What's the difference?

Ok, time for another stupid question. I've always wondered what the difference between hot & cold shoeing is. Does it achieve the same results, is one better than the other? And just so we're clear, I got that one is hot (heat) and the other is not I'm not THAT slow

Hot shoeing is useful because you can make shoes and modify factory shoes. Hot shoeing is popular with farriers that work with a lot of lameness problems and gait faults. With hot shoeing, you can make clips, rolled toes, bar shoes, apply drill tech, spoon heels, forge weld, and lots more. You can punch nail holes right where you need them if a horse has thin walls or other problems. Usually a gas forge is used, but some people still use coal forges. (not very portable)

If a person is shoeing draft horses or draft crosses, hot shoeing is almost mandatory. The shoes are just too thick to shape cold.

Some modifications can be done with a torch or welder, but nothing replaces the efficiency of a forge.

No such thing.

As you said,one is hot and one is cold.

Yes and no. Some can do just as good a job cold as hot, others can't do a good job no matter how hot the shoe is. I usualy do a better job when it's just warm. A cool breeze helps too.

Hot is better for all the reasons that AC stated as well as riding the foot of bacteria under the shoe. I feel it also toughens the foot some. It's also been said to "seal" the horn, if that is true or not I can't say.

And just so we're clear, I got that one is hot (heat) and the other is not I'm not THAT slow[/QUOTE]

Been answered but I'll add a bit more.

Cold shoeing means the shoe is (hopefully) shaped without benefit of heat and applied to the horse cold. The benefit is reduced cost to the farrier and can often be done faster. The downside is the wear and tear on the farrier, difficult or impossible to add alterations to the shoe that may benefit the horse and can be more difficult to get a precise fit.

Hot shoeing is a term often used to cover two aspects of using heat to shoe a horse.

The general term "hot shoeing" suggests the shoes are heated in a forge to ease shaping and the addition of enhancements. The term may also suggest the practice of "hot fitting".

Hot fitting is actually "burning" the shoe onto the horses foot. Hot fitting removes any minor surface variation in the trimmed foot to assure the best possible mating between the surface of the shoe and the foot. It also allows the farrier to "burn in" either toe or quarter clips. Clips that are burned in will seat better against the foot and provide a more secure shoe. Sometimes the farrier will also use a knife or half round rasp to cut in the clips.

In my own practice I hot shape/fit about 90% of the horses I shoe. If applying aluminum shoes, I typically hot shape then cold fit.

Good question.

Cheers,
Mark

In my area, I don't know of too many farriers that hot shoe anymore. They make shoes nowadays that are specificly desigined for the fronts and for the backs. All you have to do is either widen or hammer the shoe in. If any shaping is required then you can usually shape a cold regular shoe to fit the horses hoof. It is alot faster and more efficient to go that route for farriers. Yes, Drafts and Homemade shoes would require heating up unless the farrier wants to wear himself out on the anvil but the drafts I did last year for the holidays wore the plastic/rubber shoes and they did the trick.

Faster? Sure. More efficient? Hmmm.....

What if the horse would benefit from a rockered toe? Going to do that cold?

How about trailers? Heel extensions? Lateral extension? Toe, quarter or side clips on an unclipped shoe? Sidebone shoe? Toe weight? Feather and Caulk? What to do if the horse needs a pair of size 1 and the farrier just used his last pair on the previous horse? What if the horse needs a barshoe, z-bar, g-bar or w-shoe?

I can do a lot cold but I can do a lot more hot and can do it faster and with greater precision. Isn't that efficiency?

There's more to shoeing a horse than just opening/closing the heels on a keg shoe and nailing it up; or at least there should be.

Cheers,
Mark

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I agree with you 100 percent. I tell my customers with those issues to call the farrier that does that. I used to hot shoe and firmly believed that was the only way to go. But the past few years in my area anyways people does not want to even pay for regular keg shoes much less corrective. I am almost ready to give up the anvil completely and just trim. I know it doesn't make sense but when I tell a customer what's wrong with their horses feet and what needs to be done, the first thing they ask is how much? I don't want to lower my prices on shoeing nor do I want to fix their horse for little or no money.
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I don't consider a lot of the examples I listed to represent "issues". Most are just basic horseshoeing.

Unless circumstance dictates otherwise, it is the way to go.

Horses need what they need. The owners ability to afford their hobby is not my concern. Someone has to be the advocate for the horse.

I make a greater income per hour trimming than I do shoeing. So do most farriers. I shoe horses because some of them need more than just a trim to remain sound and meet their owners performance expectations.

The problem with "just trimming" is that if the horses needs or owners expectations demand more, you're stuck... and so is the horse.

Sure they do. Same as just about any other trade. I provide a cost estimate and it becomes the owners decision as to what they will pay for. I didn't tell them to acquire a horse and am not responsible for the cost of husbandry. I am responsible for running my business in a manner that will assure I am still in business tomorrow. That means that my prices reflect the cost of running the business plus a reasonable profit.

I understand that many owners are looking for the cheapest farrier they can find. I just don't want to be that farrier. I've seen his work; I know what he invests in continuing education, equipment, insurance, association fees, paying his fair share of taxes, etc. Nope, not going to be that guy and owners soon learn that "you get what you pay for".

And if farriers would set their fee schedule in a manner that reflects their true business cost, you wouldn't have to lower your prices. I'm not in this as a sideline to earn beer money and it's not my job to subsidize someone elses hobby. It's a business. Run it as such and don't worry about the weekend backyard iron hanger. He's not your competition and you probably don't want his customers.

Cheers,
Mark

That's kinda dumb. A stall jack and a couble of boxes of keggars and any farrier worth his/her salt should be able to improve on a horse that needs it. -(