That old farrier told me to stop using keg shoes and I should have listened sooner

I been shoeing for about six years now and always figured keg shoes were good enough for most horses. But this old timer named Hank at a clinic in Lexington told me I was cheating myself and the horse by not shaping more from bar stock. I thought he was just being old school and stuck in his ways. Took me about 8 months to finally try it on a few problem horses. Now I'm kicking myself for wasting all that time on pre-made stuff. Has anyone else had a similar experience where you ignored advice for way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

fionamurphy4d ago

You ever notice how the hardest lessons come from the people we're quickest to write off? @blair_torres70 reminds me of the time my grandpa kept telling me to use a crosscut saw instead of a chainsaw for trimming fence posts, and I thought he was just being stubborn. After I burned through three chains in one afternoon, I finally tried his way and felt like an idiot for not listening sooner. Sure enough, Hank was right about those keg shoes - sometimes the oldtimers have a way of seeing what we're too proud to notice.

abby_fisher4d agoMost Upvoted

Well that's a heck of a lesson to learn (and probably a pricey one too). What specific kind of problems were you seeing with the keg shoes that made you finally give in and try forging your own? Was it a balance thing or more about the horse moving different?

blair_torres704d ago

Wait, you've been paying a farrier to forge your shoes this whole time and you're just now deciding to try it yourself? That sounds like a brutal way to figure out you could have been doing it cheaper from the start.