Farriers Leaning on a New Device to Give Steeds a Better Fit

Blacksmiths once used wrought iron to shoe horses. Now they use rubber, steel, aluminum, titanium and even plastic to help horses go farther on rough ground.

But until the last year, they had no way of making sure that a horse’s foot would strike the ground flat and thus minimize the risk of lameness.

8 Million Horses in U.S.

It is no small problem. There are more than 8 million horses in the United States, and perhaps as many million ill-fitting shoes, according to veteran farrier Danny Finnegan.

Finnegan, who works at stables in the Sierra Nevada foothills, has been shoeing horses for 19 years, but only for the last year with a patented gauge of his own making.

Many experts in the $2-billion-a-year farrier industry consider Finnegan’s gauge a major breakthrough because, for the first time, it ensures that a horse’s foot strikes the ground flat and balanced.

Finnegan said horses typically need shoes at least every two months. With the average job costing about $50, that is a $300 bill each year to keep an American horse walking tall.

A horse without shoes is comparable to a human without shoes, experienced farriers say. In the wild, mature horses run only when they must, and only for short stretches. They avoid bloodying their feet on rocks.

Left undisturbed, horses wear their hoofs evenly with minimum stress on tendons, ligaments and muscles. Lameness and other leg problems occur infrequently compared to domesticated horses.

Anthropologist Rick Morris wrote in the January issue of Anvil magazine, the farriers’ trade journal, that people began nailing metal shoes on horses in late Roman times.

He said the innovation initially was limited to the steeds of couriers and notables. Later, the use of wrought-iron shoes became common and allowed horses to go farther with heavier loads on rough ground.

U.S. cavalry soldiers found that riding shod horses gave them a great advantage when they pursued Indian bands forced to abandon sore-footed ponies. During that period, the first mass-produced shoes appeared, mostly of steel.

With the advent of the automobile, many blacksmiths became mechanics. A class of farrier specialists developed to service horses used in ranching, pleasure riding and equestrian events.

For several years, farriers have used simple devices to make sure that the horse’s foot is at the proper angle to the shoe so the animal won’t put too much of its weight on the heel or toe. Other tools gauge the length for trimming the hoof.

But until Finnegan invented his gauge, farriers had only their practiced eye to determine if the bottom of the trimmed foot struck the ground evenly. If the shoe is off kilter, the foot strikes at an angle, causing motion, torque and stress that is transmitted up the leg.

Veterinarian Kerry Ridgway of Auburn, Calif., a lecturer and secretary-treasurer of the Assn. for Equine Sports Medicine, said that imbalance is a crucial problem for high-performance horses.

“If it’s not balanced, it forces the horse into an abnormal gait, putting pressure on tendons and ligaments,” he said. “I think a very high percentage of lameness is produced from imbalance.”

The problem, Finnegan said, is that “a lot of farriers are trying to eyeball it. We find them a quarter-inch off, and more. Nobody’s eyes are as good as the gauge.”

The gauge is a molded plastic piece that hugs the joint above the hoof. It is hinged to an aluminum rod with a calibrated plate extending over the bottom of the foot. If the plate touches the hoof on both sides, the farrier knows the hoof surface is at the proper 90-degree angle to the foot’s bone structure. If it isn’t, one side of the hoof must be trimmed until the plate is even.

Dan Lavender, who sells the gauge for $89.95, said that about $25,000 worth were sold in the last four months of 1988.

“For thousands of years, there was no way to be sure about getting the shoe on the horse’s foot perfectly flat,” he said. “We’ve checked 20,000 feet and every horse had at least one foot that was off.”

Scott Simpson, vice president of the American Farriers Assn., compared it to the problem of a marathon runner whose unstable shoes allow excessive foot roll, at the risk of hamstring pulls, tendinitis and other injuries.

Comparable to Runners

“It’s like distance runners looking for the ultimate shoe,” said Simpson, who has been shoeing horses for 36 years. “Balance is so critical. I’ll never shoe another horse without using it.”

Shoers speculate about how they might do the job in the 21st Century, possibly with laser trimmers, pneumatic nailers and talking computers. Until then, Simpson, Finnegan and others in the trade will rely on the traditional standbys--with occasional helpful inventions such as Finnegan’s gauge.