Farrier serving Jesus

If I was a farrier back then, before they went to Bethlehem

Joseph may have used my service to give that donkey a trim

He knew of the rough country and the burden of Mary with her unborn baby.

Before Jesus was born I may have served Him.

Like always, it would’ve been good to stay on trimming schedules

Because men were coming to kill all the young males

So when King Herod set the decree, the donkey was ready to help the family flee

Down to Egypt over rocky trails.

Through most of His years He walked around and fed people lunch

He was a carpenter who healed, did miracles and such

The next horse He rode I probably didn’t trim, because it was not broke, I am told

I guess then He didn’t need my service much.

But I know He kept my name and number for future need

I believe He is coming back, so my name is in that Book, indeed.

Every horse I shoe I keep the clinches tight, because He’ll be riding when He comes for the last fight.

And maybe He’ll choose me to shoe the mighty steed.

THANKFUL

With Thanksgiving around the corner I want to take this space to share a little prayer written by Gina Keesling who operates Farriers' Greeting Cards. I love my profession and am thankful to God that He continues to keep me of sound body to stay in the shoeing business. Thanks to my clients, the people AND the horses.
Here is the little prayer which I claim but did not originate!

A Farrier’s Prayer

By Gina Kessling

Dear Lord, give me strength to start this day
And wisdom and courage to face whatever I encounter in my travels.

Even though my work with horses is difficult and dangerous,
Grant me patience for his flighty and unpredictable ways,
And keep me safe from harm as I do my task.

Let me remember that my satisfaction comes from helping
A lame horse to go sound, and a sound one to do his job with comfort.

Help me to have patience with my fellow humans, and to remember that
Most love their horses and want what is best for them.

Let me have respect and fellowship with my peers so that we are
Not alone in this complex and challenging vocation.

Remind me that while my work is important, faith and family should
Come first; help me to schedule my days to reflect the priorities.

And at the end of the day, when my mind and body are tired,
Help me remember why I chose this profession,
And never let me lose fascination and reverence for this
Wonderful creature You have given us, the horse.

AMEN

Shoers Can Have Similarities

Wow, the weather was so nice through September I never wanted to really sit and write an entry. Now, we have had 3 days of rain and I figured I’d think of something to write about.
I “always” say if you get 10 shoers together you would have 11 different ways of doing things. It seems we are that independent, as well as, human even in application of similar techniques of trimming, shoeing, and horse handling. Well, I finally met a shoer that would have been fun to have met years ago. She wanted to quit shoeing and was looking for someone she felt she could recommend to her clients. She saw some of my work and even though the horse was overdue and scheduled to be shod later that day she thought the work looked similar to her standards. We met for lunch and went to shoe a few of her clients’ horses together. And I “passed” her critique. And I had a blast shoeing with someone else. And I had been praying for a little more business (“Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me and that You would keep me from harm that it not pain me” I Chronicles)
Differences:
· She has a trailer/ I shoe out of a truck with a topper
· She uses electric power to grind shoes/ I hot rasp
· She finishes really clean/ I enjoyed buckling down to clean up my work
Similarities:
· We both are in our 50’s (however, I am a little younger!:) )
· We both put emphasis on hoof balance, good nail placement, horse handling, scheduling & showing up on time. Our hoof trimming and shaping the shoe to the foot was of the same caliber.
· We even had similar one-liners and comments! Very important to keep your sense of humor.
· We actually are built very similar, but she is much prettier!
In the end she found what she wanted, a shoer she was comfortable recommending and has quit except for her own horses which she said I might be getting a call from her to do them! And I got my business topped off with some great clients.

