What makes horseshoeing such a unique business is that as advanced as the craft has become, farriers never forget their roots.

Drawing upon the major horseshoeing problems in 1879, The Horse’s Foot, And How To Shoe It, by J.R. Cole, is just as relevant to farriers today as it was almost 125 years ago. That’s why it is now being included in the Farrier Classics series published by American Farriers Journal.

Touching on topics such as quarter cracks, thrush, founder, laminitis, finding shoes for problem feet, navicular disease and much more, this 80-page book deals with horseshoeing problems that haven’t gone away in 125 years, and are not about to disappear any time in the near future.

Trans-Atlantic Sources

In order to cover such a wide range of topics, Cole utilized the help of well-respected farriers from North America, Britain and France, including the incredibly talented French veterinarian Etienne Guillaume Lafoose, who offered his detailed list of the 30 most critical errors in horseshoeing.

The list goes into great length about common horseshoeing mistakes and should be committed to memory by anyone who is planning on doing work to a horse’s hoof.

Relying on a worldly group of farriers for a large part of his information, including William Miles, George Fleming, William Russell, William Henry Harrison Murray, William Osmer and many others, Cole effectively surveys all problems pertaining to the horse’s hoof.

In the book’s final chapter, which resembles the popular American Farriers Journal Roundtable feature, these gifted farriers sound…