Suspensory Ligament and Related Lameness.

   Another sample entry from next year's Millwater's Farriery: The Illustrated Dictionary of Horseshoeing and Hoofcare.

   Supporting this piece will be an entry which is already in the current New Dictionary of Farrier Terms and Technical Language...

selenium: A nonmetallic element. Atomic number 34. Atomic weight 78.96. Selenium is a naturally occurring mineral nutrient which is deficient in nearly all American soils east of the Mississippi, and much of the rest of the nation. Selenium deficiency in horses has been implicated in suspensory ligament soreness, poor hoof growth and quality, and dull haircoat. Henry Heymering, RMF suggests 4mg daily supplemental selenium for horses in selenium poor areas. Frogs discolored yellow are a sign of selenium deficiency.

   And now today's entry...

suspensory ligament

(Alternative link for entry if above fails.)

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Corrective/Therapeutic Illustrations...

   Because next year's Millwater's Farriery: The Illustrated Dictionary of Horseshoeing and Hoofcare already has illustrated entries on "bar shoe", "heartbar", "eggbar", and many other concepts cross-referenced to the corrective/therapeutic article, we only needed a handful of new illustrations.

This is a "tip" horseshoe.  Can be used to stop excessive toe wear in youngsters during growth spurts.

This image is from Dollar's 1898 book.

I could draft a more technically accurate image, but this one gets the concept across fine.

It's kinda' neat to throw in a few vintage illustrations to remind us that 

farriery is indeed an old, old profession... And that our grandparents weren't

quite the ignorant primitives some would have us believe.

This is a new one showing how asymmetrical traction devices can be used to turn a front foot.

I dunno.  The arrows may be a bit much.  Might redo those.

The shoe itself is a squared/set-back/rolled toe, akin to a Natural Balance horseshoe,

but with deep fullering on one branch only.  Would be overkill in most real-world shoeing.

But the illustration is to make the point of asymmetrical correction.

Now the hind.  Fullering and calk on one side to turn the foot.

Slick on the other side to let it slide on around.

Asymmetrical weighted shoe. Quarter/side weight.

I've got some side and toe weight shoes I forged years ago hanging

on my old Registered Journeyman Farrier board display...

But, instead of tossing them onto the scanner (Figuratively! Don't wanna break the glass!)

I thought I'd plunder ol' Dollar some more.

And the toe weight.

Aside from being really fine-punched, 

these old illustrations are pretty cool, no?

(All the images posted online are low-res compared to what will be used in the book.)

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Corrective/Therapeutic Farriery...

   Okay...  Just over a month left to compose content for Millwater's Farriery: The Illustrated Dictionary of Horseshoeing and Hoofcare.  So entries will be coming hot & heavy now.

   The sample entry .PDF rotates with updates.  If you see a subject of interest in an older blog post, hang-on...  It'll probably be re-posted when we switch over to formatting/assembly and don't have whole new entries to post every few days.  But stay alert.  There's usually only one major sample entry available at a time.

   Big one this time.  Again, the cross-reference style of the book doesn't work so well when the articles are posted alone, especially without their illustrations, but you can get the general idea...

corrective and therapeutic farriery, basic principles

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Farrier Encyclopedia Sample: Flipper foot.

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   Still considering options for the 2012 book title.  "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Farriery" is the most technically accurate, but nobody seems to like the "encyclopedic" adjective.  Fran & Henry suggested putting my name in, which I didn't quite have the hubris to come up with myself, and moving "farriery" closer to the start of the title for referencing sake...  So right now it's looking like Millwater's Farriery: The Illustrated Dictionary of Horseshoeing and Hoofcare.

   Meanwhile, the latest sample is on flipper foot.  The term has been in The Dictionary of Farrier Terms for years, but it's been expanded considerably for '12.

Flipper foot.

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Trim Technique Diagrams...

   Continuing from the previous post, which was the Encyclopedic Dictionary's entry on basic trimming technique...

This is the solar view of the hoof before wall trimming.

Note that the entire bearing surface has "slid" forward,

putting the heel buttresses ahead of the widest part of the frog.

This is a lateral view of the untrimmed hoof.

Note that this is just a slightly overdue for trim foot.

Not a severe case.

Here is the same foot, trimmed to be left bare.

In real life, the bevels are hardly noticeable unless the horse is on pavement.

The same foot, if it had been trimmed to receive a shoe.

This foot is a little shorter, ground to coronary-band, than the barefoot version.

Once the thickness of a shoe is added, it will be slightly taller than the barefoot trim.

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Trimming technique...

   Okay, this one really needs technical illustrations.  I'm working on them now.

   Keep in-mind that there is already an extensive entry on balancing the horse's hoof in this Encyclopedic Dictionary of Farriery.  This one is just about basic approaches to practical trimming.

   I've been reminded that I need to mention that the heel / frog reference does not apply to asses and mules.

Trimming for Barefoot and Shoes...

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Encyclopedia of Farriery: Fixing a Loose/Thrown Shoe.

DFT3.0 (2012) Working Draft.

© 2011 Millwater

Note: Words in italic boldface have their own entries and are so marked for cross-referencing.

How To Fix a Pulled Horseshoe.

   The best shod horse can still manage to step-on or snag a horseshoe, pulling it partially or completely off.  Fortunately, it does not take the skills or tools of a competent farrier to do a serviceable job of putting the hoof back to right until a professional is available.

