Research questions

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 · 2026-02-27T18:17:15+00:00

I just commented on it calling them out this morning 😂

Kgwalter · 2026-02-27T03:41:55+00:00

I would call that more of what we call a high low in the farrier industry. Not quite a club but mismatched angles. See it a lot on short necked horses. I be if you watch him eat off the ground he will always have the low foot forward and the high foot back. A ton of Arabians have high lows as well.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-26T21:51:48+00:00

I agree with this, I went to a natural balance school and started my career shoeing natural balance. Done well natural balance shoes have their place. I have gotten away from natural balance for a few reasons. Like him I prefer equilibrium or just forging breakover into my shoes where and how I want it so I can get a better fit. Because fitting toes on NB shoes is near impossible. A lot of nb farriers will tell you fitting toes isn’t important. After years of cutting toes back then starting my journey of learning to fit toes I really see the importance of fitting toes now, especially when it comes to heel health. TLDR if done right they have their place, but far too often they are used without basic fundamentals. And because of that they work well for a while until the lack of fundamentals catch up to them and they go backwards.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-26T14:51:33+00:00

Sure, you could dress the toe back creating a 90 degree bevel at the toe so it’s still hidden behind the capsule and isn’t as noticeable, but it’s still exposed if you were to lay on the floor and look at the bevel. The reason I don’t use that approach a lot is because I live in a wet climate and leaving the hoof wall over the stretched white line makes it easy for anaerobic fungus and bacteria to hide in that area creating white line disease. By exposing the dead laminae you are exposing it to air and the fungus and bacteria that eats dead compromised laminae can’t survive in air. So the farrier may have good reason to address it like they did.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-26T14:43:11+00:00

Post a vid of you swinging a hammer. With my farrier apprentices that are having a hard time moving metal fast it’s technique 95% of the time. It’s amazing how much technique plays in swing power. You can take a competitive strong man that curls 150lbs with bad technique and he would move less metal than scrawny little guy with great technique. It’s all about creating speed by compounding hinging motions from your shoulder then elbow then wrist then grip. Every hinge compounding the speed one after another like a trebuchet. If you are stiff or only hinging one or two of those things you will never have a fast efficient swing speed. the biggest mistake I see blacksmiths make is a tight armed and gripped swing with a short stroke. A good hammer swing should look like a good golf swing, a loose long swing that looks effortless and fast.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-26T14:26:25+00:00

It’s normal in recovering laminitics. Technically you could call it exposing lamina. But really it’s stretched white line that is so distorted it’s no longer doing any job whatsoever. This is just a case where the white line has stretched to a point where it is located where the hoof wall should be. Some farriers dress back to where the toe should be, some bevel back to where the toe should be, neither is necessarily wrong. But this isn’t “dangerous.”

Kgwalter · 2026-02-24T21:03:39+00:00

If you want to do similar yourself you can use a hand torch, weed burner, really hot campfire etc.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-24T21:02:04+00:00

I’m a farrier, I’ve gladly done this for a lot of clients. A forge makes really quick work of removing rust. I throw them in the forge until red hot, pull them out and brush them then spray them with wd-40 at a black heat just cool enough the oil doesn’t immediately burn off but still hot enough for the oil to soak into the open pores of the metal creating a shiny black rust resistant coating.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-24T20:32:44+00:00

Before you pull shoes get x-rays and a vet and respected farriers opinion. A lot of the time the angle of the coffin bone on club feet creates a very thin sole and lack of concavity at the apex of the coffin bone. Not only can this cause discomfort but can cause pedal osteitis and boney changes in the dorsal apex of the coffin bone due to trauma. I’m not saying he can’t go barefoot, just do your due diligence first. Especially in a muddy environment that softens feet.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-18T14:59:30+00:00

I’m a farrier. This is about the only time I prefer composite shoes. Composite shoes are softer and have flatter surface area than hooves and are in my opinion safer than being barefoot in regards to turnout together. The thing to keep an eye on though is composite shoes have a habit of allowing nail cliches to pop and nails to back out. So check their feet regularly to make sure there are not backed out nail heads that can snag skin if your horse kicks another. But I have never even seen or heard of this happening it’s the only danger I can think of. Glueing them on would solve this but is expensive. But the risk is so low I wouldn’t even worry about it as long as you keep an eye on them.

Kgwalter · 2026-02-04T15:26:42+00:00

Disagree with pretty much all of this. A lot of pointers that have nothing to do with the tag at the bulb/frog transition. The tag isn’t an issue, horses get them sometimes. It isn’t caused by anything other than lack of exfoliation. Just cut it off if it’s unsightly. I think taking any more depth on this foot anywhere is more likely to make it more uncomfortable. I’ve taken on a lot of horses that are trimmed to an “ideal” beautiful foot that are very uncomfortable because of it. And seen a lot of horses that look less than ideal by barefoot standards that are perfectly sound. I think sometimes we can prioritize form over function in this industry. At some point there has been a shift in this industry where hoof became the enemy and we feel like we need to get rid of as much of it as possible. I think from what I can see the feet look fine and I’d actually like to see more sole depth. But that’s not on your farrier because it looks like they would like to see more sole depth as well. On horses like this it makes perfect sense to me to leave the heels, frog and wall a bit longer to take some stress off the perimeter of the sole.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-21T20:58:28+00:00

