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Found an old farrier's manual from 1923 that changed how I see trimming

I picked up a book called 'Horseshoeing for the Practical Man' at a farm sale in Lancaster. It said a horse's hoof wall grows at a rate of about a quarter inch per month, which I knew, but then it claimed the sole thickness should be a third of that. I've been checking my own work against that for a month now and it's made a real difference in how the foot lands. Anyone else ever run across that specific old rule and still use it?
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3 Comments
miamitchell
miamitchell1mo agoMost Upvoted
That 'sole thickness' rule is a total game changer.
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jenny_coleman
Yeah, I saw a whole thing about it on a forum last week... someone was saying you really need that 10-15mm of sole, otherwise you're just setting the horse up for problems. Makes total sense when you think about it. The_rose is right to question it though, because it's a big shift from the old way of just trimming to the white line.
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the_rose
the_rose1mo ago
Wait, my buddy's farrier tried that rule after miamitchell mentioned it?
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