Spent 4 YEARS burning hoof wall with my rasp before a mentor in Kentucky just stopped me mid-trim and pointed out my angle was completely off.

I was wondering why my shoes kept losing hold and now I see I was basically shaping them wrong the whole time - has anyone else had a senior farrier call them out on something basic that totally changed their whole approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

davidwright17d agoMost Upvoted

Wait but was your shoe work actually worse before or did it just LOOK different? Sometimes I wonder if all these "Little Secrets" from old timers are just their personal preference dressed up as gospel truth.

harris.uma17d ago

Oh man, that hits close to home. I had been trimming for like three years before my mentor noticed I was holding my nippers at a weird angle that was actually crushing the toe instead of cutting clean. He just stopped, showed me, and I felt like such a fool but also so relieved because suddenly everything made sense. Isn't it wild how we can do something totally wrong for so long and never realize until someone actually bothers to watch us carefully? I bet your shoe work got way better after that Kentucky guy set you straight, what a game changer.