The first and most important rule is that feet are a disaster and you have to get on with your blacksmith however vague their sense of timing. The second is that all new blacksmiths take a long look at their new charges, stand back, take a deep breath and say ” who has been shoeing this horse – it is a disaster”. You soon realise that the feet are too long, flared, low heeled, long toed and generally bordering on the navicular or laminitic. Luckily for you they have arrived to put all right with a bit of remedial shoeing at a very reasonable cost. And so long as you are nice things will go well- at least until they lose interest. Nothing creates paranoia more than feet, so a good blacksmith is the THF’s best friend.
The one (well that is actually a lie but we can go with it) thing that a THF simply will never understand is the extraordinary variety of shoes. What used to be the lucky thing stuck on a stable door – where the only concern was that is was the right way up – is now a scientific exercise in variety. The lightweight shoe stuck on with glue to help a higher trot (no good in sticky mud), the plastic (no good in sticky mud) the filler (no good in sticky mud), the natural balance (I have no idea what that is but I suspect it is no good in sticky mud). All cost and all appear to disappoint – the consistent point is that they need frequent replacement – res ipsa loquitur
thehorsefunder 
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