That day in Chimacum showed me I had been shoeing wrong for 10 years

I was out at a ranch near Chimacum, Washington working on a big draft cross. Old farrier named Hank watched me for a minute and then just shook his head. He pointed out I was landing the front feet way too toe-first on that horse's conformation. I had been doing that same motion since I started in 2005 and never questioned it. Has anyone else had a random encounter totally change how you approach a common movement pattern?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarar6710h ago

Wild how a 30 second observation can undo a decade of habit. I had a similar thing happen but it was about my rasp angle on the inside quarter. An old timer in Spokane watched me dress a foot and said "you're taking too much off the inside of the heel, that horse is gonna start forging in two weeks." He was right, I had been doing it since 2008 without thinking because it looked clean. Now I check that inside heel quarter every time before I set the foot down.

mark_thomas1mo ago

That Hank sounds like the kind of guy who can spot a bad habit from across the pasture lol. What was it about the landing that he called out specifically, like was it the angle of the hoof or the timing of the breakover? I've seen farriers get stuck on one motion for years because it works on most horses, but then a weird conformation really makes you rethink everything. Did he show you a different way to set the foot down, or was it more about adjusting the rasp work beforehand?

garcia.laura1mo ago

Saw a guy get so hung up on breakover timing he forgot the horse had two front feet entirely.