New Shoes

The farrier will have placed suitably sized shoes in the forge, which heats the metal to a great temperature making it somewhat pliable. He will remove one of the hot shoes from the forge using the forge tongs, and will then transfer it onto the pritchel, which is used to carry the shoe to the horse.

The hot shoe is held against the foot, which burns a mark onto the insensitive horn. This mark tells the farrier what adjustments he may need to make to the shoe. He will then carry the shoe back to the anvil where he is able to shape it, as required, to fit the foot, using his turning hammer.

Once he is happy that the shoe is a perfect fit, it is plunged into cold water to cool it down, and is then nailed to the foot. The farrier will usually start nailing from the toe and will drive nails, using the driving hammer, alternating from side to side. Most shoes have four nails on the outside and three on the inside of the shoe.

 Front shoes will generally have a toe clip while back shoes have quarter clips which help to keep the shoe in place and prevent twisting and slipping. After every nail is driven, the farrier will twist the sharp point off using the claw end of his hammer.

When the nails have been driven, they need to be clenched. The farrier will make a bed for the clenches using his rasp, then knock the remaining blunt ends of the nails down into the bed to form the clenches.

Once the clenches have been knocked into place using the hammer, the farrier will further secure them by squeezing them tightly with the clenching tong. The whole foot is then finished off using the rasp. The farrier will rasp any untidy edges between the shoe and the horn so that the two lie flush.