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Making The Case For Building Your
Forging Skills
By Toby Raymond
The village smithy is a thing of the past. Today, the sound of steel against steel is more typically heard from an anvil hauled from the back of a farrier rig, more often from modifying a keg shoe than building a shoe from hot steel.
However, despite today's technologies and conveniences, the forge remains the glowing heart of hoof care.
At least that was the opinion of a number of farriers who gathered in Vermont recently for the first-ever American Farrier's Association certification clinic sponsored by the Vermont Farrier's Association.
To Westminster, Mass., resident, John Blombach, an AFA certified journeyman 
farrier with 45 years of shoeing and competing to his credit, there's no doubt of it. "Forging is essential to my practice; without it, I wouldn't be able to get a precise fit," he says, adding that it's just as true when using keg shoes, "it's the fine tuning that makes the difference."
As an example, Blombach mentions an equitation show horse that came in from the paddock this past spring with a left rear quarter crack bleeding from the coronary band.
His prescription was to use stout aluminum shoes with an extra clip drawn at the crack behind the cleft of the hoof with a diagonal clip to stabilize the foot.
"The trauma was stopped immediately, the foot grew 3/8 inch by the next shoeing and the horse stayed sound, all because I was able to use the forge to make that modification," he says.
Major Aspect
Blombach, who follows in the footsteps of his grandfather and father describes forging as one of the major aspects of farriery. "It is a physical manifestation of what we see," he says. Good farriers have the ability to visualize the horse, how its foot is positioned, how it moves and what it needs to be balanced, all while standing at the forge, shaping the shoe.
"When that shoe fits the horse as it should, it is the result of what I was able to create," he says.
Horses that have a gait abnormality, conformation defect or are used in a particular discipline are in need of shoes tailored to their needs, "which is why it is so important to hone your forging skills," he stresses. It's also why he hosts regular hammer-ins at his Trip Hammer Forge.
"But, no matter how fancy the shoe, without a balanced trim, it won't work," he cautions. "It's the two elements together that define a good job."
Precision Shoeing
Timmy Bolduc whose likens his love of forging to his love of fishing, has been 
competing for the last 2 years. He prefers to forge his own horseshoes whenever possible, saying it helps him keep his skills sharp, and is less expensive, too. Forging his own shoes means he doesn't need to carry as much weight in his rig, which saves on gas.
"I just need an anvil, tongs, a hammer and my forge, and I'm good to go," says the farrier from Fremont, N.H. He does admit to carrying a variety of St. Croix flat shoes as a safety net.
"But I always draw my own clips" he notes. "If I have to use a pad, which would call for a taller clip, or I have a case where I need to add extra support, I can draw a clip exactly where it should be."
Using a creaser and fullering down to the heel to make a keg shoe a half size bigger is another standard practice for Bolduc. He makes special mention of a Shayne Carter clinic among the many he has attended, along with the regular hammer-ins he and several farriers in his area of New Hampshire put together for further honing their skills.
Bolduc says he learned how much more efficient it is to modify a shoe by fullering. "It gives you the ability to work the shoe to fit the hoof that doesn't fall into a standard size, or has a flare," he adds.
He also believes that "flares tell all," noting that if a flare is on the outside, for example, the hoof will be high on the medial side. Like Blombach, he emphasized the importance of proper trimming to balance the hoof.
"No matter how handy you are at the forge, it won't matter if the foot isn't loading properly," he says.
Keeping Skills Honed
Mark Schneider, of Middletown Springs, Va., an AFA certified farrier, thinks it's vital to keep practicing to maintain forging skills.
"Use it or lose it," he says, noting that he practices daily. He says doing something as basic as drawing clips allows him to stay on top of his game.
"By using the forge to make the appropriate adjustments, I'm often able to fit the shoe as a preventative measure," he says.
A 2003 graduate of Mike Wildenstein's farrier course at Cornell University, Schneider says his training emphasizes evaluating the horse, not just the hoof, to determine how to approach each situation. He's been able to keep a reining horse that toes out sound where others before him failed, largely he believe because of making his own shoes.
"Because the horse would land hard on the outside hoof wall, my goal was to create an even foot fall," he says. "Therefore, I would need to reduce the load off the medial side." He used 1-inch aluminum stock, modified to 3/4 inch wide on the medial branch. This created an additional 1/4 inch of support on the lateral side and — when added to a rocker toe — created a shoeing prescription that paid off.
Schneider is also a great supporter of hammer-ins, noting his house is the place to be every third Sunday of the month.
"It's a great way for us to get together and help each other," he says, "and it keeps us plugged into what's going on in the business — how to do things better and more efficiently."
Forging A Better Business
Skip Messick, another CJF, says his 30-year-plus career is a testament to the role of the forge in building a successful business.
"Shaping the shoe to mirror the foot is what you want to achieve," says the Clifton Park, N.Y., farrier, "and that best can be done through customization."
He says even if you use keg shoes, developing your forging skills will enable you to add whatever orthotics are necessary to keep a particular horse sound and working — the ultimate goal.
"It is having that extra ability that will bring your business to the next level," he emphasizes.
Messick finds the forge to be an invaluable resource in therapeutic work. When making bar shoes, Z-bars especially, he is able to integrate precision tooling to adapt the shoe to a particular condition. He cited an example he dealt with recently.
"A horse managed not only to rip off his left front shoe, he also managed to take off most of each side wall with it, which, on top of everything else, caused the toe to come to a point," he recalls.
Using 3/8-by-7/8-inch bar stock, he fashioned a bar shoe with a pointed toe. He punched the nail holes close to the toe and heel quarters and drew side clips and combined the shoe with acrylic to rebuild the foot. The hoof wall grew out without incident.
Messick, like his compatriots, made a point to say practice makes perfect.
"No matter how artful the shoe might be, if it is not able to conform to the foot, it won't matter. This is where hammer-ins are so necessary," he says "They provide a forum for shoers to get together, exchange information and critique each other's work, which in the end is for the greater good of the horse and your business."
