Remember when we used to shape shoes by hand for every single horse? I saw a guy at the Ohio State Fair last year with a digital scanner and a machine that cut the shoe blanks in under a minute. It felt like watching magic, but part of me misses the old way.

3 comments

3 Comments

piperbailey1mo ago

Can we still call it a craft if my old hand-shaped shoes looked like modern art?

the_elliot1mo ago

What did the final pair end up looking like? I had a pair that looked totally wild at first, but after a few wears and some careful trimming with a sharp knife, they actually settled into a decent shape.

mary_west1mo ago

Look at the old way as more than just the shape. The real craft was in knowing how the hoof would move and change, then making a shoe that would help it. A machine can copy a shape, but it takes years to learn how to make a shoe that truly works for that horse's way of going.