When Hot Fitting, Avoid The Frog

Chris Gregory takes pains to minimize the length of contact with the frog when hot fitting a bar shoe. “I don’t like to hot fit a frog too much, because a frog has a lot of moisture in it and too much hot fitting dries it out,” says the owner of the Heartland Horseshoeing School at Lamar, Mo.

If A Horse Gets Bit By A Snake, Watch For Laminitis

Researchers at Argentina’s Universidad Nacional del Nordeste have found that a horse that survives the bite of a poisonous snake has a good chance of developing laminitis. Besides the bleeding, muscle damage and intense pain that followed a bite on a horse’s limb from a common lancehead viper snake, there was also damage to the laminae of the hoof that could lead to separation of the basement membrane.

The researchers found that the hoof of the bitten limb as well as the opposite limb can develop severe envenomization-induced laminitis. They recommend having a veterinarian administer antivenom therapy as soon as possible after a snake bite to save the horse’s life and to avoid later laminitis concerns.

What To Do If You’re A Lefty

If you’re a left-handed farrier who thinks shoeing and trimming tools are built backward, Jack Roth has some good advice for working at the anvil. The owner of MFC Horseshoeing Tools in Purcell, Okla., suggests using one of the new bent or wrap-around anvils.

“They are different for right- or left-handers,” he…