A lame horse is about as useless as a spare tire on a dirigible. Healthy feet are the most important feature of any horse. It doesn’t matter how pretty they are or what breed they are, if they can’t walk and carry a load. Horses can founder by eating too much grain or lush pasture. Once a horse founders there is no coming back to normal. They can also become lame by trimming the hooves too close. Improper trimming and shoeing can cause permanent damage. A farrier who knows what he is doing is an essential part of owning a horse.
When my wife and I were riding our horses in competitive trail rides, we put a lot of miles on them. We logged over one thousand miles on Ginger and Kodak in competition and at least that many more on pleasure rides. We rode trails in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern Illinois. Places like Pigeon Mountain, Dawson Forest, Chattooga River, Clemson, White Mountain, Uwarrie, Big South Fork, East Fork, Cataloochee, Walnut Bottoms, Cades Cove, Deep Creek, Fort Rucker, Talladega, Land Between the Lakes, Mount Rodgers, and the Trail Of Tears, just to name a few.
We wore out quite a few sets of shoes. Sometimes the shoes were worn and needed replacing prior to the next scheduled farrier visit. I noticed that my mare was getting a little tender footed. I found that with repeated trimming, her shoe size had gone from a number two down to a number one. When I discussed this with some of the other riders, I was introduced to a blacksmith in North Georgia. We contacted him and he agreed to look at my horse.
This guy was not your average horseshoer. He could look at the wear on the horseshoes and tell you how your horse moved. He could watch the horse move and determine what was needed. While many farriers have lots of technical things to tell you, he did not. When I asked him what had been done wrong, he immediately replied “that’s not my job.” I asked him what he was going to do to fix the problem, thinking that this would give me some insight into the problem. He said “I’m going to make her comfortable.” Lesson 1, identify the problem and fix it, don’t criticize others.
Next, I discovered that this guy was regularly flown up to New Jersey to shoe race horses. I asked him why they called on him and he replied, “When I shoe them they run a few tenths of a second faster.” I said that was pretty impressive, to which he replied, “Never read your own press.” Lesson 2, be humble in your accomplishments, and don’t boast.
I learned more from the blacksmith than how to make a horse comfortable. Perhaps there is some value in having a lame horse!
Frank Hancock has worked as a Farm Manager, Vocational Agriculture Teacher, Vice President at Snapper and currently serves as the University of Georgia Agricultural Extension Agent in Henry County. He is a also a member of the Heritage Writers Group.
