A client told me my clinches looked like "angry eyebrows" and it stuck with me

I had a client last Tuesday point at my clinches on a front shoe and say they looked like angry eyebrows. I laughed it off at first but then I looked closer and yeah, they were uneven and sticking up too much. I started using a lighter hand with my clinching block and checking each one from the front before moving on. It added maybe 2 minutes per horse but the difference is night and day. Has anyone else had a client call out something small like that that actually made you better?

3 comments

3 Comments

hart.sage1mo ago

22 years doing this and I actually disagree a little. The block touch makes a huge difference for me even with a perfect short twist. @the_lee got it right about the quarter inch thing, but I still had angry brows until I stopped mashing the block down so hard.

noaht151mo ago

You said they were "uneven and sticking up too much" and that's pretty much it. But I gotta say, it's not really about using a lighter hand with the block. It's more about how you set the clinch before you ever hammer it down. If the nail isn't cut to the right length and your twist isn't tight and square from the start, the block just makes a mess of it no matter how soft you go. I had a guy show me to cut the nail so the twisted end is barely a quarter inch long. That fixed the "angry eyebrows" thing way more than changing my hammer hand.

the_lee1mo ago

Got that nailed down myself a few years back. Cut the nail too long and that clinch just flaps around like a loose lip. You hammer it and it splays out sideways instead of biting clean. Real game changer was keeping that twist short and tight. Barely a quarter inch like you said. Then the block just sets it flush. No more of those ugly little eyebrows staring back at you. It's all in the prep before you even swing.