More than 25 years ago, during a visit with David Wilson in Scotland, he took me to see the blacksmith shop and attached house that six generations of his family had called home. Located in the sleepy little hamlet of Kilmany, the homestead is just a few kilometers from the world-famous old St. Andrews Links where golf got its start in 1552.

There is more to farriery than just looking at the horse’s hoof. To treat horses properly, it’s necessary to look at the whole horse and consider its gait, conformation and body weight and how those factors affect the hooves and how the trimming and shoes that are applied can affect the rest of the horse.

When given the opportunity to write about shoeing a normal foot, my first move was to discuss the topic with a well-respected colleague, who quickly asked me “Jeffrey, what is a normal foot?” Naturally, I began to reflect on my daily work, thinking that most of my feet were fairly “normal.” But then I thought about the question more and came to the realization that almost all of my so-called “normal” horses present me with some type of a conformational or structural challenge that I am constantly striving to improve.

The stifle joint is one of the largest, complex hinge joints in the equine skeletal system. The role of the stifle joint ranges from locomotion, through to a fundamental role in the reciprocal apparatus in the pelvic limb.

Are you practicing farriery lawfully in your state?