Well that explains the hectic feeling I have while building shoes. Haha! I will certainly slow it down. More zen.
Hey Tejun, As to your photo at the top of post #2561, that David wondered (rightly) about the fit. The shoe may not have fit the foot but probably fit the horse. Like the foot and comments in your hoof trimming photos, a shoe with iron sticking out or held under may be what the hoof, leg and horse wants. I would say that the shoes on the first horse may want to be back or have more heel behind keeping the center of the DIPJ in mind. Your hand made is coming along, just make every part perfect before you move to the next step. Mark out the holes with a ruler or dividers and soapstone. Did you set the horse on fire or get him real dirty that you had to hose him off when you were done?
The horse was dirty for sure, too dirty to be immortalized forever on here. Then the horse didn't like the water, so I spent a little extra time letting her know it wasn't that bad.
Dear Farriers, I have just signed up for this Forum as I am seeking for help and advice. My name is Steffi and I work at a tiny little ranch in Mexico, where we have rescued 12 horses - all of them have been malnourished, overworked and with none or poor farrier work done on them before they came to us. We are dealing with various types of problems - extremely poor hoof quality, unbalanced feet, WLD, Trush, club foot, flat sole, long toe/low heels, contracted heels ect. There are no real trained farriers available here, so me and my colleague at the ranch have gone through various one-on-one training programs by a certified farrier (trained at Kentucky Horse Shoeing School) and have "learned" how to trim and shoe. I was very reluctant at first, as in Germany - my home country - you have to go through many, many years of school to be able to shoe a horse, but considering the circumstances we have to do it ourselves here. I know this is not ideal, but living in a part of Mexico that is not "horse country" you do not find anybody here that has done training programs or clinics. However, me and my colleague are trying to do our best to find the best shoeing solution for our horses. We mainly hot shoe (we do have a tiny gas forge) and work with keg shoes (Delta and Kerkhardt). Options to get special products like pads or White Lightning are nearly cero. Horses are kept in paddocks to encourage as much of free movement as possible, no electricity is available at the ranch (all beveling of shoes needs to be done either by forging or manually with a rasp). Some of the horses get worked a bit, some of them are retired due to health issues. Every time I get the chance I order books from the states to keep on learning and I have been following this forum for many, many months now - but was always afraid of posting something as I know that hard criticism will come - but I know that I can only learn more from this. So I am presenting my first case here: Quarter Horse Gelding, approx. 8 years old, extremely tiny hoofs for his size (yes, they build them here like this, too ;-)). Left hind, Delta keg shoe 00. Sorry, forgot to take a pic of solar view. My question is: Did I set the shoe too far back? I am feeling that he should have been shod with one size up - to have the heels extended a bit further? I only used 2 nails on the lateral side due to poor hoof quality....Should I have rasped the dorsal wall a bit more? Any advice and constructive criticism is welcome - I am here to learn from all of you to make the best out of my - not so ideal - situation. If more pics are needed I can take them tomorrow. Thank you so much in advance for your time. Best regards, Stef
I agree with Chris and Smitty, looks OK. More pictures would yield more advice. Given your situation, I would doubt that you would receive harsh criticism from the professionals on here. Any criticism should be taken as advice for improvement. The lateral wall looks to be of good quality from the picture, what are you seeing that indicates it is not? Pictures of the sole and of the hooves before shoeing might get some suggestions next time. (I wouldn't remove that shoe just to get pictures). Regards
Thank you so, so much, Chris, Smitty and Rick! Honestly, I am well aware that criticism is only there to improve my skills - that's why I signed up for this forum (just had to grow some balls first ;-)). There is just so much more for me to learn and I am hoping to attend a clinic in Mexico City in April. So thank you again for taking the time to have a look and to comment. Rick, the problem we had here this year was continuous rain from June on - there have been weeks where we had to walk through waist high water to actually get to the ranch. Luckily the paddocks themselves have not been flooded, but there was mud all over the place for months. Shoes had been pulled off constantly and at some of the feet the walls have been crumbling away - no chance to get a shoe on. Since two weeks finally it has all been drying up, but I am trying to put just as little nails on the shoes as needed to give the hoof walls a bit more rest and strength. The lateral wall showed some signs of beginning WLD, which I hope that I removed by trimming and setting the shoe hot. For the next shoeing I will definitely take more pics and post on here. Have a great Sunday!
Very nice work Stef and don't be afraid to ask questions..Honesty goes along way around here..Good Luck and keep up the good work!
Still waiting for the pics to be uploaded from phone to PC. Meanwhile I will describe the next case.... I went to work yesterday very enthusiastic - thank you for all your input, it is highly appreciated and very encouraging. Was going to see if I could put a shoe on a 16 years old QH Mix that he has pulled a couple of days ago. This horse has been pulling shoes constantly - while being ridden on light trail rides or in the paddock on all four feet. I knew it would be a tough one as he has been pulling a lot of wall with the shoe - so at the end I looked at it for about 30min, took the pics and decided to not touch it for right now and consult with you experts first. Pictures show hoof without and with the shoe he has pulled off. My goals for him are: correcting the under run and contracted heels (he has been shod with way to small shoes before), ML balance, treating the thrush in central sulcus. Please let me know if you see more issues - maybe this should be made into a new thread, but this guys has been part of our - literally - "Everyday Shoeing" ;-) He actually toe lands first, with very choppy, short strides. Will have the vet come out to get some X-rays on him to rule out Navi issues. Tomorrow I will swing the hammer again and will put some rocker toes on a 22-year old Paint - and will definitely post on here. Thanks for all the input already in advance! You guys are great!
Forgot to add: thinking of rolling toes of his shoes to ease BO. Nails used on this one Liberty E4. We do have the possibility to get Superfast or Adhere - will just take a while to get it shipped from Mexico City.
