Horseshoes, Nails, Saddles, and Riding

By Mary Bellis

Sculptures and drawings that date from the 2nd millennium BC show men and women on horseback. The saddle probably originated in the societies of the Asian steppes (as well as the the stirrup and the horse collar) and received a high degree of development in medieval Europe.

It is unknown who invented the first horseshoe. Early Asian horsemen used horse booties made from leather and plants. During the first century, the Romans made leather and metal shoes called "hipposandals". By the 6th and 7th centuries, European horsemen had begun nailing metal shoes to horses' hooves. Around 1000 AD, cast bronze horseshoes with nail holes had became common in Europe. The 13th and 14th centuries brought the widespread manufacturing of iron horseshoes. Hot-shoeing, the process of heating the horseshoe before shoeing the horse, became common in the 16th century. 

All before the first horseshoe was ever patented.

Notable Patents

"Professional Service from a
Professional Horseman"

Choosing a farrier to provide proper hoof care is the most important decision you will make for the welfare of your horse.  There is an old saying that goes, “No hoof...No Horse” and that statement sums it all up in one simple phrase.  Improper hoof care can led to injury and/or lameness, and may reduce your horse’s ability to reach his full potential or incapacitate him for life. 

There are no current laws in our country that require a farrier to be licensed to work on the general public's horses.  Anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a farrier these days.  Many farriers attend short courses where most of the work is done on store-bought or keg shoes over two, three or even four short weeks.  The American Farrier's Association has developed a certification program to help insure your farrier is competent and qualified to shoe a horse. 

In order to receive certification, A.F. A. farriers must pass a challenging set of written tests on anatomy, physiology, pathology, bio-mechanics, gait and movement problems.  They must be knowledgeable about all types of horseshoes and their uses for both normal and corrective shoeing.  In addition to written tests, A.F.A. farriers must complete a set of sample shoes with various modifications that show their ability to do the basic required work required.  Journeyman farriers must pass a more comprehensive written test.  The A.F.A. practical examination for this level requires the farrier to shoe a horse with handmade shoes within a specified time period.  The shoes must be perfect. 

Continuing education is an important factor in determining whether a person is a professional.  Certification study and testing leads to improved knowledge and skill level for the farrier.  No one farrier knows all there is to know about the craft, so the need to network, learn and share is essential.  All reputable farrier associations conduct seminars, clinics and workshops for the members.  They hold conventions that showcase the latest products and techniques.  As a member of the American Farrier's Association, I am bound by their bylaws, constitution and standards of conduct.

Hot Shoeing: Pros and Cons
© Tom Stovall, CJF

Each and every time a farrier picks up a foot, the object of the exercise is always to give the horse what it needs to do whatever it does as efficiently as possible. Purists be damned, if I can give a horse what it needs cold, cold shoeing is my method of choice because cold shoeing is easier and much faster.

Twenty-odd years ago, it was impossible to buy ready made shoes here in the States that were comparable in quality to hand made. All of the general-use steel shoes on the market were too narrow of web, had too shallow a nail pattern, and had the heel nail located too close to the heel. As a consequence, most of the farriers who shod show horses or did much veterinary farriery had to haul around a coal forge, a sack of coal, and an inventory of bar stock in order to get their horses hung up in what they needed to have on their feet.

In the early eighties, two European manufacturers began making horseshoes that were about as well designed and made as anything most of us could forge by hand. Additionally, they came in lefts and rights and fronts and hinds, so there wasn't a hell of a lot of fitting necessary.

The first shots of the Horseshoe Revolution had been fired and all one had to do to join in was find a supplier who sold the E-type nails for which the European shoes were punched. For a while, it was easier to get the shoes than the nails. Eventually, several North American manufacturers began making useful shoes as well, so a farrier now has a fairly wide choice of well-designed shoes from which to choose.

About the same time as the Horseshoe Revolution, a fellow named Ken Mankel started marketing a portable LP gas-fired forge. Gas forges freed farriers from coal and made it much easier to acquire forging skills (tending a coal fire is an art unto itself), but many farriers did not see any reason to hone those skills because damn near anything a horse needed could be bought at a supply house.

Occasionally, in some disciplines more than others, a horse needs something that can't be bought or is so off-the-wall that an inventory might rust away before it's ever applied, so I believe forging skills are still a part of a farrier's job description. I see no reason to carry around an inventory of seldom-used shoes when they can be easily and quickly forged from bar stock if one has the requisite forging skills. A few pieces of odd-sized bar stock are a hell of a lot cheaper and easier to haul around than an inventory of #000's and #5's.

