Hey, just starting out on my own. I've been shoeing for the vet school and they have kept the shoes supplied. I am venturing out doing side work, but i was wondering how many and what kind of shoes you keep stocked. can you tell me what you throw in your truck? Thanks

Everything including(I think but I'll have to check), the kitchen sink. Of course, I', O/C about this sort of stuff.

Truthfully, over the years I have expanded all the supplies I carry. I've got a 100 peg shoe rack and I carry everything from aluminum, to steel, to poly-urethane with some bar stock thrown in for good measure. and I carry shoes from 0000 through Draft 7's. There are Anvil Brand shoes, Kerkharts, St. Croix in different stock dimensions and sizes. My pads holder has leather, rubber, plastic, aluminum, flat, wedged, rim, etc. I can drill and tap for studs, drill and apply drive in studs, braze drill-tec. I carry just about every size nail Capewell makes, and I carry some Mustads, Narla's, Austrailans, and Anvil Brand too. I-ve got Vettec products, impression material, Magic Cushion, Hawthorne's, Pine Tar, Venice Turpentine, Oakum.

But you have to take into consideration your clientele. What kind of horses are you shoeing? Start with what you need for them. As your client base expands, you'll start to add inventory as you need it or anticipate a need for it. In the beginning, apply the KISS principle.

Hope that helps.

Forge on pull out.
Drill press on pull out.
Left drawer keeps all my equithane and such, tips guns, rubber gloves foam boards and tounge depressers
Right drawer holds all my forging tools, hammers, tongs and such
Grinder, and grinding stand (off to the right).

Shoe rack, passenger side I keep my hind shoes, driver side same size shoe rack, I keep my front shoes.

Both shoe racks have bar shoe pegs, I keep the aluminum on the passenger side and the steel on the drivers side.

Passenger side also has all my pad racks (which are in need of re-supply) all my nails, and misc stuff, rivets, drill tech, drill bits, extra hand tools, and various hoof ointments, thrush magic, tuff stuff, sole paint and brushes, and everything in between.

Driver side propane, and electric hook up, I keep buffy there with two spare batteries and battery charges so everytime I plug in the truck the batteries are charging. Angle grinder and discs, plus all the belts for my Baldor plus sleeves for buffy. And anything else that won't fit on the other side.

Dave

Dont listen to Rick, he's a packrat.

But seriously full time guys have got to have a lot of stuff. But if your generally shoeing the same ones all the time, you shoudl be able to get by with what you need. Stock some 00-2. They are the ussual sizes I use the most. Get a couple pair of 3's,4's and 000's. As far as brands go, I like St Croix 000-0 and Kerkaert for 1 and up. I actually like the shoes from Ray Steel here on the board. They are comperable to a St Croix (but better) and he has some that are like a kerkhaert but much better. Find a nail you like. Buy a few boxes. Most recommend a slim blade 5 and a box of sb6's. I like to use regular capewell ch5 on horses with thick walls If im not clipping the shoes. the rest get SB5 or SB6. Pick up a few tubes of Equilux, Vettec adhere or supperfast. Also stock some pads, and if your useing pads you'll meed packing. Tar and Aokum is traditional, but some new products like vettec silpak are nice. A first aid kit is a must. A few towels, a few clean shirts too. I like to keep a thing of hand cleaner in the truck. Helps keep a dirty boy looking clean for the next stop.

Best of luck!

I wont list all that is in my truck. Being a two fingered typer, I'd be here all day.
You need to concentrate on what YOU need.
This all depends on what type of horses you do but here are the basics that I tell all my apprentices to start out with.

Besides 20#s of bandaids, asprin & ibuprofin.

00 thru 2 are the most common sizes for most applications, but a few 000 and 3s will be needed once in a while.
I clip all my hinds myself, so I do not carry any hind patterns.

stick with stocking the 00-2s and divide these numbers in half for the 000 and 3s and stock them as you can later.

