WHITBY FREE PRESS, Thursday, May 25, 1972, Page 9 HORSES NEED SHOES TOO!v -- J/M QI/AI Wl1 th the arrivai of warm Spring da y s and dry fields, many people in the Whitby area start thinking about g e t t in g their horses ready for the upcoming horse shows. W h e n i t 's time to get the horse ready it usually means a calli to Steve Daykin of Whitby. Just like people, h o r s e s need a proper -set of shoes and that's where Daykin comes into thepicture. He is one of abouti15 horseshoersorfarriers in the entire area. After making the appointment, the horsemanhas only to wait for Daykin toroll up with his shop in the back of his pick-up truck. The truck is equip- pedwith a variety of toois and a greater variety of shoes, and a forge. Because of our urbani zation and high- ways , times have changed and the farrier has to go to the horse instead- of vice-versa. Probabl y the first operation Daykin w il1l1 h av e to do is trim the horses feetorhooves. Over a period of time the outer wall of the hoof has grown and has to be properly trimmed back before a shoe can be fitted. After trimming the hooves the shoes are then heated one at a time and fitted to the hooves. Daykin prefers t o heat the shoes and burn them into place because he feels this gives the shoe a better fit and it does not harm the horse. For Daykin it's a busy occupation he ha s been doing for over 10years professionally. He learned his trade at Pennsy1 vanla State University where he took a three month shoeing cour se. As for choosing this pro- fe s s i o n it~came quite natural1ly for Daykin because he had horses of his own and, as he put it, " live been around blacksmiths shops and horses since i got out of school." Once the shoes have been fitted to Daykin's satisfaction the nextJob is to nail them on the hooves, The nails are fiat and square edged to hold better and corme through thewal1 of the hoof where they are clinched and trimmed to the hoof. Pick ing t h e shoe for the hor se Is prec ise because there are many shoes for d i f f e r e n t horses and different riding habits. Some of the varieties are: b a r r e 1 racing shoes, jumping shoes, h a c k in g o r general riding shoes, standard-bred shoes and Winter shoes with studs for the ice. Having done so many horses in his career Daykinworksquicklyand smoothly doing from six to eight horses a day, and this usually includes tra- velling time between horses. Daykin works on anvil in rear of truck. The front shoes differ from the r e a r shoes in t h a t the fronts have one clip or a toe cup, while the rear shoes.have t w o çl ips called quarter clips. Because the rear foot tends' to s w 1 v e i more it needs two cl ips per shoe to prevent the horse from turn- ing out of the shoes. The sport of riding horses is be- coming increasingly popular and Day- k 1 n s e e s ai1ot more youngsters, on hor ses now. He feels it is a good hobby for them and expal ins, "When k id s k e e p a horse they have more responsibili ty a n d t h e y are better kids for ih. " While the sport is chan- g i n g , the shoes haven't changed too much except for plastic shoes which have .deen developed. Daykin said of these, " I think they are good for a mare in foal or for a horse that's on the road a lot. Nobody is too sure how they will stand up however Day- kinsaid, Il As far as I know the wear seems pretty good but iron shoes have alway s been the standby andi don't think it will ever change. " Most horses should have their hooves tr immed and re-shoed every eight weeks s o it keeps Daykin busy en ou g h he often doesn't get enough tim e to show his own horses. But even if they don't get to many shows, youcanbet they are wearing the best shoes around. Steve Daykin cliinches the hoof nails whileowner R. Swanton holds horse.