Something Interesting?
Find a Farrier > Membership > Nostalgia > Events > Plating Rules > St Eligius >Contact Us> Home
Bits & Pieces
This page of the site is for anything that anyone may think is interesting and would like to share with us. It may be photos of a problem footed horse or it just may be an interesting photo that you would like to share with us. Please feel free to send something in farriers and horse owners alike.
Competition Practice
As February rolls around all the farriers who compete are starting to practice for the competitions to come in the next few months. I have only started to compete in the last year or so but have found it rewarding and if nothing else a great social activity. Like most people I don't normally use hand made shoes on my horses, but if I'm going to compete then I need to make it a part of what I do everyday so here a few examples of what I have done so far. Please feel free to comment or to send me photos of some of your practice efforts.
Remember Shelley The Pony
Earlier this year I showed you some photos of Shelley the pony. She had worn the front of her hind teet down quite a way by dragging them slightly as she walked. As you can see from the photos below her feet have improved greatly since she has had shoes on her hind feet. The shoes she is wearing are size 000 that have been cut down to fit. The nails are Derby 4.5 race which felt like crowbars as they were going into her feet.
I promised shelley's owner Amy that I would put her photo on the web again so here she is. Amy is only 14 so that will give you some perspective on how small Shelley really is
Epitaphs
Seen in Ribbesford, England
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted
bread,
And the lord sent them
manna.
Old clerk Wallace wanted a
wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna
Quote of the Week
"Never say anything on the phone that you wouldn't want your mother to hear at the trial" Sydney Biddle Barrows, the "Mayflower Madam"
"You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone". Al Capone
Does Size Matter?
Shelley the pony is by far the smallest horse I have ever had to nail shoes onto. Her owners rang me after the vet had been to see Shelley and noticed that she was dragging her hind feet for whatever reason and had worn the front of her foot out quite badly. I bought the smallest pony shoes I could get and still had to cut a half inch of the end of these. They were nailed on with race plate nails which felt like I was putting crowbars into her little feet. Hopefully now she will just wear out the shoes and her feet can grow and recover. I will put some more photos of her on the site the next time I do her.
Did You Know?
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are 900 farriers in Australia. 84% working fulltime, the median age is 36 years and 98% are male. 44.9% of farriers are in NSW, 8.5% in QLD and 9.9% in VIC.
This shoe was made in the 1890's for the good sprinter Martindale - clearly he has had some sort of injury to his hind leg that would have required a shoe of this type to be made. Thanks to Wayne Nugent from Toowoomba for sending these photos to us.
This horse came into a racing stable with severe separation on the off front foot. As you can see by the time the vet told me to stop digging with a dremel there wasn't much left. As there is no capsule left at the front I have placed a heart bar on this foot to try and prevent any rotation of the pedal bone. The horse will be going back out immediately for a lengthy spell.
Here's a humorous article sent by Brett Bartlett
Things to never say to your farrier
1.Can you make it after 6pm, or on Sunday? I have to work.
2.My last farrier couldn't finish him, so he gave me your name and number.
3. I forgot you were coming; I just turned all the horses out.
4. Good morning, glad you're here! Can we reschedule? I have a lot going on today.
5. I don't understand why the shoes didn't stay on. I just had them done 12 weeks ago.
6. I know I said just a trim, but can we shoe him as well.
7. Just do the hinds, I'll do the front.
8. That's not the way they did it on that horse shoeing show.
9. You don't mind if I feed the other horses.
10. Are you sure you have them on the correct feet.
11. If he didn't kick like that I'd trim him myself.
12. Does that mean they have some sort of deficiency when they chew the paint of your car like that.
13. I just can't believe he bit you.
14. Did that hurt
15. Oops!, wrong horse.
Glueing on with equilox
If you have never seen this technique used then check out the photos. Some horses for many varied reasons are unable to have nails driven into their feet. In years gone by this would mean that their useful careers were either over or put on hold until their feet had recovered naturally. The gluing on of aluminium shoes was first tried in the US but has quickly caught on everywhere else. The photo below is of a racehorse who was sore with every other type of shoe tried on her. However, once the glue on shoes were applied she quickly became sound and in fact she went on to win a Saturday metropolitan race at Eagle Farm in 2007 just six weeks after having the shoes glued on for the first time.
Quarter Cracks
This horse has been chronic with quarter cracks his whole racing career. I thought you might be interested to see some photos of his progress. The first pictures are taken after he had spelled for several months and as you can see the cracks have grown down a considerable distance.
The after photos show just how big the area of damage under the quarter crack can be. They have grown out completely now and the horse is back in work and hopefully with be racing in the coming months. I will let you know how he goes.
Heel Reconstructions
Gallopers are very prone to long toe low heel syndrome. But what can be done about it? The following photos are of a racehorse having its heels reconstructed with Equithane. The material sets very firm and is used to build the heel up, back and out to where it should be. This reconstruction was done by QMFA member Kristian Coats, many thanks to him for allowing us to post these photos on the site.
