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That old farrier at the Oklahoma State Fair set me straight on my clinching
I was at the Oklahoma State Fair last month and ran into this guy who's been shoeing horses since the 70s. He watched me clinch a shoe and told me I was leaving the nails too long before bending them over. I kinda shrugged it off at first because I've been doing it my way for like 5 years. But on my drive home I tried his way on a practice hoof and dang it the clinches sat way flatter and neater. Next week I tried it on a real job a big draft cross and the whole shoe held tighter. Has anyone else had someone call out a small habit that totally changed their results?
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stone.troy29d ago
That bit about "leaving a tiny bit more nail for extra bite" got me thinking. See, nobody's talking about what happens when you file that clinch smooth on top. I've seen guys leave the nail long like you're saying, but then they file it so flat on the outside it's almost invisible. That's actually worse for holding because you've ground away the head of the clinch and it's just a thin stub. They call it "burying the clinch" and it'll fail way faster than a properly trimmed one.
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west.claire29d ago
oh man i gotta push back on this one a little. i get that his way worked for you but i've seen just as many old timers ruin a good shoe by overclinching. i had a guy show me his 'perfect flat clinch' and half the time the nails would pull right out on a wet day. sometimes leaving a tiny bit more nail gives you that extra bite to really lock it in. plus if you're working on a horse with brittle feet you risk splitting the wall out completely. there's a reason some of us stick with the old methods they've been keeping shoes on for a decade plus.
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