Improve Horsemanship Before Picking Up A Foot

AFJ Technical Editor Red Renchin told 2010 International Hoof-Care Summit attendees that all too often shoers ignore the effect that untrained horses have on efficiency. His advice is to invest time on training a horse on how to stand for shoeing.

“I let my clients know that I have zero tolerance for a horse that doesn’t stand,”says the Hall Of Fame shoer. “One of the biggest time sucks that you can have is encountering a bad horse. They use you up physically, mentally and the waster your time. I spend the extra time to train that horse on how I will work with it, especially if it is a horse I will see regularly. If the horse is still difficult, you will need a veterinarian to tranquilize it so you can safely work with it.

If you don’t have a lot of experience with horses, take riding lessons or spend time with a horse trainer to find out how the horse’s mind works. Once you figure this out, you’ll be further along in your career.

Renchin finds that with the expansion of urbanization, many young shoers from these areas lack horsemanship. 

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