Farrier Fly course

Okay, I might be just a dumb horseshoer, but I did take an entomology course in college. But as with many things, the school of hard knocks can give you the best education. I am still learning the wax and wane of the bug cycle here in Nevada, but it is a little similar to what I observed after years of shoeing in Wyoming. And as a shoer, I find it important to know what pest is bothering the horse. Flies are not just flies. There are horse flies (green heads and black & yellow ones), deer flies, house flies, barn flies, nose flies, and then you still have a few types of bees that are pests to watch out for when working under a horse. (Not to mention mosquitoes)
I find that these bugs show up in the above order throughout the summer. The horse flies typically just bother horses (not people), and give a little warning. It is though they land on the horse and pester them enough to make the horse begin to switch its tail and even hunch up back muscles before they go for blood. Then is a good time to have your horse handler seek out the big nasty looking bug or put down the foot and swat the fly. For some reason most (not all) horses seem to know when you are slapping a fly off their backs and not just disciplining them. Its like they stand for the fly slap, but the same slap to make them stand still makes them cringe or jump away. Go figure…I think it is cool that most “know” the difference.
Now deer flies seem lighter and give no warning. They have a quick needle-pricking bite and I know this because they seek horse and human flesh alike.
What I call barn flies (the above mentioned house flies shouldn’t bother the horse unless you are shoeing in the house!) are tiny harmless-looking black flies that seem to really annoy the horses’ legs. It you are holding a foot up and see these flies on other legs and if you can reach over and brush the affected leg you can keep working. If your horse holder can just periodically brush the legs with the lead line this also helps. Otherwise, the leg that is being held needs to be put down so the horse can stomp the leg that is pestered by the little flies. Or just continue to struggle with a twitchy horse.
Later in the summer I find little nose flies and sometimes a little sweat-type bee shows up. These will kill you…well, not the pests themselves, but the horse could because the horse gets to striking at their nose and you better not be in the way of those seriously, fast, hard flung hooves.
You say, why write about the flies being a problem, just use fly spray!?! Well, I really haven’t found anything that works for very long. When I use spray I like to put it on the horse I am working on and have another horse close by that isn’t sprayed….Sort of like a scapegoat scenario. Stuff that is wiped on seems to work better than most sprays, but anything that really seems to work that clients wipe on their horses can give me a headache, but I’ll put up with that versus getting killed by a kicking horse. I’d like the horse owner to be prepared with a fly repellent to use on their horses instead of using my own. Number one, I think that is the courteous thing to do for the farrier. But secondly, I may use something that the horse reacts to. One home remedy is a combination of water, vinegar, and dish soap, but it shouldn’t be used where the saddle pad goes as the soap can irritate the skin.
Fly season is just another reminder on the importance of having someone holding the horse who understands not only where to stand, when to move, but also, how to deter pests from bugging the farrier and horse.
So there is a short course in entomology from the ground up. Yes, I even have more thoughts and theories and remedies on flies, but I don't want to bug you any more in this read. ...Now that was pretty poor...

Moisture in hooves

Summer is here, which not only means less computer time, but also, typically drier conditions for us here in the desert country. This year is a little cooler and looks like thundershowers will be more normal. (like today). But hooves dry out and can become abnormally hard. So I thought I’d touch on my opinion of helping the hooves (and the farrier!)
Textbook figures on the moisture content of the hoof structures to be the sole should be 33%; the hoof wall at 25%; and the frog’s moisture content should be around 50%. So what does that mean? Simply the moisture content is important and normal to these structures. So it is not natural when the frog is as hard as the back of my head! On the other hand it is not normal these structures are way too soft.
I am all for overflowing the water tough to make a mud hole (or if you have a fancy watering system get a hose and create a mud spot in a location where the horse has to go). Otherwise, use hoof dressings. Pick a hoof dressing with pine tar. If the product is something that you want on your hands as a lotion I’d keep it in the house and get the stuff you want to wash off your hands! I think it is best to use hoof dressings before the hoof becomes dry. Otherwise it needs to be applied 5-6 times /week until it begins to work and then decrease the times/week accordingly. If your horse has super dry and hard feet and your farrier is scheduled to come take some time (minimum one hour) to hold your horse in a wet spot. This can temporarily soften the hooves to make them manageable for the farrier thus allowing for a better, more precise trim.
If your horse’s hooves seem to be at a good moisture content and you are approaching a dry season or even a wet season, there are hoof sealants out on the market to hold the existing moisture in and not allow excess moisture to be soaked in. But as the conditions persist you need to keep applying the product, and be aware when other measures need to be taken.

Australia Farrier Fun

Got back from a 3-week wonderful trip to Australia in April. Absolutely had a blast; and two-thirds of the time was around a horse or horse event of one sort or the other. And, of course, when you are in the countryside of any country and there are any amounts of horses you will probably run into a horseshoer. I mean we are like a weed, springing up all over the place.
One of the encounters centered around a Stockman Challenge where one horse and rider participated in a cow challenge, whip cracking contest, a bareback obstacle course, packing event, cross country jump course, AND you guessed it, a judged shoeing segment. Of course, like most everything in Australia it is the same,….but different. Most everyone was using toe clipped shoes both front (same) and back (different, at least to me). I think since most of the horses have soft feet from humid conditions, etc clips helped and no one competing used a forge, thus the toe clip gives the added hold yet was easier to apply compared to side clips, especially without a forge. However, the gentlemen judging the event gave a hot shoeing demonstration after the competition and fielded questions. I so enjoyed watching and learning.
At a ranch roping clinic my husband and a friend from Colorado gave while over there, I met even a few more shoers. One participant, Dick, had an interesting theory and method for shoeing horses with flares. After visiting with him about it a couple of times I think I pictured what he was saying. I decided one of my own horses with bad flaring toes producing a low angle hoof syndrome would be a good candidate to try Dick’s method. Basically it is “shoeing to” the white line and not removing (dressing) the top hoof wall. He assured me it will appear ragged looking, but by not removing the outside wall he said you won’t be destroying the matrix of the hoof thus keeping it strong and able it to begin to grow back in line with the white line where the shoe support and breakover is occurring. Well, something like that. Anyway, I am not going to fire myself, and I will still keep to sound principles in order to keep my horse from going lame; and I’ll just see if this method will help. That is if I understood him.
Oh well, I may just need to go back to Australia for more pointers. I also trimmed two horses while over there. Does all this mean I can write-off the trip on my taxes?!?

