calshoer wrote:
Thanks to the "Mule God" we don't have mule racing down here.

Ive always wanted to work on a track, seems like it would pretty educational, but Ive never had the opportunity.Any ideas on how to get in the loop, so to speak?

You will need to work with a licenced track farrier, then take the state track licencing test when you are ready to go on your own.You can not shoe at the track until you are licenced.
As for 'education', its whole 'nuther world there, it will open you eyes to a lot of things thats for sure.

WV Farrier wrote:
I have shod 1/2 of a mule on the track about 15 years ago and have been satisfied with my education.
At our little backwater fairgrounds track they let mules in. I got a call from a good ol' boy log truck driver who had caught a couple of mules off a loging site.
The molly turned out to run fast and got on the fair circut.
So I get a call, as I was the new guy and the only one to return the call, and went out to battle.
We started on the near hind. Scotch hobbled, threw her down, more ropes, hay bale 'tween the legs, sweat and cussed for an hour and a half, and just like that had one shoe done.
We let her up and took a break as we were all three bleeding. Got ready to start on the off hind and the owner says "Now she's kinda touchy on this leg".
We got the hinds done and lost the light. One of the grooms had a shoeing kit and said he would shoe the fronts the next morning.
Never checked as to how she did racing but had heard that a mule jumped the rail in a race that next day. I guess they turned her in to an eventer.

ROFLMAO Bill! I trimmed a couple donkeys the other day that were like that.
2 1/2 hours with them tranq'd, the vet shaking his talking about how hes never given an animal this size this much tranq, finally i just tied up a leg and layed them down.

WV Farrier wrote:
If I remember correctly you have your licence from KY right?

Yeah, but it was only good for a year. I never renewed it. But yes, I did at one time have my paramutual license. Never really pursued it though.

Bill Adams wrote:
That is not entirely true. Tradition dies very hard in the equine industry as a whole. We know how to feed horses better, but they are often fed just like they were 50 or more years ago. We know how to trim and shoe them better and there still remains many that are poorly trimmed and shod.

Getting that first horse out there to let everyone know that a system (be it barefoot, shoeing, boots, or any other system) works is nearly impossible.

I shod a Standardbred and dropped seven seconds off her time on her home track. The trainer at the track refused to even try her with the trim and shoe package I had on her and returned her to the same package that crippled her initially. Result, horse is now retired after about a half dozen more races (at 5 years old).

Tradition knows no logic, it is simply tradition.

M. W. Myers, D.V.M.

mwmyersdvm wrote:I tend to call this REDNECK syndrome. Calling it tradition is to polite and gives it more credence than it deserves. It comes down to this. When you ask why they are doing something they say, "Because that is the way my daddy did it and if it was good enough for him it is good enough for me."

mwmyersdvm wrote:
Well, even though I have shod half a mule on the track, I will defer this argument to you. Your experence may prove the old saying I changed a bit to; You can lead a horse owner to logic, but you can't make him think.