effects of left and right handed shoers?

[deb vandenberg]

hi all, just a quick question
I tried running a search for a thread I had read awhile back about what a left or right handed shoer can do that is detrimental to a horse but I couldnt find it and I was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about this, and more specifically, what effect a right handed shoer could have on the left hooves of a horse.Thanks in advance.
Deb

[Jaye Perry]

hi all, just a quick question
I tried running a search for a thread I had read awhile back about what a left or right handed shoer can do that is detrimental to a horse but I couldnt find it and I was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about this, and more specifically, what effect a right handed shoer could have on the left hooves of a horse.Thanks in advance.
Deb


LF of TB Gelding, all horses impact laterad on the heel. So put two and two together and you get six different problems just in this LF foot and lower leg. Coffin joint, fetlock, sesamoids, ligament(s), horn shearing and so forth. Throw in some conformation deviations and look at the possibilities, YEA!! :D :p

[deb vandenberg]

Jaye, so, right handed shoers have a tendency to trim the lateral sides lower and cause the hoof , over time, to start turning in? Sorry to be a bother with what might be a **** question and thanks for the previous reply and the picture!
Deb

[Peggy Dolan]

Deb,
As a left hander I choose a horseshoeing school with a left handed instructor. He taught that the natural tendency, right or left handed, is to be stronger with your dominant hand and arm. As such, you tend to trim more off when rasping with your dominant arm. The advice I received in school was to strengthen my right arm, and to alternate which hand I used to rasp. I also sometimes alternate the route around the horse. Not always front left first. Sometimes I do the right side first, or hinds first, or diagonals, and always remind myself of the left side bias. I think that your question was very insightful....Peggy

[Gary_Miller]

Deb
In Doug Butlers book "The Principles of Horseshoeing II" page 167 he states.

"It will be noted that a right handed or a left handed person always rasps a hoof in the same direction (i.e., counterclockwise or clockwise). If one puts more pressure on one side than the other, the hoof will not be level."

Gary

[Phil Armitage]

Learn how to float the rasp properly and know what your trimming and why and it does not matter if your right or left handed. I think what Doug Butler was trying to do is make new Farriers aware that it is easy to rasp too much off if your not paying attention and the dominant hand is stronger. The cure to this problem is pay attention to what your doing.

[John Barney]

I don't have a problem rasping as I use both hands. I do however don't always have a perfect nail line driving across the hoof. Left front outside right front inside. I keep saying I am going to sit down and drive nails until I can,t lift my arm, but with the price of nails haven't bought 30 pounds yet.

JB

Lefty of course

[caballus]

I agree with Phil. Proper rasping, working the rasp from the shoulder and not the wrist, will help alleviate alot of the issues. One needs to be aware and conscientious at all times.

--Gwen

[Gary_Miller]

Phil
That is exactly what Butler was trying to point out. The paragraph before the one I stated suggests how to rasp so you can keep balance. I just didn't want to type it all.

Gary

[Dave Whitaker]

It was funny, early on, how I could get under someone else's work and tell you if they were right or left handed. I forced myself to use my off hand so as to "balance" my own work , (awkward as hell at first, and my own horses are always my "weird science experiments"). I was surprised how quickly my left hand became "natural".

This fall, I had a young boy,(man? he's 15), ride with me a bit, and I showed him in a two handed manner from the get go, and he easily handled the rasp with both hands from the begining. I think it was because he had not developed any dominate rasping techniques yet so he knew no different. I also noticed that he started using both arms at the anvil too, but maybe that's because I bent a shoe about a 100 times a day and kept having him level it....lol.

Great question, Deb, you will have us all looking at our hands under the next horse. Dave

oh yea John...... God help the horse that I have to nail left handed!!!!

[Gary_Miller]

I don't have a problem rasping as I use both hands. I do however don't always have a perfect nail line driving across the hoof. Left front outside right front inside. I keep saying I am going to sit down and drive nails until I can,t lift my arm, but with the price of nails haven't bought 30 pounds yet.

JB

Lefty of course

John, go to the hardware store and buy some 6 penny nails get you a stump and set it in front of your favorite beer chair and drive nails until you are tired.

6 P nails are cheaper than horse shoe nail yet just as light and if you don't want to use your good driving hammer get a small tacking hammer and use it.
We had a girl in our shoeing class who could not drive nails had her do this and she improved greatly.

Also when driving nails focus on on the head of the nail place you middle or ring finger on the hoof wall, where you want the nail to comeout, and drive to you finger 9 times out of 10 you will hit the nail head and it will comeout where your finger is.

Gary

Gary

[deb vandenberg]

Thank you all for your responses. I will be practicing using both hands for rasping from now on. THe reason I had the question was because just lately I have not liked how some of the left front hooves have been looking on some of the horses I work on and I needed to find out if I was screwing something up. I always sight down the leg after I trim and I have noticed lately that I have to go back and adjust a little on the left fronts. Just cant seem to get it right the first time, and based on your responses I know what to work on to fix it.Thank you very much!
Deb