Talked to an old school farrier at a clinic in Kentucky last weekend

He told me he never uses a forge for anything but simple bends, said "hot shoeing every time just makes the hoof brittle." Made me think twice about how much heat I'm really applying on my normal days. Any of you guys use cold techniques more than you used to?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley_adams2d ago

My farrier back in Missouri swore by the same thing, said he only uses the forge for like 10% of his shoeing anymore. I watched him nail on a cold shoe on a mare with thin walls and she walked off sound as could be. But honestly, I still see most guys around here heating every single shoe red hot, and their horses seem fine too. Is it really that big of a deal, or is this just an old timer's pet theory that's been blown out of proportion?

claire_hart532d ago

Three years shoeing in Kentucky and I have to respectfully disagree a bit, wesley. I actually tracked it one season and found that 8 out of 10 horses I hot fit needed a reset or had nail problems within two weeks, but cold shoe jobs held up way better on the same types of feet. The heat lets you shape the shoe perfectly to the hoof wall without any springback, and that tiny gap between a cold shoe and a live hoof can cause a lot of leverage over time. I think the reason both horses seem fine at first is because a lot of lameness from poor fit shows up slow, not right there in the stall. If you nail a cold shoe on a perfect foot it might be fine, but most horses have some asymmetry that hot fitting handles way better. I also wonder how many of those "fine" horses end up with extra wear or minor gait issues that nobody blames on the shoe fit.

tylerj222d ago

Yeah I read some study that said it barely matters for most horses.