Many farriers with only minimal forging skills manage to give most of their horses what they need, however, most is not the same as all.

Farriers spend an inordinate amount of time cussing and discussing the tendency of the younger generation to downplay the necessity of developing forging skills, but without a system of education and formal apprenticeship, the situation is not likely to improve.

Most farriers are in agreement that hot-fitting shoes is the method of choice any time a clip(s) is involved because a burned-in clip is much superior to a cut-in clip in terms of stability. In short-footed horses, a clip that sits on top of the wall is useless.

A hot-fit shoe is more stable than one cold-fit because, assuming it's nailed on where it was fit, the wall is an exact mirror image of the shoe.

In my experience, hot fitting is also beneficial when feet are too wet. (On the Texas Gulf, most feet are much too wet.) A hot-fit shoe sears (seals) the tubules of epithelial cells which comprise the wall at the ground surface, so hot-fitting is usually the method of choice when horses are kept under too-wet conditions. One seldom sees the "hoof hairs" indicative of keratin loss when wet feet are hot-fit on a regular basis.

As always, the hard part is figuring out what the horse needs.

Tom Stovall is an American Farriers Association Certified Journeyman Farrier since 1983, a Member of the Texas Professional Farriers Association, and a Member of the Artists-Blacksmiths Association of North America. Thanks to him for his permission to post this article.

Hot Shoeing
by F. Thomas Breningstall

Hot shoeing, hot fitting, and hot shaping are terms used to describe the process of horseshoeing used by most farriers. The skill needed to hot shoe brings out the blacksmith in the farrier.

Hot shoeing requires a forge, an anvil, hammers, tongs, fore punch and pritchel, hardie (cut off), and more knowledge than I can impart on this page. Your gas or coal forge should be in good working order and your work area free of clutter and fire hazards.

As with any profession, you need schooling, practice, and acquired knowledge to become good, better, and the best at what you do. Assuming you have all the necessary tools and supplies, let's continue to the process of hot shoeing starting with a keg, or pre-made factory, shoe.

After you have trimmed and balanced the hoof, determine the size shoe you need. Despite what some people believe, one size horseshoe does not fit all horses. Pick a shoe that looks like it will fit the trimmed hoof. Put the toe of the shoe to the toe of the hoof. Move the heel of the shoe to one heel of the hoof and then the other to see if the shoe covers the hoof wall. If the shoe is too short get a bigger shoe. If the shoe is too big get a smaller shoe. Wasn't that simple?

After you find the right size shoe, light your forge and put the toe of the shoe into the fire. Some techniques used to shape a hot horseshoe are the same as those for shaping a cold horseshoe (see Cold Shoeing). Other moves are different. Just remember--red-hot steel moves much easier than cold steel.

The shoe need not be uniformly hot, but if you heat it uniformly it will be easier to work. The area of the shoe you're working, however, does need to be hot. How hot is hot? You can determine the heat of steel by its color as you heat it in the forge.

If the shoe needs to be wider at the toe, hold the shoe with your tongs and place the shoe over the horn of the anvil with the heels down. Start hitting the shoe at the first toe nail hole on the far side of the horn. Rotate the shoe around the horn as you continue to hit the shoe with your hammer.

To open the shoe, hit the shoe on the topside of the horn. To make the shoe narrower, hit the shoe on the side away from the horn.

Always keep the horseshoe level. Let's say one heel is sticking up. With a cold shoe you can't pound the heel back down because cold steel has too much spring. When the steel is hot, however, you can flatten that heel down with a couple taps of the hammer.

To turn in or pull out the heel a little, work the shoe over the anvil's horn by holding the shoe with the tongs across from the heel you want to work. To turn in the shoe's heel, hit the heel on the far side of the horn. To pull out the shoe's heel, hit the shoe on the near side of the horn.

Hot fitting a horseshoe to the hoof has been the subject of much controversy over the years. I feel that hot fitting a shoe to a horse's hoof does no harm if done conservatively. No, I won't argue the point. The reasons I like hot fitting:

• It helps you check the fit of the shoe to the hoof.
• It helps you check the high and low spots of the hoof wall.
• You can burn a notch for clips (I'll cover clips another time).
• You don't lose the heat if you need to further adjust the horseshoe.

Please do not try to shoe any horse without some training or help from a professional farrier.

