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Kinda miss when shoeing was more about feel than numbers
I was trimming a draft cross last week in Bozeman and realized I've been staring at angle gauges more than the hoof itself. Three years ago I could tell by eye if the hoof-pastern axis was off, now I second guess without a digital readout. Any of you old timers still trust your eyes over the tools?
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gray_gibson25d ago
Man, you just hit on something that's been bugging me for years. It's not just shoeing, it's everything. I see people at the hardware store using a laser level to hang a picture frame straight. My granddad would have just eyeballed it and been done in half the time. We traded our gut for gadgets and I'm not sure we came out ahead.
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@gray_gibson you nailed it with that hardware store example. I saw a kid last week on a phone app to check if his fence post was plumb. We've got apps for everything now. I remember my old mentor used to run his hand down the leg and just know when something was off. He could feel a quarter inch imbalance before the horse even took a step. Sure, tools help catch stuff you might miss when you're tired or rushed, but they also make you doubt your own senses. I catch myself pulling out the angle finder even on a horse I've shod for five years straight. It's like we're training our brains to not trust their own eyes anymore.
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