4 Bar Z

The Farrier In Action

A rare moment of calm for Michael

Michael spends most of his free time teaching our youth about the proper care of horses at local 4H and other facilities. His knowledge is invaluable and deeply appreciated by the community.
                

Corrective Shoeing

The following pictures are of the two front feet of a badly neglected horse. Even though after the service, he's not looking "pretty". You can see the shape of a horse foot. Michael estimates the horse's growth to be more anatomically normal in a few shoeing intervals.

     

Handmade Draft Shoes

Michael is one of the only farriers in the surrounding community that can make handmade draft shoes. Michael trims the horses feet and does a cold approximation of the shoe size. He then puts the shoes in the forge to get hot. Once hot he takes the shoe out of the forge and "shapes them" by banging on the shoe with a hammer on the anvil. When he is pretty sure that he has duplicated the horse's foot shape with the metal shoe, he "hot fits" the shoe to the horse's foot which emits a good deal of smoke. From there makes necessary corrections and then finally quenches the metal in a bucket of water. Next he nails the shoes onto the horse and clinches the nails. Lastly he "dresses" the feet by rasping the edges and cleaning up the top side of the feet and finally "polishing" the feet with a dressing. It is tedious work but quite satisfying for Michael.