to do no harm. to me an example would be in looking at your written criteria, "good heel coverage", if I /we feel that a tip shoe is warranted then I would provide no heel coverage. Please understand I'm not argueing with your criteria,just trying to explain mine. Nail height eveness is not a big priority to me but solid nailing is, that said, I will explain my thinking, I was at a clinic a # of years ago and the clinician made shoes and nailed them up, on one hoof he redrove each nail as many as 7 times to provide a even nail pattern, someone questioned him on why he was so particular about the nail line and he replied that because he competes it was a habit and he considered it the window that the customer sees and judges his work by. I asked if he felt that all the unused holes might weaken the hoof or provide a window or track for foriegn pathogens. He said he never thought of that. Right or wrong ,I think of it all the time. I think that a horse should walk off the mats,slab or whatever at least as good ,preferably better than when it walked/limped up, yet I know that that is not always possible. And I feel that the job must be done in such a way that I'm fairly compensated and that the human customer is satisfied with the job, which sometimes is a whole nuther treatise. Regards Ray Steele
I've been thinking about this and it seems that Eric has used on of the words that came to me - "intentional." So I'm going to run with that idea and explain my intentions in what I try to achieve and what I look for to determine if my results are turning out as I intended. Dave Duckett once told me this, "Your job is to keep the horse sound and see to his comfort and way of going." At the end of the shoeing cycle I want to see that the foot is still covered by the shoe. So I fit my shoes different on each horse based on the history of how that horse's feet grow and expand over time. When seeing a horse for the first time, I'm making an educated guess, but in subsequent shoeings, I INTEND to find the shoe still slightly wider than the footprint. I intend to find the medial and lateral branches of the shoe worn evenly. If the horse doesn't have any pathology, then my intent is to have the horse load the foot M/L as evenly as possible. So I look at shoe wear as an indicator of whether or not my trim needs adjusting M/L and sometimes I look at shoe wear as an indicator of whether or not I need to sweeten the medial branch, add lateral width, or adjust the direction of turnover by modifying the toe of the shoe. I intend to protect the horse's foot with the shoe, provide appropriate traction for the horse to do its job, and do nothing to get in the way or make the horse work harder than it needs to. If the horse is comfortable and CONFIDENT in its way of going, then the best I can do is maintain that and the worst I can do is take that comfort and confidence away. Often I can tell just by listening to the horse walk on pavement - rhythm and consistency in the sound of each footfall.
William, I think I posted more than what you choose to cut and paste!!! Or did you not see it? Regards Ray Steele
No I saw it ..but I thought you would give more than two opinions that you got from a bad experience at a clinic and just shoeing with grass tips
William, I don't think I gave two opinions, I meant and thought I gave two examples to back up my thinking about a sound shoeing job. If I didn't make that clear then I honestly will work on my delivery. Just to be clear,I don't consider the clinic that I attended or the information that I gatherd/heard as bad, just different than the way that I approach the task, and the tip shoe mention was to point out that one could say that a good job could be done without full heel coverage! All in all an attempt to say that there are a # of ways to shoe a horse correctly, and incorrectly. I apologize if what I said was not clear, but then shoeing, sometimes is about as clear as mud. Regards Ray Steele
Ray, You asked a very general question and responded to a general answer with a specific case in mind. Maybe you want to restate your original post or start a new thread with a more specific question? As far as a nail line, I've never driven every nail 7 times, that seems a little over the top to me. I have seen chunks of foot missing from horses so redriving a nail, ime, does no noticeable harm to the integrity of the foot. I see cracks grow down from coronet injuries and there doesn't seem to be an problems with foreign pathogens. I have a hard time believing redriving nails and then covering the hole with a shoe plus a nail is making the foot in danger of foreign pathogens. When someone asks what good work is I consider the whole job in the equation. There are plenty of ups workers out there shoeing horses in there spare time and doing no harm. I wouldn't consider what they do a good job just because they did no harm.
When I talk about a good job it depends on who I'm talking to also. If a horse owner is bashing there last farrier and I see the job and it looked fine I will tell them it was a good job. If I'm with one of my friends dissecting one of our jobs, we will go over every aspect and tear it apart.
To me this is not a sound shoeing job, it might be to you and your clients..... but not to me or my clients. You asked ...Just interested in how the definition is arrived at..... I gave you my answer and you gave us yours ...THANKS So what did Smitty say ??????????????
William, Smitty said, and I'm saying this from memory not quoting,words to the effect that he had posted pics of his work in the past.... that finish, nailing shoe and clip fit are all part of a good sound job and that I should post some pics. Would be most accurately answered by going to the site and reading for your self to insure accuracy. And thank you for your answer. regards Ray Steele
Thanks , I/we as well would like to see pics of your work , I /we are looking forward to it...so post away Thank-you in advance for your pics.
Describing a good shoeing job is like trying to explain balance to someone. The question seems easy enough but there is a twist to everything, there are not constants to any shoeing job or balance for that matter as every horse has different conformation and each has a different job to do. As Simon Curtis writes in his book "a shoe is only a device to enhance foot preparation." So if the shoe enhances the preperation (trim) of the foot it is a solid job.
