The United States Navy adopted the KISS principle — “Keep It Simple, Stupid” — in 1960 to reinforce that most systems work best if they are kept simple, rather than complicated.

It’s a philosophy that many outside of the Navy have adopted since, and it’s one that Tampa, Fla., farrier Robbie Hunziker emphasizes in his practice.

“A lot of people get into titling horses,” the co-owner of Hurricane Forge told attendees in early August at Anvil Brand Horseshoe Co.’s annual summer clinic in Lexington, Ill. “I hear a lot of younger guys say, ‘I want to shoe English horses,’ or ‘I want to shoe this or that.’ The horse doesn’t know it’s a dressage horse, a jumper or whatever. The anatomy is all the same, so I shoe the horse that’s standing there.”

That’s not to say there are elements within disciplines that aren’t necessary.

“We do little things for disciplines — stud holes, stuff like that,” Hunziker says. “I just don’t get into shoeing a horse because of its discipline. I just make it very simple.”

When trimming, he takes the same approach.

“I focus on the coronary band, coffin bone and inside the white line,” Hunziker says. “The inside of the white line is the same shape as the coronary band, which is exactly where the coffin bone is. I want to fit to the coronary band. It’s all I want to do. That’s my goal. I want to fit that trim.”