Joe Eisen Farrier Service LLC

Joe Eisen Farrier Service LLC AFA Certified Farrier (CF). Trims, shoeing, and tack-on service within 30 miles of Chapel Hill NC.

I've been working with an old paint gelding with a long founder history. He's a sensitive fellow; can't tolerate noise f...
08/21/2024

I've been working with an old paint gelding with a long founder history. He's a sensitive fellow; can't tolerate noise from the anvil or grinder. Even nailing a steel shoe bothers him.

His front hooves are sensitive, especially the left fore - the hoof in these pictures (click on photos to see uncropped).

For the first 5 months, I used a square-toed breakover shoe on his fores to reduce toe leverage (top picture). As seen here and in Monique Craig's book "A Modern Look at the Hoof", this style shoe can cause the toe pillars to bulge forward (10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions), narrowing and pulling forward the back half of the hoof.

Then, for the next 9 months to the present, I've been using a plastic shoe with full caudal support to engage the back half of the hoof (bottom picture). The results so far are fun to look at: check out how much more hoof is on the ground in the heel area! Beefy heel areas are a key to success.

The horse is a little more comfortable, shoeing is no longer a struggle, and I look forward to some other improvements!

I recently went to replace a horse's shoe lost in the pasture. As you see in the first picture, the right fore shoe is m...
06/29/2024

I recently went to replace a horse's shoe lost in the pasture. As you see in the first picture, the right fore shoe is missing and so is most of the wall around the toe - probably from running around barefoot on our currently rock-hard pastures.

The rest of the hoof was in good shape, so nailing on a new shoe went fine. But, the shoe wasn't supported around the toe (second picture). So, I added an acrylic patch and it was good to go. Better living through chemistry!

Today I reshod a horse with longstanding trouble with his fores in the navicular area. Wedging and pour pads have kept h...
05/18/2024

Today I reshod a horse with longstanding trouble with his fores in the navicular area. Wedging and pour pads have kept him mostly comfortable in the last few years.

Here are a couple ways to support the wedged hoof so it doesn't collapse into the shoe:

(photo on left): A pour pad fills the space inside the shoe and down to the ground level (a "full pour") through a perforated wedge pad. The wedge pad is easy to apply and doesn't impact how you shape the shoe. This fully supports the hoof, but as you can see, rough terrain can tear up the poured material leading to a loss of support where this horse most needs it to keep the heels elevated.

(photo on right): A pour pad fills the space under the solid plastic wedge pad under the shoe. the wedge pad has a frog-shaped extension that goes down to ground level to fully support the back half of the hoof. This option is more durable, but can be more difficult to fit and less modifiable for special situations (e.g. allowing access to an injured area on the sole). I went with this option today.

Visiting a new client last summer, I saw this horse’s front hooves and went right back to the truck to get my camera. I ...
02/01/2024

Visiting a new client last summer, I saw this horse’s front hooves and went right back to the truck to get my camera. I was thinking “this is going to make an awesome before-and-after, I’m going to be a hero when I finish this horse today, and I want pictures!”

As you can see, the first shoeing was somewhat less than heroic. The hooves were flat, so I chickened out of nipping as much depth as I wanted, and I stopped rasping dish when I hit the white line.

Same deal the next shoeing. So, after that I added a frog pad and pour a couple times – those hooves cupped right up, giving me the courage to nip more depth off those long hooves and allowing me to get off more dish.

So here we are in February . . . almost finally a hero. I think one more shoeing and I’ll have these hooves straightened out!

Glad to have a new apprentice working with me for the holidays. She's not particularly productive, and only works at one...
11/16/2022

Glad to have a new apprentice working with me for the holidays. She's not particularly productive, and only works at one barn, but she wears my shoeing apron well.

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Chapel Hill, NC
27516

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