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Show WEEKLY - f 1 V ? n - 'V. REFLEX-DAV- NEWS JOURNAL, JUNE 9. 1977 IS r a i 4i ..I 'if By ROSELYN KIRK s ! ft' 5 - ', .. rl farrier was a man with a dying trade years ago, but today Ray Payne, 429 Angel Street in Layton, makes a good living at his trade shoeing horses. A 20 !.;J W i - ' fi r WHEN I first learned the trade 20 years ago, it was dying out. I was going to school at Utah State University, majoring in business administration. On the side I learned to shoe horses from Jim Gray, an i'ld craftsman in the trade. V' z dude ranch and nearly starved to death running a Ray goes where the horses are. On Monday he was at Gary Croshows place in West Bountiful, shoeing two horses and trimming the hoofs on another. Ray &3& Rav Payne arrived in his truck with the anvil and the forge, which he made himself. The forge runs off a truck battery. Sometimes the forge is not needed since the shoes can be shaped cold on the anvil to fit the horses , sets up shop from the back of his truck prior to shoeing morses at Gary Croshaws place in Ray West RAY TOOK out his equipment and put on his leather shoeing chaps, which were made for him by a friend. Every horse is different and must be approached that way. He prefers shoeing the hind legs as theres less chance of getting hurt, he said Most farriers prefer shoeing the forelegs, he said. But if the horse moves, the farrier can be forced under the animal, a more vulnerable position than the hind legs where the horse tends to kick the farrier out to the side. V'4 SHOEING HORSES is strenuous, back breaking work since the farrier bends over most of the time and supports the weight of the horse. Normally Im holding up about 150 pounds, but sometimes Ive held up as much as 1,000 pounds when a horse really leans on me. In shoeing the forelegs of a horse, Ray places the horses hoof in position between his legs. In shoeing the back legs, he squats and rests the leg and foot across his aproned lap. It takes about an hour to shoe a horse and Ray charges $16 for the job. Much of his time and expense is in traveling to where the horse is. uses hoof nippers to trim the hoof. THATS WHY he likes to go to places like Gary Croshaws where he can shoe several horses at one time. After two of the horses were shod, Gary asked Ray to trim the hoofs of his stud, Little Big Shot. This was only the second time the stud had been subjected to having his hoofs trimmed. Usually the trainer just drops the reins and the horse stands still while he is shod. But Little Big Shot is a biter and a kicker, Mr. Croshaw said. He held a stud chain wrapped around his chin, but the animal still kicked. Hell get calmer," Ray said as he maneuvered to get at the rear foot. JV ' I Ray displays the variety of shoes that may be used to shoe different sizes of horses. Japanese shoes last longer because they are made from better steel he said. Next he rasps the hoof with a file. ANOTHER ADVANTAGE to working with the hind feet is that you dont have to worry about being bitten. If the horse does get a piece of you, its a bad bite. Since Little Big Shot only needed his hoofs trimmed, Ray cleaned out the hoof first with a hoof pick. Gary led the animal to demonstrate that it walked on the outer part of the hoof and needed a correction. 4NT , , v ?n- - n trimmed, they spread all over and the horse has big feet, Ray said. If the horse is to be shod, the procedure begins the same, with the hoof being cleaned, trimmed and balanced. The shoes are shaped on the anvil and nailed on the hoof. The nails are of different sizes and are shaped so they go into the shell or outer part of the hoof and dont injure the hoof itself. RAY SAYS that an inexperienced a horse if he is farrier can lame inexperienced in shoeing. The nails come in different sizes from 3 to 16. Gaited horses, like the Tennessee Walking Horses, have bigger pads and thus need a longer nail, he said. After the shoe is nailed on, Ray clenches up the hoof by rasping it smooth. the nails and dresses FINISHING WITH Little Big Shot. Ray checked Pepsi, a barrel and pole horse. "If any horse that Ive shod favors one foot, I assume that Ive done it and go back and check. RAY TOOK another instrument 9 hoof tester and pressed all around the hoof to see if the horse flinched. She didnt. Then he had Gary walk the horse. I watch the head not the feet to see if the horse is lame. If its lame in front the head goes up, if in back, it goes down. In Pepsis case, the head didnt move. Both agreed that the horse didnt seem to favor the one foot. Rays dog Jade goes along with him when he goes to shoe horses. When I have a horse thats hard to handle, the dog is more useful than ten men. He bites the horses heels when the horse is out of position. I trained him myself and hes a big help to me. RAY DOESNT think of his occupation being unusual. When youre into it, its just like any other job. But he told one story that shows hes a curiosity to others. He was at Pioneer Village at Lagoon last summer where he was trimming some horses hoofs. Two women came by. Ray said they were school teachers from the East. One asked what Ray was doing. Without thinking, I said, Im going to cut his foot off. Thats what I do when I trim the hoof, cut off a part of the foot, so I wasnt lying. I COULD tell the women didnt believe me until I picked up the hoof nippers and began to trim. I thought both of them would faint. Since Ray first learned the trade in Cache County, he has tried several other but he occupations one driving truck finds shoeing horses a satisfactory occupation, even if he is at it some nights until 2 a.m. and then up in the morning again, beginning at 7 a.m. April 1 to December 1 are my busy months. During the winter I take a vacation and just work an eight-hou- r day. PHOTOS BY FRED WRIGHT The next step is to fit the shoe to the hoof of the animal. , EVEN THOUGH Little Big Shot kicked,. Ray said the trimming doesnt hurt the horse. Last time he kicked like a son of a gun, but I try to refrain like swearing as much as possible. If the hoofs are not hoofs. Bountiful. && "If I didnt rasp the foot after it was trimmed, the horse would have a dished out foot. The hooves must be trimmed every six months to two months. Race horses must be trimmed every two weeks. that time there was little wont for a farrier on the farms since horses had been discarded as work animals in favor of tractors and other machinery. It was not until Ray began to look for horses in populous city areas, that he began to make a living at his trade. shoeing horses. I in the winter before I learned to go where the horses were. Now I never shoe work horses, only riding horses or show horses. If I dont shoe six horses a day, 1 cant make a living. V clippers, began to trim the sole of the foot. After the hoof was trimmed, he took a rasp and smoothed both on the underside and top of the hoof. At I WAS A I CAN FIX that, Ray said. I can trim the hoof to balance the foot. He lifted the foot and with some hoof f.-- r J" ' h, Wlh T&M&& The nails used tor shoeing are shaped so they curve into the shell or outer part of the hoof While shoeing Ray holds the nails in his mouth unlike many farriers who hold them in their pockets. A- : v" St' faM ' ' , ;'s V' it fa, V' K ' 4 " f - yf '',1 CK i - a shaping hammer to ft the shoe, but prefers a two pound friend. In many cases horseshoes are sdge harnrei t'mt was given him by a while cold. lay dos not us- shaped Sometimes Ray has to catch the horse before he shoes him. Here his dog Jade aids him in the capture. Ray says, when he's dealing with a difficult horse, Jade is better than 10 men. |