Shoutout to the old timer who showed me the real way to set a shoe

I was at a clinic in Lexington last month and saw three people try to set a shoe cold. The guy next to me, who's been shoeing for 40 years, just shook his head and said, 'You're just bending metal, not fitting a foot.' He showed me how heating it just enough to see the color change lets you shape it to the hoof's real curve. Why do so many skip that step? Has anyone else had a client's horse go lame from a shoe that was set cold?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.xena3mo ago

How many times have you seen a cold-set shoe cause a real problem?

jade2713mo ago

Honestly, how many times does it have to happen to be a problem? I've seen a few slip and cause a real scare, @knight.xena. Doesn't that make it worth being careful about?

wren97625d ago

My buddy down in Oklahoma saw a cold-set shoe pop clean off during a trail ride last spring, horse nearly went over backwards on a gravel patch. Took him three weeks to get the hoof to stop flinching at the hammer.