   The tools required are a rasp, pullers, wire brush, light driving hammer, heavier hammer, and something to use as an anvil.  A section of railroad track, piece of heavy steel plate, or a machinist's vise are adequate anvil substitutes for this task.  All that is needed is something solid with a reasonably flat top surface.  Chaps, sturdy boots, and safety glasses are recommended.  A small supply of appropriate nails (#5 City Head for most riding horses) will be needed.

   First the shoe will need to be removed, if this has not already been done by the horse.  (See horseshoe, removal.)  Any nails left behind in the foot will need to be removed as cleanly as possible.

   Pulled shoes are usually bent away from the hoof on the stepped-on or snagged branch.  The fit of the shoe is usually retained, so it only needs to be re-leveled.  After removing the nails from the shoe and wire brushing the dirt off of it, place the bent-down branch hoof-side up onto your "anvil".  The bent shoe should form an arch supported by the anvil at two points.  Strike down on the shoe between these points with the heavy hammer to drive the top of the arch down.  Move the shoe around on the anvil face, driving down high spots, until the shoe is as level as you can get it.

   Wire brush the bottom of the hoof clean and hold it in the shoeing position.  Set the shoe onto the foot and place a nail through the third hole back in one branch of the shoe, being sure to orient the nail with the trademark facing inward.  Search around until you find the hole left by the original nail with the tip of your new nail, then push it in with your thumb.  Do the same on at the third hole back on the other branch.  Use your light hammer to tap one nail home.  It should easily follow the path established by the original nail.  Bend the protruding nail tip over, then do the same with the nail on the other side.  Now the remaining nail holes in the shoe should be directly over the established nail paths in the hoof, so tapping nails through should be a simple matter.  See horseshoe, conventional application for nail seating and the block method of clinching and tightening.

{Notes: Appendix entry? Need images of tools, shoe leveling technique.}

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Yoinkin' the irons...

   The latest sample draft entry from next year's Farriery: The Encyclopedic Dictionary...

   This one may be particularly handy for horseowners.  Of course, it'll be better with illustrations.

horseshoe, removal:

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Cracking-up!

   Latest working draft sample from next year's Encyclopedia of Farriery...

crack, hoof wall

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Why an Encyclopedia of Farriery?

   Sometimes it's funny to watch farriers get defensive when anyone criticizes the American farrier education system...

   Because there is no American farrier education system.

   And this is not a bad thing!

   As determined as some people are to standardize it into some sort of assembly-line process, human learning is a fundamentally individual thing.  The catch-as-catch-can nature of American farrier education creates an environment that fosters remarkable invention and innovation.  It also provides the horse world with horseshoeing services on a broad spectrum from bargain basement hobby shoers through some of the world's most knowledgeable and skilled farriers.  It's supposed to be a free country, after all.  The horseowners decide what level of farriery they'll support.

   An encyclopedia is a resource well-tailored to free-form learning.  You open it to look something up, and the article draws your interest to related subjects.  Instead of having to root through other books or magazines for more information on those subjects, you can look them up in the same encyclopedia.  And those subjects lead you to still others, and the others lead you to still more.  Ultimately, you wind up learning things you didn't even realize you were interested in knowing at the start.

   That's why the Millwater Encyclopedia is designed with cross-referencing in-mind.  We're all trying to fill the gaps in our knowledge.  If you're reading an entry and you already know what the words in italic boldface are all about, you just keep going...  If not, you know there's an entry to fill you in on each term just a few page-flips away.

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Encyclopedia of Farriery: A few more illustrations...

   Still going along with articles and illustrations.  "Hoof cracks" will be along soon...  Also going to have to get the camera and go shoot a few pictures for some of the entries.

This is a coal forge illustration from a pre-WWI Army Manual.

I'm tempted to use it with the coal forge entry, but it really

doesn't show the firepot workings as well as I'd like.

Also from an old Army Manual.

I may include appendix pages for historical reference,

although this particular image doesn't really fit for that purpose.

Could wind-up incorporated into cover design though.

A selection of nails I had handy for relative comparison.

Will have a shoe and nail size page in the Encyclopedia.

Okay, this isn't really for the book at all... 

Came across it while rooting around for specimens to scan.

Forging exercise where I worked 1 & 1/2 worn-out shoes

into one new horseshoe...  Stopped halfway through for show.

Borium... Well, technically Carbraze or something.

Tungsten Carbide chips in a bronze matrix, applied in the coal forge.

I usually just fill the crease of a swedged shoe with the stuff.

There's really no need to build big ol' calk like some folks do.

Hospital plate.  Over a heartbar, though you can't tell here.

Here we have images for cold shoeing, especially those who 

claim cold fitting factory shoes always means "shoe-horseing"...

In the middle we have a factory rim shoe out of the box.

On the left, identical shoe cold-fit for a front pattern with rockered toe.

On the right, identical shoe cold-fit for hind pattern.

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eBook releases...

   One of my distributors has made the New Dictionary of Farrier Terms and Technical Language available on Apple's iBookstore (part of iTunes).

   For some reason, it's the previous version of the Dictionary.  But it is a couple dollars cheaper than the digital versions of the current edition.  I don't know if the current edition is also up in the iBookstore, as I don't have an iPad or iPhone, and can't search their catalog.

   Of course the current edition has been out for Kindle for some time.

   As well as in Adobe Digital Edition form.

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