"Cold" Shoeing :)

“Cold” can be a relative term. More times then not I dread going out to shoe when the temperature is “cold”. I mean I usually set limits, but even they vary. Generally, if it isn’t above 20 degrees I say I won’t go shoe. Yet if the sun is shining and the wind isn’t blowing and there is a dry spot with no snow, I have found myself out under a horse at 15 degrees. And when the temperature gets to 20 I have my sweatshirt off!
Don’t get me wrong; I still dread getting started. Unloading a metal anvil stand, a 90-pound block of steel, a metal hoof stand, along with placing steel handled tools into a shoeing box pulls whatever natural body heat completely away from fingers. I’m usually dressed in a cap with earmuffs, a wild rag tied around my neck already covered with a turtleneck, a long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and frequently, an outer jacket. Not to mention the long johns under the jeans adorned with a pair of stiff shoeing chaps.
Working the nippers and rasp is fairly doable wearing gloves, but nailing is a different story. Usually, by the time I am ready to nail my body heat has come up and circulation to the extremities allows for bare hands to handle steel nails. The trick is to remember to blow on the nails as you put them into your mouth so as not to have the metal freeze to your lips!!
I have found the shoeing procedure that warms a person up the quickest is rasping the outside of the hoof wall (i.e. flares, old clinches, etc) in the forward position. I know this sounds unsophisticated, but after figuring this out I’ll get to that part of the work as quickly as possible and then before you know it the outer jacket is off, the earmuffs come off and then the wild rag. I typically, offer these to the horse handler, because as I warm up they are complaining about the cold….and I’ve learned to make it a priority to keep my handler happy!!
So what do I look for when determining what 20 degree conditions aren’t too cold to shoe?
1. Sunshine
2. No wind
3. Dry ground
4. And of course a heated barn
The best part of being cold is the feeling of getting warm. The welcoming, comfy feeling of warming up is near impossible in the absence of being cold.