17/04/2025
This photo is from 2018. I started asking questions and talking to clinicians and riders and I wanted to see what the results would be if the stud holes were further forward. No real science just field research. When I witnessed a clinic with Mitch Taylor the owner and instructor at Kentucky Horseshoeing School he had a cadaver leg in a press and applied pressure in loose soil (sand). What I witnessed challenged all my beliefs as a farrier. Challenging my beliefs and practices as a farrier have pushed me to become a better farrier. My first and foremost objective when working on my clients animals is do no harm. Nothing irritates me more when someone gets on this pages and criticizes a job or technique without giving a reason for the disdain. I am not expert on stud holes and their placement. But without pushing and stretching what is optimum and what is expected, and what we can get away with, how do you change your center line of what is normal? I would hope the goal is to get through your day and do no harm to the animals you work on, that is my goal. I have a great opportunity to be around massive amounts of farriers ALL the time. I would not take that opportunity for granted. The internet is the best tool for observation and seeing outside our own echo chamber. But it is also a terrible tool to say I could do that and not apply yourself to the idiosyncrasies of what it takes to carry out those tasks. The greatest thing I believe to be about the trade of farriery is to ask the question WHY?
