Hot She Shuffle

Well it’s that time again after two months, and our Farrier is back to re-shoe Meesha.

Hot shoeing (in the pictures Meesha’s shoes are being heated before shaping and pre fitting). I believe that this form of shoeing (with my limited Equine Knowledge) is far better than cold shoeing!

Long has this question been asked and debated. Hot shoeing vs. cold? which is better?

The fact of the matter is on a healthy normal foot requiring normal shoeing, one method is as good as the other when practiced by a skilled farrier. Hot shoeing requires forging skills that cold shoeing does not. The hot shoer is better able to assist your horse because he or she has the ability to build corrective, therapeutic, training and other specialized shoes of all kinds for your horse.

The forge work of hot shoeing requires a larger tool investment and a great deal of instruction and practice to master. On the other hand, the cold shoer requires greater skill at leveling the foot and the shoe to fit them correctly. He requires less tool investment and less time to do his job. Cold shoer's believe money is made at the horse nailing on shoes and not at the forge.

Farriers who cold shoe, have to shoe more horses per day in order to bring their income up to that of the hot shoer who is generally paid more for his superior education and forge work.

Some more mature Farriers
rarely cold shoe a horse. When they do, it is usually for medical reasons or for technical reasons too numerous to go into at this time.

Generally hot shoeing gets a more exacting fit and fulfills the requirements of clients.
The quality of that job is not determined by the method used but by the skill of the person doing the job. However because the cold shoer does not possess hot forging skills, there are many jobs that he or she simply cannot do.

This picture was again taken at Easter mains Livery Westhill Aberdeenshire.