The author, Yehuda Avisar, states at the outset that this book is written for veterinarians, farriers and students of both professions who are interested in the therapeutic aspects of farriery.

“Its aim is to increase the collaboration between the two professions by providing information common to both fields,” he writes.

Avisar is not as familiar as many of the names on the hoof-care clinic circuit. According to the book’s back cover, he received his farriery training by working as an apprentice for Charles Heumphreus at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California-Davis.

Afterward, his shoeing work focused primarily on foot disorders and preventive hoof care in foals.

Avisar went on to earn a veterinary degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Thus he can say that the book draws on his professional experience in both the farriery and veterinary worlds.

Brief Anatomy

The 292-page, hardcover book is divided into five parts. The first, called simply enough “The Foot,” provides an overview of the anatomy and development of the horse’s foot, including its mechanical properties and conformation.

This opening section fills 46 pages with enough description to provide a basic understanding of the subject, though it falls far short of the detail that can be found in other books.

There are no surprises in these initial pages — and there shouldn’t be, given that hoof anatomy doesn’t change from book to book — until Avisar proposes a system for grading the quality of hooves.

The intent is to…