It doesn’t hurt the horse. If it
did, they wouldn’t just stand there! The ones that are dancing about are
usually just spooked by the smoke and smell and get used to it quickly enough.
Placing the hot shoe on the bottom of the hoof shows the farrier where the high
spots are on the foot and then those are pared away to ensure that there is
even pressure on the hoof wall all the way around. Cold shoeing is fine for
horses with good feet but you really see the difference on horses that have
poor feet/throw shoes, etc. The horse’s hoof wall has no feeling and the
surface of the sole doesn’t either. Let your farrier continue hot shoeing
and your horse’s feet will be better off for it.
Lauren Reitz
While
we’re on the subject of shoeing…
Am I the only
person who cringes when the farrier puts the smoking hot shoe on the hoof and
‘sears’ in on there? Is this really necessary?
I’d like to ask my shoer not to do this but want to know the pros and
cons before I ‘go there’. Any opinions welcome.
