In a message dated 10/27/2005 1:15:59 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
Pvan19@xxxxxxx writes:
Some of you have pointed out most of the reasons why a farrier would hot
shoe a horse - however the most important reason is simply because you can
bang away as much as you want at a cold piece of steel but it will never shape
exactly the way you want it to! Apart from opening or closing the shoe there
is not much else you can do to it when it's cold... so if you want a really
precise fit..
Precisely.
No doubt that there are talented farriers out in the world able to bend
cold steel to fit the hoof, but (for me), someone with a forge, a grinder, a
drill press and the ability to properly shape a shoe to fit the properly trimmed
hoof, who ALSO has the ability to watch horse movement and determine how better
to shoe that horse...worth their weight in Dove Bars!
All the talk about steel versus bare-foot...well, some of that anti-shoeing
is merited. Rather than have a horse poorly shod, I'd let the horse go
barefoot. (And, I prefer steel on my horses.) A poorly shod horse
should be a misdemeanor (at least).
