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6 Keg Shoe Modifications that Save You Money

Invest in basic forging skills to improve your bottom line


Pictured Above: Paul Skaggs modified a keg shoe for a horse that has a suspensory ligament injury by fullering and hammering the toe to make it wider. He also penciled the heels on the ground surface. He saved almost $900 last year by performing this modification.

Farrier Takeaways

  • Investing your time to learn basic keg shoe modifications can add tens of thousands of extra dollars to your profit margin.
  • Most of the basic keg shoe modifications only take 5 minutes to complete.
  • Know your clientele and select the shoes that will accommodate their needs.

It’s been said that “success doesn’t come and find you, you have to go out and get it.” That’s been the mentality for my farrier business. I’m always striving to do better, learn more and improve.

Everyone wants to make more money than they did the previous year. Through the time of working from my first rig to my current setup, striving to do better has allowed me to eventually become more profitable and improve. I will explain how I decreased my overhead and increased my profit by improving my versatility as a practitioner.

My Business, My Numbers

It costs a lot of money to buy all of the variations, sizes and models of shoes and carry them in your rig. It’s inventory that you’re carrying around that you might not be using. There’s money in decreasing overhead, but we still need shoes. If you’re not building them, you still need a keg shoe.

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Paul skaggs 2020

Paul Skaggs

Paul Skaggs, MS, CJF, APF is a farrier based in Fults, Ill., and provides hoof-care services in the greater St. Louis, Mo., area.

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