A new horse owner has called to see if you can do some corrective shoeing. You translate his phone call into plain speech, and then figure out if you can help:
"I've got a horse here that I think has been terribly shod. The wall, or the part of the hoof that's visible when the horse's hoof is on the ground, has been rasped away. The toes have been dumped so that they curve to fit a shoe that is too small for the horse.
"When the horse is walking, I don't think the frog, a growth on the bottom of the hoof that keeps the horse from slipping, is even touching the ground like it should.
"Oh boy, it looks like a terrible job! I don't think the right number of nails, three on the inside and four on the outside, have been used. And the clenches, the small pieces at the end of the nail that are turned over and twisted off, aren't in line. The clenches seem to be coarse nailed -- the nails come out too high up the wall of the hoof.
"The clip, the lip at the front that keeps the shoe in position and on the hoof, doesn't look like it has been well drawn or fitted. When I lifted the foot, I was worried that the farrier cut too much away from the sole, the bottom of the foot that protects the horse from injury. Last but not least, I can see daylight between the shoe and the foot!"
"There is a lot of information that you need to keep up on," says Doyle.