Here is an excellent keg shoe modification that will be helpful for horses that need a quick traction device added to a shoe. It’s also a possible option for your traction device if you’re putting together your American Farrier’s Association certification shoe board.

Midland, Texas, farrier Jim Poor showed us how to do this version of a braised-on jar calk made from the heels of the shoe at the U.S. Team Championships in Mustang, Okla., where he was the clinician and judge.

Building The Calk

First, heat the heel of the shoe and set it down at the base of the heel check (Figure 1). Then draw out the heel to a point. The base of the calk should be about 1/4 inch. When completely drawn out, the length of the calk is about 1 inch (Figures 2 to 4).

Take another heat on the heel and turn the calk outward, as if you were making a trailer (Figures 5 and 6). With a fuller, cut about halfway through the calk at the base from the foot surface, keeping the straight edge of the fuller at the base of the branch and the curved portion toward the calk (Figure 7). The finished cut is shown in Figure 8.

Slow Bend And Fold

After the cut is made, quench the pointed end of the calk up to 1/8 inch from the cut (Figure 9). This will keep you from destroying the end of the calk in the folding process. Then proceed…