Many people have a difficult time adjusting to change. Some down right hate it. 

Change can be good, though. It can make work environments safer, improve efficiency and save money.

Bob Smith, owner and head instructor of Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School in Plymouth, Calif., tapped into the knowledge that he has gathered over 41 years as a farrier to share some helpful tool modifications with attendees at February’s International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Smith’s presentation, courtesy of China Horseshoes, was one of six How-To Hoof-Care Product Knowledge Clinics.

No-Fly Zone

After driving nails, you grab your nippers or pulloffs to cut them. What happens next? Nails fly all over the barn. If you’re particularly unlucky, the projectiles cost you or someone else an eye. 

One way to avoid injury, not to mention picking up all those nails, is to simply use some soft sole packing.

You’ll need nail cutters; soft sole packing, such as Vettec’s Equi-Pak; a razor blade; a piece of tin foil and fly spray.

Apply the fly spray to one side of the tin foil (Figure 1). This ensures that sole packing won’t cause the nail cutters to stick to the foil.

“Using the soft sole pack (Figure 2),” Smith says, “fill up that whole cavity in the nail cutter.”

Cut down the middle of the nail cutter’s jaws with the razor (Figures 3 and 4).

“When you cut your nails, they will stick to the plastic (Figure 5),” says the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Famer…