SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER


Things you should never say to a horseshoer

By Julie Carter

With the advance in rural living perpetuated by the invention of 40-acre
ranchettes, trail ride associations and urban horse owner playdays, the
horseshoers of the world have found themselves in a completely new
atmosphere of commerce.

Owning a horse is much like owning a thong bikini-anyone can own one but not
everyone should. Owning either should require some sort of an application
process.

Farriers, or horseshoers as we regular rural people call them, have come
from a long dignified line of blacksmiths. Cowboys at the ranch usually shoe
their own until they either are too old or they become financially sound
enough to justify the cost of hiring it done.

Historically, a farrier was a horse doctor. It is only in the last hundred
years that people who shod horses began calling themselves farriers and
history is not clear on how that transformation came about.

It is unknown who invented the first horseshoe. Early Asian horsemen used
horse booties made from leather and plants. During the first century, the
Romans made leather and metal shoes called "hipposandals" and by the sixth
and seventh centuries, European horsemen had begun nailing metal shoes to
horses' hooves.

Around 1000 AD, cast bronze horseshoes with nail holes had became common in
Europe. The 13th and 14th centuries brought the widespread manufacturing of
iron horseshoes. Hot-shoeing, the process of heating the horseshoe before
shoeing the horse became common in the 16th century. All this before the
first horseshoe was ever patented.

The first notable patent in the U.S. went to Henry Burden in 1835 for a
horsehoe manufacturing machine. Burden's machine made up to sixty horseshoes
per hour.

For those that are new to owning a horse and need the services of these hard
working iron-pounders to keep your animal shod, here are some tips of
etiquette or things you should never say to a horseshoer.

. Good Morning. Glad you are here. Can we reschedule? I have a lot
going today.

. Can you bill me? I left my check book in the car.

. I know I said just a trim, but would you go ahead and shoe'em as
well?

. I know it's been a long day. That's why I saved the worst one for
last.

. I don't understand why the shoes didn't stay on. I had them done
four months ago.

. Does it mean my horses have some sort of deficiency when they chew
the paint off your truck like that?

. Opps, wrong horse.

. My weanling colt needs a trim. Maybe you could halter break him at
the same time.

. I've got a new horse whose feet are in pretty bad shape. The
previous owners said their farrier wouldn't work on him.

. I forgot you were coming. I just turned all the horses out.

. My last farrier couldn't finish. They gave me your name and number.

. If he didn't kick like that, I'd trim him myself.

. Can we shoe him in the arena? If he rears in the barn, he hits his
head.

. Can you make it after 6 p.m. or on Sunday? I have to work.

. Good thing you are slow today or he'd have had shoes on when he
kicked your truck.

. If you will just give each of the dogs a piece of hoof, they will
get out from under the horse and quit fighting.

. Most time when he kicks, he misses.

. Can you shoe him so that he doesn't paw?

. If you get done in 30 minutes you'll be making $160 an hour.

Make every week "Be kind to your horseshoer" week. A good one is hard to
find and harder yet to keep.

Copyright Julie Carter 2005

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