00-2s.
10 pr each size unclipped plain shoes steel.
10 pr each size clipped steel (eventers are a nice starter).
5 pr each size clipped alum fronts.
4 pr each NBS Steel.
4 pr each NBS Alum.
6 pr each size steel egg bars(easily can be turned into a straight bar).

6 pr 3* wedge pads.
6 pr 2* wedge pads.
6 pr Flat plastic pads.
6 pr flat leather pads.
6 pr frog support pads.
snow pads from sept thru march if you are in the northern states.

Sm box 4 1/2 city hd nails.
Lg box 5 slim blade nails.
Lg box 5 city hd nails.
sm box 6 city hd nails.

4 tubes 20cc vettec super fast (for hoof repairs).
4 tubes 180cc equi pack.

Your preferred hoof packing for under pads. (I use GE 100* silicone, or lab sil.).

A tip; go to a craft store and buy some small zip lock bags.
I package all nails except the 5 lites (I use 5 cooper lites on most horses)
into bags of about 20 nails to keep them from rusting before I use them up.
For years I threw out too many nails that rusted before I could finish a box.

There are many more things that later you will need as you aquire horses that need special shoes etc. (polo, sliders, etc.).



Gary

Rick Burten wrote:
I've seen Rick's truck, and he's not understating anything. I would have guessed that he had two kitchen sinks! But he's given you great advice; carry what you need for your clientelle and your style of shoeing.

Personally, I find that the longer I shoe, the less I carry around. I think you can go broke stocking inventory that you might need but seldom use.

In my practice, I use mostly Kerk. SSP's in 3's, 4's, and 5's. I carry a few hind patterns, but mostly I buy fronts; it's simple enough to turn them into hinds. For the smaller sized feet, I carry Kerk. standards and turn them into fronts or hinds as needed. Beyond that I carry a few heartbar blanks and a supply of barstock for those occasions when I need something that I don't have on the truck.

I've got a drill press and a grinder, but I can't remember the last time I plugged my truck in; mostly I just use a vice and a hot rasp. I carry a vettec bag with two tubes of equipak and generally have to throw them out because they expire before I use them. I've got a side of leather to cut pads from, but I've only got one horse in pads at the moment. I carry aluminum barstock in case I feel a need to use aluminum, but again I've only got one horse in aluminum barshoes at this point (had two, but one died last week--not my fault!!). I am a fanatic about nails; I try to carry every kind they make and match them to the shoes I use.

For the most part, though, I think you need an anvil, some propane, some hammers, some tongs, some shoes and nails, and a billing book. Don't be afraid to use any of them!!

SlowShoe wrote: Sad but true.

I carry only front pattern unclipped plain light shoes in 4x0 through 2. Eventer (Ray Steel's are better than St. Croix) in 00 through 2, and wide web in 1 through 4. I carry aluminum everters in 00 through 3. About 50ft of Bar stock in 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" I only use hand drawn clips. All my hinds are made from front patterns. Total about 150pairs of shoes. Nails in SB4.5, SB5, SB6, E3sl, E4sl, E8, CH5. 2, 3, and 4 degree pads. Ray Steel leather pads - these are the leather pads that God uses on his horses. Equipak, Grand Circuit Fast Acrylic, chopped glass fibers, fibrglass cloth.

For a while I stocked some bar shoes, but I prefer to weld in my own bars. Most fo the horses I have in shoes right now are eventing or jumping. Haven't put aluminum on a horse in over a year -except for glue-ons. Oh yea, I've got one horse in sliding plates.

One thing I starting doing a while ago is going through the catalog from the company I order from, and picking a couple shoes that I don't usually carry and order them. I have a nice collection going and it's amazing the things you don't know you need until you get there!

Amy

Heres my take on truck inventory ...

