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A client in Columbus told me my nails were too short and it bugged me for weeks
I used to keep shoes tight with short nails because I thought it gave better hold, but he showed me how it was actually pulling the hoof wall down. Switched to longer nails with a slight angle on the clinch and now shoes stay put way longer with less damage. Has anyone else gotten pushback on their nailing technique from an old timer?
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the_karen1mo ago
Old Jimmy from the tack shop in Eugene gave me the same talking to back in 2017... I was pounding those short nails in like I knew what I was doing. He had me switch to a #5 nail with a good 15 degree angle on the clinch and it made a world of difference, shoes stopped dropping off on the back end of a trim cycle.
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william_henderson1mo ago
You been using short nails on a trim cycle? That'll do it every time. Long toes need a longer nail to bite into the hoof wall properly. @the_karen is right about the 15 degree clinch angle too, it keeps the shoe locked in even when they're moving on soft ground. I had the same problem with draft crosses back in 2019, switched to a size 6 and never looked back. Also make sure you're hitting that nail head square, not leaning it forward or back. A bad angle will let the shoe shift no matter what size you use.
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max4153d ago
That "check it before I even move to the next nail" part @allen.ivan said is exactly what my buddy Sean learned the hard way. He was shoeing a horse in Boulder back in 21, thought he had the clinch set perfect on the front left. Next thing he knew, the shoe twisted halfway through the trim cycle and the horse threw a mild lameness. He retrained himself to check each clinch with his thumb before driving the next nail. Took him about two weeks to get it consistent.
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What's the deal with old timers always having to show us the hard way first, right? I had a similar wake up call last year when a client in Denver called me out for leaving too much clinch on a set of fronts. I thought I was being careful, but he showed me how the clinch was actually bending back into the hoof wall. It took me a solid month to retrain my hands to get that angle right. Now I set the clinch with a light tap and check it before I even move to the next nail. The little adjustments really do add up over a trim cycle, don't they?
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