Reviews of Fancy Footwork

Review #1
By J. Scott Simpson
Farrier Instructor

Fancy Footwork is an instructional video produced by EQUALIGN, Inc., featuring farrier Meredith Clarke. The film is a must for anyone who includes horses as a part of their lives.

Ms. Clarke has a degree, with honors, in education and is also an expert and experienced farrier. Her work shown throughout the film is technically correct in every aspect of sound, sensible horseshoeing.

The film is professionally produced and not just another home grown product as are so many available on the market today. Throughout the 60 minutes of instruction are many action shots of horses being evaluated in hand and under saddle.

Using a checklist format, the film covers three stages of evaluation, correct hoof preparation, shoe selection and fitting, application and finishing. It is not intended as a do-it-yourself project for persons wanting to learn to shoe their own horses, but as an overview of what to look for and expect in a professional shoeing job. This critical information is generally misunderstood by the horseowning public and Fancy Gootwork wisely advises the owner to beware of outdated "textbook standards" of horseshoeing. There is a brief bit of instruction which will help the owner to make minor repairs if needed.

Two important elements of the film deal with the management and use of the barefoot horse and how to properly prepare the fractious or green horse for shoeing. These are well covered and will help the owners to better prepare and understand why some horses may not need shoes and that all horses must be ready for hoof work before the farrier arrives.

Boldly, Ms. Clarke mentions a realistic part of horseshoeing in which the horse may be temporarily lamed by the shoeing procedure. Unfortunately, this does happen on rare occasions. The common sense approach of how to deal with these situations is an important part of the film.

This up-to-date, common sense film will entertain and educate you at the same time.

Review #2
by the staff of Practical Horseman

Have you ever felt unequal to the task of carrying on a conversation about shoeing with your farrier? Or of carrying messages between your farrier and your veterinarian? If so, "Fancy Footwork: A Horseowner's Guide to Sound Shoeing Practices" could be just what you're looking for.

Husband-and-wife farriers Allen and Meredith Clarke produced this sixty minute VHS videotape (which Meredith narrates and "stars" in) to help the horse owner understand what the farrier is doing, why, whether it's being done competently, and how to ask questions if doubts arise. Our tester, a professional horsewoman whose dozen-plus equine charges range from upper-level dressage horses to lightly worked pleasure mounts and a retiree or two, awarded the video an enthusiastic "A" for clarity and userfriendly informativeness - and said she'd like to see it made required watching for every horse owner.

In the video, Meredith (who's a certified teacher as well as a farrier) explains how the foot is made, what its parts are, and how they all work together, paying special attention to the angles of the hooves and pasterns and how the integrity of these angles must be maintained for soundness. She then shows, both with diagrams and with individual horses, how shoeing can either help the horse perform soundly or result in eventual lameness, and how poor shoeing (which she cites as one of the leading causes of lameness) can trigger some common problems. She stresses the importance of taking into account the individual horse's conformation, including the particular shape of each hoof, in shoeing, explains why some horses may not need shoeing and how bare feet should be trimmed, and cautions against farriers who shoe purely according to a textbook ideal.

Our tester appreciated the depth of information presented in the segment of the tape that showed several horses being shod. The camera work was precise and clear, as were Meredith's explanations of the problems of each hoof she was shoeing, the reasons for each thing she did, the names and uses of her tools, and the way shoes are forged.

While the tape is not intended to teach the layman to be a farrier, its two final sections - one showing simple, nonabusive methods for calming a difficult or nervous horse, the other explaining how to remove a loose shoe and replace a lost nail - offer how-to information that horse owners can use.

Our tester found the calming techniques sensible and well presented - and said that though she normally leaves all shoeing related matters to her farrier, she felt the tape had given her adequate information to remove a shoe or replace a nail with no risk to herself or her horse. Our tester's only reservation about the tape as a teaching tool was in the matter of safety: Meredith is shown shoeing in sneakers, rather than in boots or paddock shoes, and riders without helmets are seen exercising horses. Otherwise our tester found "Fancy Footwork' first-rate.