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[RC] hot shoeing - katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

ti said:


The actual truth of the matter is that the original
poster misused the phrase "hot shoeing" due to a lack
of knowledge of farrier terminology. Here, you perpetuate
that error. For some, words have clear, specific meanings?
or should have; for others, anything goes.


A google search of farrier + hot shoe provides an assortment of links to
web pages with different opinions as to whether hot shoeing automatically
includes searing the shoe into the foot or if it is just using a forge to
shape the shoe.  And clearly there have been different definitions used
here (Karen Chaton, in fact, spoke of "hot shoeing" her horse to be fitted
with plastic ground control shoes, so, despite her joke about the shoes
melting in the forge, she obviously wansn't talking about using heat to
SHAPE the shoes).

It may make some people more comfortable to make fatuous statements that
words have specific meanings, but anybody who has spent any time studying
language (I was a linguistics major as an undergraduate), and virtually any
astute person who has spent any time USING language, knows that such a
statement is pure horse shit.  

In fact, one of the games that we used to play on our family driving trips
(this was the days before cars with onboard televisions to entertain back
seat passengers) was to take turns coming up with different definitions for
the same word.  And even a cursory inspection of even the most rudimentary
of dictionaries will reveal that there are LOTS of words that have multiple
meanings.

I mention this not merely to score points off of Tom Ivers when he has said
something stupid (that's like shooting fish in a barrel :)), but rather to
remind people that it is important in any discussion of any topic to be
sure that we are all talking about the same thing because it is a common
practice for different people to use the same words differently, and it is
common for the same words to have multiple meanings even for the same
person, and there is nothing "erroneous" about this.

If, instead, a person goes through life under the erroneous assumption that
words have specific meanings, they are doomed to a life of constantly being
misunderstood...and not understanding why.

All that said, it is irrelevant with respect to Ann's question that first
brought up the topic of hot shoeing (she used those words in her subject
line), since a reading of her post and not just the subject line would have
led most reasonable people to believe that she was asking about the
practice of searing a smoking hot shoe into a horse's foot.  She made no
mention of what method the farrier used to shape the shoe.

Here is my answer to the question she asked (whether some people want to
call that hot shoing or not):

_I_ have spoken with farriers who do it, with people who think it ought to
be done, and have read an assortment of reasons from an assortment of
sources (some good and some not so good), and I find the benefits quoted by
even its proponents to be unconvincing (although given Karen Chaton's
experience with Ground Control shoes in comparison to my own, it may be
something that has some benefits when using those shoes).

Also, I have found that even among shoers who think that "hot fitting"
(which this practice is referred to by some people who do it) has
sufficient benefits that it should be practiced regularly, they all agree
that it must be done carefully, that it is possible to "over do" it, and
the consequences of such can be decidedly unpleasant.  

So, if somebody were to ask my opinion as to whether it ought to be done, I
would say that the risks outweigh any possible rewards and you would do
better to find a shoer that doesn't.  
       
If people also want to discuss "hot shaping," we can do that too; however,
the pros and cons of doing that are completely different from the pros (if
there even are any) and cons of "hot fitting."

kat
Orange County, Calif.




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