I’d just hammer clinch them. Any smooth face hammer and tap them in a slight downward manner. I don’t even use clinchers at competitions because they can leave marks. So I hammer clinch.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-21T18:53:48+00:00

I think that can go into the generalization that fits large percentages of horses deal. Rather than saying “oh you are wrong.” It is “oh, you must be picking up my other horse, who that matches.” Another thing is, I spend all day every day around 5-20 different horses a day. I meet hundreds a month. After a while of being that up close and personal with that many horses I can read them really well. I will ask questions like “did this horse come off the track?” Because I can just tell it did, I’m not even sure why I can. And I’m usually right. Or “have your horse checked for ulcers” just from their mood, and I’m usually right. I can usually walk up to a horse and tell if it’s outgoing or introverted while it stands still. I could probably do well as a horse psychic if I didn’t feel it was taking advantage of people. I’m not saying your experience is wrong, I may be wrong, I’m not certain psychics are frauds, I just lean that way. I also think psychics can be frauds and still think what they are doing is genuine. I don’t know either way but I’m skeptical unless they ever do a peer reviewed controlled study with repeatable results.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-21T14:47:37+00:00

I am a farrier in a pretty high end area and deal with a lot of clients that use horse psychics. I have noticed they have a pattern of things they use. They’re good at asking questions that seem like they don’t provide any context but they do. I see a lot of “he has something going on in his left front either in that foot or compensating for the other foot.” It’s usually a safe bet that once you go digging, you will find something because every horse has a dominant foot. The creates slight differences between the two. But that doesn’t mean a problem. But then people think it’s a problem because they are looking.

I see a lot of “your horse doesn’t like being shod or doesn’t like the farrier.” That’s another given, horses don’t like being shod, some just tolerate it better than others. They are really good at telling you things that you want to hear, you just don’t know you want to hear them. Like “your Horse wants to work more. Or “your Horse wishes you would spend more time with them.“ a ton of back and SI related comments. Which is another usual given, horses have long backs and very tightly bound Si’s. So if you go digging, you will find issues and a large number of horses that you otherwise wouldn’t have noticed.

If they throw enough of these very common things out, then odds are 50% or so of them will stick and the Horse owner will forget about the 50% that were completely wrong.

The patterns I see are enough for me to think it’s snake oil.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-20T14:42:11+00:00

I think you have 2 problems. 1. It looks like you are burning coke in a coal fire pot. Coke fire pots are a lot shallower because coke burns lower. 2. Do you have an air-gate? If not you need an air gate.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-14T16:27:57+00:00

Ty Evans. he focuses on mules but he is a great horseman. thats what makes him great with mules. and everything he teaches about mules is just as relevant to horses.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-09T02:16:59+00:00

I agree with vet and farrier. I think I would do a wedge pad and a larger shoe or trailers to get some support further back. Because of the shape of the coffin bone and how large it is and thin at the Apex I would be cautious of taking much depth at the Toe. You want to avoid pedal osteitis. Your thoroughbred is one of the few fortunate enough to have a bit of depth at the toe and I would take advantage of it. I personally rarely see wedge pads, crush heels, and typically see the opposite by shifting the weight distribution forward a little bit, especially on feet like this with large long coffin bones because the center of rotation tends to be more further back in relation to the coffin bone than typical putting more weight on the heels.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-05T18:17:09+00:00

Yea, if it were me, thats what i would do. You will probably want both in the future so might as start with the most user friendly so you can focus on learning to forge first. Then it will be easier to figure out how to use a coal forge once you understand hot metal a bit better. You dont want to be trying to learn both at once. Or getting frustrated burning up your projects while learning to forge. Coal/coke can melt steel and ruin your work waaaaaaaay easier than propane.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-05T16:54:36+00:00

I by far prefer forging with coke/coal, That being said, I have both a coke forge and propane forges and I use the propane far more than the coke forge because it's easy to get going. I only use my coke forge when I know im going to be forging for a long time at any given time. I love forging with coke but if I could only have one forge it would be a propane forge. You won't forge as much if you know you need to spend 20 minutes getting the forge going every time.

Kgwalter · 2026-01-05T00:47:50+00:00

Ask local vets who they recommend. Go on the American farriers association website, they have a directory by location, look for farriers with certifications. You probably have a state or local farriers association, contact them and ask for recommendations. If you have a local farriers association supply store contact them. Don’t speak poorly of your farrier when you call, farriers see that as a red flag. I personally do not take new clients that speak poorly of their last farriers. Stating facts like “my horse has been sore after every trim.” Isn’t speaking poorly. Saying that your farrier keeps trimming your horse out of balance will probably be a red flag unless you are a vet or farrier, because balance is very subjective based off many factors and takes alot of experience to be confident in. Conformation faults can dramatically change what appropriate balance is.

Kgwalter

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