If you can make decent clips then you don't have to carry clipped. I only carry one size each steel egg bars, and they make into straight bars really easy (and geesh how many egg bars ae you going to put on in one day? If you really think you might see more than one pair of egg bar appliation in the same size in one day, carry two pairs each size, and one pair each size aluminum flat and wedge egg bar (if your vets prescribe them )
Sliders, several sizes factory made. (or blanks) And I can reshape a wide web front shoe from a slider, in the forge.(but I use NBs a lot, so I usually dont need anything wider than that)

Pads, a LOT. No shortcut there.
You can't get by without the correct pad very often. an assortment of flat, wedge ,bar wedges, frog support flat and wedge, perforated (for pour in sole support materials) in small and large sizes. I dont bother with stocking rim pads, I can cut them out of full pads if I would need one. You CAN "manufacture" a wedge frog support pad if you're out of them by stacking a full or bar wedge on top of the flat frog support pad, but the package is thicker. In the winter I also add snow pads , both kinds.

Nails, I carry lots of delta cty 5 slims (my main nails), and a box of E4 slims, E5 slims, capewell platers specials, race 3-1/2, and race 4.
And in the winter a few mustad duratracks in 5 and 6.

I also stock some narrower web shoes, (NB lite sports are my choice for a narrow web ) that are designed for fronts but I can easily throw in the forge to make into other shapes (like hinds for instance) if I need to. I carry two pairs of each size of those in the truck,three or more pair of size 0 and 1.
I also carry a variety of types of aluminum shoes for the barrell racers.

My bulk of shoes daily is NB aluminums and steel .In the truck, 10 pairs each size 0 and 1, five pairs of 00, and 2, two pairs of 3, 4 and 5. (before NB it was mainly kerkheart SSP's ,roughly the same number stocked) .
I buy more than I stock in the truck but dont haul it all around every day. I have a storage shed and just restock the truck as needed. LIke when Iget down to three pairs of size 1's I add ten more to the truck .
And of course hoof packing, oakum, several kinds of hoof wall repair material, at least one new rasp, two hand drills,(one battery one corded) two coping saws, a hacksaw, a fairly large assortment of drill bits taps, screws etc, a full EDSS kit to cover every size, one pair each size of steward clogs, fly spray in summer, a couple halters leads , ropes, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, and probably a lot of other **** I can't think of right now. Its built up over the years. Oh yes and never leave home without a pair of extra nippers and extra driving hammer. It sucks to have to drive nails with a borrowed 16 oz claw hammer...
Patty

I have one pair of riding boots, one pair of mud boots, two pairs of work boots, one pair of dress shoes, and one pair of Topsider boat moccasins.

My wife has about 6 pairs of sneekers, 8 pairs of riding/work boots, 4 pairs of riding/show boots, 6 pairs of high heels, 3 pairs of slippers, 4 pairs of flats, 3 pairs of sandles . . . snow boots, muck boots, klogs . . .

If my wife was a farrier, she would be like Patty, at least one pair of everything . . . and like Rick, never throw anything away.

I have a hard time even even throwing out bits of wedge or double nail pad trimmings, because I may use them for little screwed on frog support additions or to make a frog support pad out of some other kind of pad. And I used to stock lots more assortment of shoes than I do now. In the past I always carried about a thousand bucks worth of assorted aluminum shoes. Every kind conceivable. Other farriers used to hit me up on saturdays when they needed something aluminum that they had forgot to stock and needed that day.
Patty

If your just getting started the Kerckhaert sx7 or 8 and the st. croix plain or plain light. the kerckhaert is all most one half size bigger than the st. croix in the same size shoes. that will cut down on some of the shoe prep. thats a simple plan until you deside what type of horses you want to special in.good luck

horsecobler wrote:

HorseCobler makes a good point. Kerks Sx8 00 are = to 00.5 the 0 are = to 0.5 the 1's and up however are the true size when compared to other shoes. Thats why i like to stock box St Criox and Kerkhaerts in 000-0..

-josh