Hoof Size

Last year I did a blog entry about shoe size, but I am beginning to form an opinion that there seems to be a misconception that the farrier is the sole (no pun intended) instigator in creating a small hoof or for that matter a large hoof. Hello!?!, though many shoers may act like pre-Madonna’s, we would hope none presume we are gods nor should the horse owner or vets. I truly believe that each horse has the size foot it was created to have.(period) Sure it can be left long and appear large and it can be trimmed short and appear small. But in either case the genetics, the coffin bone, and the hoof wall determine the size for that horse.
How can people “tell” a shoer to create a larger hoof? The hoof capsule and its structures define the true size. Again, a person can avoid trimming the horny structures and the foot may appear bigger and hold a larger shoe, but the hoof itself is not the size it is suppose to be. And on the other hand the same thing rings true. A person can trim a hoof to accept a smaller shoe, but the horse’s hoof is still not “made” smaller. So realize making the foot appear too large or too small may cause problems: weak walls, stumbling, contracted heels, thrush, etc.
You can put a shoe on your own foot that is too small so to appear like you have cute little feet, and you can put on a large shoe to have a foot that appears big and not only would you look like a clown, but if you were serious in your efforts to have a bigger foot you would be acting like one. I once again get tired of the farrier “taking” blame (or credit) for supposedly changing the hoof size.

Tribute to Brady

I’ve lost a client this last week…oh, I am still shoeing horses for the family, but not but not for young Brady who lived her short life around animals with a special love and a definite connection with horses. God will probably use her talent and insight of understanding the balance and function of horses to prepare His great white stallion for His return in the last days.
Brady loved team sorting and was beginning to enter the cutting world on her new horse, Rowdy, but mainly loved riding. She lived with Cystic Fibrosis, with emphasis on Lived. Her parents guided her through her 13 years allowing her to fight her fight to do what she loved between treatments and doctors.
I especially saw her gift to distinguish hoof angles and balance. I loved how she would instruct ME (with over 30 years shoeing horses!) when trimming her pony, Houdini (Hoo)….and she was clearly right in her observations on what needed to be done! A few times I would bring my granddaughter and as I shod horses with Brady’s mom, Brady gave a riding lesson on Hoo to the 6 year old. Patience, knowledge, and communication skills were second nature to Brady.
Stories were shared at her memorial service that would make you think we were talking about an adult, professional horsewoman. I really don’t know if the horse world was going to be ready for this young horsewoman. But I sorely wish we would’ve found out.
Brady died February 15, 2010.

Becoming an Expert

I read a little article in a horse paper about running a horse related business. It gave a few tips to be successful amongst your competitors. Though it wasn’t about horseshoeing, business is business. One thing the article touched on was developing a field of expertise, like instead of just selling horses, sell quarter horses, and then not just quarter horses, but ranch raised, or yearlings that have been well started on their ground manners, etc. Something where you will stand out and offer a unique type of sale to your customers.
So I have been contemplating how this concept could be applied to my farrier practice. There are many diverse areas in this profession in which you could become an expert. Like doing just Draft horses, or gaited horses, or Reining or Dressage horses. And maybe when I was just starting out I should have centered on one discipline or breed, but I’ve had fun doing the whole gamut: Dude strings, Yellowstone Stagecoach pulling horses, barrel racers, Arabians, Paso Finos, Warmbloods, cutting horses, endurance horses, foals, navicular, laminitic, etc You get the picture. I suppose I feel I have a good handle on how to help horses with laminitis, cracked walls, and horses in the western disciplines. But to say I am an expert…well I doubt it.
I think I will keep striving to be an expert in customer relations and in providing a service second to none. And learn to be an expert in applying what I know for the well-being of the horse and learning what I don’t know that would be relevant to a particular case.
Though I fully understand and agree with what the author of the article was saying, I just need to figure out how I can apply the advise to where I’m at in my business. For now I will keep with the above goal and see how things pan out and if I should center on one aspect in the near future. But then again, often times the so-called Experts in other lines of work (weather forecasters, financial advisors, earthquakes predictors, etc) can be wrong!

Anniversary Blog

It’s been one year since I started this blog. It has been a good place to document my thoughts, stories, and theories enveloping my wonderful trade and life of horseshoeing. I really didn’t know if people interested in the farrier trade would or could easily “find” my blog and I am thinking all these entries just are out in cyberspace tangent to nothing, but my own fancy. But ya never know until ya try.