Farrier: a man or woman who puts horseshoes onto horses
A horseshoe: a horseshoe is a flat plate, usually metal, which is attached to the hoof of a horse
Cutting the clenches: removing the old nails from the shoe
I have a real treat for you this week! Our farrier, Paul, kindly allowed me to video him whilst he shoed James, my sister's horse.
Not all horses need to wear shoes. It depends on the breed of horse or pony and where and how they are ridden.
James is a Thoroughbred horse and was bred specifically to be a racehorse. His feet are quite soft so he needs to wear shoes on all his feet. Imagine if you were bare foot and had to walk over stones and rocks – that is what it would feel like for James if we didn’t put shoes on him.
Bo is very different. He is a native breed (a horse from Great Britain) and so his big feet are designed to cope with all the lumps and bumps on the ground. However, he still has shoes on his front feet as he is ridden a lot along the roads, plus it helps him from slipping over when the ground is very wet and muddy.
The farrier will visit James and Bo every six weeks to check their feet and re-shoe them.