Roger, I looked at your pictures and at the
beginning you stated something along the lines of due to the fact that you
couldn't get a quality farrier for shoeing, you were going
barefoot.
Nothing wrong with barefeet. However, why don't you
look into going to farrier school? I went for a month last year and learned more
than any DVD or book could show me. I was going to be paying $300 or so
every 5-6 weeks for just a trim on 9 horses. I have already recovered most
of my tuition.
Right now, I am going barefoot as well just because
I am not that confidant to shoe by myself. I think once I am better at preparing
the foot to begin with, I will do alright shoeing. I have enough horses of my
own to practice on and the teachers at school are just a phone call away. I know
for some rides, I will need shoes and maybe even some vet-tech for padding.
The cool part about the school I went to was that
we learned how to make shoes from bar stock. We learned how to pull clips, weld
bar shoes and oh, so much more! We also dissected a cadaver foot which not only
showed why we need shoes sometimes but also why it is important to trim properly
especially if you are going to keep your horse barefoot.
