Spent 45 minutes shaping a shoe only to realize I had the measurements backwards

Working on a draft horse over in Springfield last Thursday. Big fella, maybe 1,600 pounds. Owner gave me the measurements and I wrote them down but somehow swapped the left and right hoof dimensions in my head. Got the shoe all set, hot fit it, nailed it on, and it sat about a quarter inch too narrow. Had to pull the whole thing and start over. The horse was patient surprisingly. Just stood there chewing on the cross tie while I cussed under my breath. My mentor always said measure twice, forge once. Guess I learned that one the hard way. Any of you guys had a similar brain fart moment where you messed up something obvious in front of a customer?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_singh9213d ago

That's brutal man. I've definitely been there with a measurement mixup, it's one of those things that makes you want to throw the whole shoe across the shop. At least the horse was cool about it, that’s a win in my book.

anthony_lane5513d ago

funny you say that @christopher_singh92, cause what worked for me was just stepping back for a minute and breathing. i had one where i measured a brace wrong on a horse and had to redo the whole thing the next day - the horse was super chill too, thank god. i started double checking everything before i even cut, like writing it down twice and pacing around the shop first. it sounds dumb but it saved me a ton of headache later. now i just laugh at the old screw ups instead of letting them bug me.