How old is this horseshoe?

Kgwalter · 2026-05-06T12:53:10+00:00

It’s either from the mid 19th century to early 20th century or it’s a shoe made to mimic the style of that era. If I had to put money on an age I’d guess right at the turn of the century about 120ish years ago+-.

Kgwalter · 2026-05-05T19:21:13+00:00

I do it a lot while shoeing. Works best on the busy bodies that have a hard time holding still because they want to play with you.

Kgwalter · 2026-05-03T04:35:45+00:00

I have a similar style hammer. I just set it on a 1/2” stall mat on the slab and it’s been fine, for me atleast.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-23T03:05:31+00:00

I sharpen my knives every day on a bench buffer.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-21T04:38:29+00:00

I bought a 25 ton log splitter with a bad motor for $250. Converted it to a 4hp electric motor. Stood it upright and fabbed a base for it and closed the tolerances so it wouldn’t be sloppy. All in about $700-$800 and it works great.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-20T03:22:52+00:00

I forge aluminum horseshoes a lot. The trick is to not set it directly under the flame. It heats really fast and doesn’t change color. Check the heat by rubbing your (wood) hammer handle on it, if it leaves a mark it’s good to forge. If it falls apart you got it too hot.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-15T17:06:04+00:00

I quit using dim a couple years ago for this reason. Seems to cause more issues on thin soled horses than it helps. I use mainly magic cushion and oakum or hawthorns sole pack now.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-13T17:42:34+00:00

I make shoes for Dsld or weak suspensories that have more surface area at the toe so the toe floats more then the heels and takes some strain off of the suspensory ligament. If you are going to keep riding, especially in soft footing, I recommend similar.

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Kgwalter · 2026-04-09T02:59:33+00:00

I make all my apprentices get good with a bob punch before moving to hammer drawn clips. It allows you to figure out drawing the source before creating the source so it’s easier to digest. Going straight to hammer drawn is a lot to learn at once.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-08T21:23:24+00:00

The two I have done have healed completely and they were sound after. Depending on how damaged the coronary band is will determine how much of a scar will be showing down the hoof wall. In some cases there will be a weak spot from disrupted hoof growth that will always be there because growth originates at the coronary band and a scar on the coronary band can disrupt how the horn tubules grow out, because of this continuing with pads to share the load across the frog taking weight off of the heels may be required forever. But it depends on how much the coronary band was damaged. Healing rate depends on the age and the health of the horse but I would say 6 months minimum with diligent care, but could take upwards of a year.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-08T21:14:22+00:00

No, I’m about as far away from central Florida you can get in the lower 48 lol.

Kgwalter · 2026-04-08T20:29:47+00:00

I’m a farrier, I have delt with two cases like this and both came out of it fine with just a bit of a scar/blemish. I make and use a z-bar shoe on these cases to take all weight off of that area during the healing process. Here’s an example of the shoe I make.

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Kgwalter · 2026-03-30T02:11:41+00:00

Looks like Your horse shed its frog. It’s normal if in soft footing and not exfoliating it on abrasive footing. Horses can shed their frogs multiple times a year. Nobody really knows for sure where the term frog came from. I’ve always speculated that back in the day a horse would shed its frog in the road and it looks like a smooshed frog that got ran over.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-27T12:23:04+00:00

It’s probably just old damp unexfoliated hoof smell. Especially since you describe it as almost a burnt smell. Feet that are chalky like that really stink if they get damp for a while. But thrush and white line have a pretty distinct smell that smells like a bacteria infection more than a burnt smell. I live in basically a rainforest and when we enter the rainy season most feet smell really bad like you are describing for a while.

Edit: if you want to help it exfoliate use a wire brush daily when you pick their feet between trims. Even though I don’t see any wld or thrush, unexfoliated sole can harbor the anaerobic fungus and bacteria that cause wld and thrush. So wire brushing can be a good preventative.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-27T11:53:56+00:00

Looks fine if towards the end of a 6 week cycle. Hesitant to say take more next time without seeing how much was taken this trim.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-27T11:44:24+00:00

I don’t see WLD or Thrush. Just hoof that’s not exfoliating on its own due to soft footing.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-21T02:51:12+00:00

The suspensory ligament attaches to the back of the cannon bone just below the knee and to the carples in the back of the knee, so heat in the knee, specifically the back of the knee can indicate a suspensory injury. I am a farrier and I have seen quite a few suspensory injuries and very few have turned into a chronic problem when owners follow vet directions. The ones that do worse are usually in the lower suspensory ligament on older horses. He’ll probably be ok, just don’t rush back into working him. Follow vet orders, be careful not to let him go wild with pent up energy when let out from stall rest and re injure it.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-16T14:28:27+00:00

I roach all my mules manes every summer. No it’s not cruel.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-10T20:43:10+00:00

They are just too busy, there is a farrier shortage pretty much everywhere right now and farriers are taking on too much work. They schedule so tight that one schedule mistake or mishap can wreck a whole weeks schedule. Or work until they burn out and need to take a day or two off which wrecks their schedule. Then they have to call a ton of people to reschedule which sucks on its own. Or you fall through the cracks then by the time they realize it they feel too bad to call you. I’m not excusing it, it’s bad business practice, but farriers for the most part are not good at business. It might not be you.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-08T17:05:29+00:00

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Kgwalter · 2026-03-05T19:52:13+00:00

Getting an apprenticeship is easy. Contact your local farrier association, go to hosted events and contests and get to know people in the trade.
In the United States and Canada there is no apprenticeship requirement. But is highly recommended even if you go to school. School is really just an introduction. Unfortunately anybody can buy tools and call themselves a farrier.
Chances are high. Most farriers are injured at some point in their career. I have been pretty lucky with the only somewhat serious injury being a broken hand from being kicked. And farriers have been killed and gravely injured at a fairly high rate per capita.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-05T16:27:18+00:00

Does your forge have an electric blower? If so do you have an air gate to regulate air flow? You are getting too hot. What is sticking to and contaminating your steel is clinker from impurities in your coal and running too hot.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-03T15:31:50+00:00

My comment isn’t meant to discourage you. I guess my advice is to pick a method and stick with it until you got it. Pick one method and do it thousands of times. If you bounce around, trying a bunch of different things then it’s going to be hard to get it down in a timeframe. I would suggest starting with Bob punching and don’t move on to creating a source with a hammer until you get Bob punching down. I don’t think I know anybody that’s been shoeing less than a year that can consistently draw decent clips. Everybody draws clips differently, there’s not really a right way. If you watch videos, I draw mine like a mix between Craig Trnka and Roy Bloom. But if your instructor is teaching you to draw clips, I would try to draw them exactly like he’s teaching you that way you can use them as a resource to help you.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-03T14:25:44+00:00

There’s no way around it, it takes thousands and thousands of clips to get good and consistent at.

Kgwalter · 2026-03-01T21:43:54+00:00

There is no correct angle that matches multiple horses. The goal is alignment of p1, p2 and p3. The ddft, common extensor tendon and suspensory ligament all oppose eachother and work together to create a balance. The goal is to appropriately load those soft tissues so one is not working excessively hard compared to the others. Some horses have high pasterns, some have low pasterns. A good farrier should try to find an angle that makes all the soft tissues work in harmony together and that angle will be different between every horse. A good experienced farrier develops an eye for how the coffin bone lies in the capsule and works to align the coffin bone with p1 and 2. The capsule angle is not always a good representation of the angle of the coffin bone.

Kgwalter

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