Cold Shoeing
© F. Thomas Breningstall

Watch a professional farrier shape a horseshoe to fit a horse's hoof, and you'll think you're witnessing some kind of magic. Whether shaping a shoe hot or cold, the farrier holds the shoe on the anvil and hits it a couple of whacks here and there, and presto—the horseshoe is the same shape as the hoof.

It's not magic. It's knowing how and where to hit the shoe to get the response you want from your work. Now I'm going to tell you how to work a shoe cold, because it is the most common method used by (How do I say this without offending anyone?) non-professional horseshoers. Professionals use hot shoeing.

After you trim the hoof (see Hoof Trimming Tools and How to Use Them), but without rounding off the outside edge of the hoof wall, select a factory-made shoe of appropriate size. To check the fit, choose a shoe you think is the right size, pick up the trimmed foot, put the center of the toe of the shoe to the center of the toe at the ground surface of the hoof. Move the shoe from one outside hoof wall to the other and see if the shoe covers the hoof wall. The shoe must be long enough to cover the hoof wall, but not more than 1/4" longer than the hoof wall on the front. A little longer on the rear is all right.

To help develop your eye for hoof shape, trace the outside of the hoof onto a piece of cardboard, or measure the widest part of the hoof and the heels, and make the shoe to those measurements.

Even though the shoe you are shaping is cold, hold it with tongs. The vibration from hitting a shoe with a hammer can be painful to your bare hand. The tongs also serve to keep your thumb and fingers away from the hammer, which sometimes has a mind of its own.

If the shoe is narrower than the hoof at the toe, you will need to open the shoe at the toe. Holding the shoe with the tongs, place the shoe over the horn of the anvil, toe up. Slide the shoe back on the horn to the widest part of the shoe. With the hammer, hit the shoe as squarely as you can in the middle of the toe. As the shoe opens up, move the shoe back on the horn and hit it again. If you need more width than you can get from the horn, move the shoe to the anvil's heel. When you think the shoe has opened up enough, check it for flatness. You can check it by looking across the shoe or by placing the shoe on the face of the anvil to see if it rocks or lies flat.

If the shoe is not flat—let's say one heel sticks up—do not try to hit the heel down. It will not bend and the shoe may take off like a spring. Instead turn the shoe over and look for a bridge in the shoe between the toe and the bent heel. Holding the shoe with your tongs, use your hammer to smack that little bridge flat against the face of the anvil. Always hit the bridge and not the spring, or you will spend a lot of time looking for shoes in all the wrong places.

After again checking the shoe for flatness, take it back to the hoof and see how much you messed it up. If the toe fits well, but the branches are too wide, go back to the anvil. Using the tongs to hold the shoe, put the shoe over the horn of the anvil, pull the shoe toward you so it rests on the horn at about the first or second nail hole in the shoe. Hit the shoe with the hammer below this point. As you hit the shoe lift it on the horn to the next nail hole and hit it again. Keep going until you get to the heel of the shoe, then roll the shoe toward yourself and hit it again and again. Now check the shoe for flatness. If it needs flattening, you know what do.

Work the shoe's other branch the same way. When bending a branch on the horn, keep the tongs directly across the shoe from the spot you want to hit with the hammer.

Take the shoe back to the horse and try the fit. If it fits, nail that shoe to the foot. If it doesn't fit—let's say it's too wide—use your tongs to hold the shoe on its edge, vertical to the anvil's face, and hit the top branch of the shoe with your hammer. This action will narrow up the shoe.

If the shoe is too narrow, widen it by holding the shoe with your tongs over the horn and hitting the toe with your hammer. Another method is to hold the shoe with your tongs vertically over the face of the anvil with one heel on top of the anvil and the other heel over the far edge on the side of the anvil. Hit the toe of the shoe with your hammer. Check the shoe for flatness after making each adjustment.

If the horse's hoof is straight on one side, or to make the toe of the shoe more pointed for a rear foot, move along to the anvil's heel. Holding the shoe with your tongs place the branch of the shoe that needs straightening on the top of the anvil, with the other branch under the heel of the anvil. Place the part of the shoe that needs straightening on the flat and hit the shoe with your hammer.

The number of times you need to hit a shoe with your hammer depends on the size of your hammer, the size of your arm, and the size of your determination.

Always shape the shoe to the foot; never nail on a shoe and then rasp the hoof to the shape of the shoe.

Any way you look at it, shaping a horseshoe to fit a horse's hoof is not magic. It just takes practice.