{"id":440732,"date":"2026-05-22T23:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/440732\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T23:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:21:17","slug":"country-life-walking-a-mile-in-a-farriers-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/440732\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Life: Walking a mile in a farrier’s shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bruce<\/p>\n

\nBruce Barton became a farrier through his own love of riding, completing a 4-year practical apprenticeship before qualifying.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

The hard dry ground of the hills surrounding the Central Otago settlement of Alexandra are especially tough on horses hooves.<\/p>\n

It’s one of the reasons Twix – a beautiful seven year old paint mare, and her paddock companion Rip (short for Ripples) – a six year old Appaloosa thoroughbred – are having new shoes fitted by farrier and blacksmith Bruce Barton.<\/p>\n

“She does a bit of everything so what we are doing for Twix is to equip her for this all-rounded work,” he told Country Life.<\/p>\n

“Horses are a bit like you or I really. If we’re just mooching around the paddock or around our lounge, we probably don’t need a pair of shoes on, but as soon as we’re going out to work, we need a bit of protection on our feet.”<\/p>\n

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, iHeart<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n

\"Today<\/p>\n

\nToday he’s working with Twix, a beautiful seven year old paint mare, and her paddock companion Rip, short for Ripples, a six year old Appalooza thoroughbred.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

Fitting all four feet is a complex process that requires a lot of careful handling. It’s not quite your regular pedicure at the nail salon.<\/p>\n

Bruce starts by sharpening his knives and taking off Twix’s old shoes.<\/p>\n

“[The] knives are so sharp that eventually they’ll wear through your pocket.”<\/p>\n

He refits her shoes every six or so weeks.<\/p>\n

“The feet grow under the steel shoe and you need to take that off and trim away the excess hoof and then replace them. So that’s what we’re doing today.<\/p>\n

“This particular mare has sort of got something a little bit special going on with her back feet when she gets a bit low on her heels there, so she’s got some pads on there that help that act as a bit of an arch support.”<\/p>\n

\"Every<\/p>\n

\nEvery horse and every hoof is different.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

Every horse and every hoof is different.<\/p>\n

“With every animal, I suppose it’s different and so you learn a lot from just that experience and working with different horses’ feet.”<\/p>\n

Shoes are fitted to help horses with grip – especially showjumpers – and to provide protection against the ground which can cause them to become footsore. They can also be used to address conformational issues.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA rasp is used to file away excess hoof growth and shape it.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

“It’s quite important with horses to have the foot balance in kind of relation to the rest of the limb. Otherwise, the biomechanics aren’t right and they often cause the lameness.”<\/p>\n

\"Horse<\/p>\n

\nHorse shoes which can’t be reused are given to a local artist.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

Being a farrier requires a good understanding of such conformation and foot issues. It also requires a good understanding of horse behaviour and how to work with their individual personalities.<\/p>\n

It’s also an incredibly physical job.<\/p>\n

\"Horse<\/p>\n

\nHorse shoes which can’t be reused are given to a local artist.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

It was Bruce’s own passion for riding which saw him complete the four-year apprenticeship before starting in the industry.<\/p>\n

The old worn shoes now removed, Bruce clips the excess hoof off before filing it down further with a rasp.<\/p>\n

With the shoes off, it’s time to denail them, and reuse what’s not too worn by reheating it in the mobile forge attached to the back of his ute – where temperatures near 2000C.<\/p>\n

\"Bruce<\/p>\n

\nBruce shapes the hot horse shoe against a portable anvil attached to his ute.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

It turns the u-shaped shoe a vibrant bright orange, the heat making it more malleable for when it’s checked against the hoof, resulting in a puff of white smoke.<\/p>\n

“When we burn it on the foot, it’s not a painful process as long as we’re doing our job right – you do have to be careful. You’re just giving a little touch on the foot<\/p>\n

“So now that we’ve got that touching pretty much perfectly everywhere – and you can see that it’s touching perfectly everywhere because our burn marks are nice and even – that one’s done and ready to go in some cold water.”<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/p>\n

\nIt’s paddock mate Rip’s turn to be fitted.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

Shoes that can’t be salvaged are dropped off at a local artist’s studio to use in his sculptures.<\/p>\n

Fitting the shoes properly is perhaps Twix’ least favourite part and is where Bruce’s experience working with horses really shines.<\/p>\n

\"While<\/p>\n

\nWhile the hot shoe placed against the hoof emits a puff of smoke that smells like burnt hair, it does not harm the horse.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gianina Schwanecke\n<\/p>\n

Learn more:<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Bruce’s blacksmithing here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bruce Barton became a farrier through his own love of riding, completing a 4-year practical apprenticeship before qualifying.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-440732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}