Some of you have pointed out most of the reasons why a farrier would hot
shoe a horse - however the most important reason is simply because you can bang
away as much as you want at a cold piece of steel but it will never shape
exactly the way you want it to! Apart from opening or closing the shoe there is
not much else you can do to it when it's cold... so if you want a really precise
fit..
A good farrier wil shape the shoe to the foot and not the other way around-
and with cold shoeing there is only so much you can do
I see absolutely NO reason why hot shoeing should be more expensive than
cold shoeing by the way! My farriers hot shoes more than 90% of the time - and
he may or may not apply (very briefly!) the hot shoe to the foot or not
depending mainly on how the horse deals with the sizzling & smoke.. for
young or nervous horses he will cool the shoe first, apply it & heat it up
again to adjust it if necessary.
Keep in mind that most farriers, like vets etc., have to deal with a lot of
AWFUL customers - between misbehaving horses and owners... people who've read an
article & decide they know all about shoeing... those who don't pay their
bills.... those who leave post-its on the stable door ( they are NEVER there
just so they don't have to pay straight up) "please ensure feet are trimmed
properly" ( happened to my husband last week, came from a person who cannot
pick out her horse's feet herself 'cause horse is so uneducated he won't
let her), young horses which have never been handled and it's up to
the farrier to teach them to lift their feet & stand... not to mention
some of the awful conditions some horses live in & the constant
losing of shoes due to very muddy fields, people riding twice a
month & going for mad gallops in very deep footing... stables with
layers & layers of acid manure eating away at the horse's feet &
people complaining about hoof condition ( must be the farrier's fault!) etc
etc, those owners who treat their horses like motorbikes....
I could go on & on... just thought I'd give a brief glimpse of the
other side of the medal!
Thank god for those customers who are competent & compassionate with
their horses, kind to & interested in what the farrier does and
why, try to give him decent working conditions out of the cold & rain with
reasonably clean horses to work on, listen to his advice and apply it, and who
pay their bills - makes up for all the other ones.. (well most of the time
anyway)
Being a farrier is a very tough physical job & pays little ( at least
here in France it does) .... so most of them are pretty passionate about it
otherwise they wouldn't last very long... they are human too and can make
mistakes!
