Forging a heel check for many farriers is old hat. It’s such a part of the routine that sometimes not a lot of thought is invested into it. There’s another style of heel check, though, that Sacramento, Calif., farrier John Williams prefers when forging horseshoes.

Attention is often paid to forging temperatures, hammer blows and anvils, and rightly so. There are other aspects of forging that are equally important, yet don’t get as much consideration. “A lot of people have problems because they’re just all over the place,” Sacramento, Calif., farrier John Williams told attendees at a late summer forging clinic at The Horseshoe Barn. “They’re just spread out all over their anvil. They throw their stock up there, any old place, and then they just take their hammer to the stock.”