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Getting Ready For Winter
The heat of summer is still here for most shoers, but winter's conditions aren't far away. During the last part of fall, Grand Valley, Ontario, shoer Brian Hull discusses with his customers whether their horses will need to be winter shod or go barefoot. With this information, he has an idea as to what shoeing supplies and quantity he will need for the winter months. At home, he pre-drills all the shoes for drive-in calks. When he gets to the barn, he shapes the shoe to fit and drive the calks in.
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"In the winter, I let the resets go a couple of weeks or more, depending on the condition of the hooves and what the horse is doing," says Hull. "As an example, 6-week resets could go to 8 weeks and 8-week resets could go to 10. Trims could also go to 10 weeks."
Hull leaves more hoof on during winter. He tries to convince the customer to have their horses go barefoot, giving the hooves time to expand and allowing the horse to wear its hooves down to where they feel comfortable when walking.
"For the winter months, I stock up on concave steel clipped shoes, drive-in calks, snow pads, snow rim pads, oakum, Borium-tipped nails, spare rasps, a spare full propane tank for my forge, a spare full propane tank for my propane mounted heater and a couple of pairs of light, warm work gloves," explains Hull.
"I also keep snowmobile mitts, a snowmobile suit, snowmobile boots, snow shovel, bag of sand and extra windshield washer fluid in the truck. I always start the day with a full tank of gas as well."
