Shoed a mare in Bakersfield last Thursday that had hooves like iron

Took me three hours and broke two new rasps before I got it done. Anyone else run into horses with hooves that hard?

2 comments

2 Comments

Had a standardbred gelding out of Texas a couple years back that was like shoeing a rock. Took me over four hours and I blunted two farrier rasps and a pair of nippers before I gave up and hit the grinder. Ended up using a worn down grinding disc and just took the toes back a little at a time, then used a hand anvil and hammer to shape the shoes cold. That horse never flinched. Sometimes you gotta work smarter, not harder.

wesley87317d ago

You ever try soaking the hooves in a bucket of water overnight before you start? I'm not kidding, that Texas dirt is like concrete and it dries them out to the point where you're basically filing down a brick. I've found that getting them wet for a good 12 hours softens the hoof wall just enough that the rasps last way longer and you're not cussing out the grinder twenty minutes in. Also, those cold-shaping tricks you mentioned are a lifesaver, I've done the same with a hand anvil when a horse's feet were just too hard to get a good burn. The worn-down disc move is smart too, I've had to do that on some older draft crosses where the new ones just grabbed and tore.