Shoeing The Multi-Purpose Quarter Horse (cont'd) In the front, he'll use an aluminum shoe, like an Elite. With these in front and a light plate or sliderette on the back, he says a horse can go in pleasure, barrels....anything. Basics Are Critical Good basic farrier work, according to Dorris, enters the picture with these horses. Many horses owned by youth and amateur riders are shown well into their teens and some into their 20s. Keeping them sound, says Dorris, should be a farrier's main concern. That's a challenge with some Quarter Horses due to the nature of their feet. Dorris, who attended Oregon State University and began shoeing in the early 70s, remembers all you ever heard back then in the Quarter Horse industry was, "Can you make my horse's feet smaller?" Farriers crowded the feet and did whatever they could. Then the owners started to breed for small, pretty, feet, which had nothing to do with what's really proper for the horse. This so-called selective breeding worked against soundness principles, which is why we see so many crippled 2-year-old pleasure horses, Dorris says. Many Quarter Horse feet are not only small but narrow. Many of those feet are shod year-round because of the availability of indoor riding arenas. Dorris feels it's important to do what he calls preventive shoeing. "I stay out of nailing in the heels," he says. "When at all possible, I try not to nail back past the widest part of the foot."

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