New Book "Reclaiming the Farrier's Soul" Takes In-Depth Look at Ancient Art of Farriery Highlighting Changes Necessary to Improve Performance and Horse Welfare. Life-long rider and horse owner Alvin Blench seeks to bring craft of farriery in line with current horseshoeing needs essential for modern-day breeds of horses. "Reclaiming the Farrier's Soul" is aimed at horse lovers everywhere as well as those interested in horse welfare. It provides the equestrian community with key lessons to build their knowledge about shoeing, enabling them to communicate better and more productively with their farrier. The book provides valuable lessons with over 85 color photographs, and key principles which provide guidelines to raising horseshoeing standards. Farriery is one of the world's oldest crafts. It has acquired a special mystique down through the centuries, but this ancient history also increases resistance to change. Parts of the farriery process now need a modern perspective. This has become more evident especially since WWII, now that working horses for farm and transport have been replaced by pleasure/ riding/sport horses, which have totally different hooves and shoeing requirements. As a result, some farriery techniques are outdated, but there are also a number of key areas where shoeing improvements need to be made, not just for aesthetic reasons, but to improve a horse's performance capability and comfort. One example is hot shoeing which can have a profoundly negative effect on the horse's welfare, if shoes that are too hot are held on for too long on sensitive hooves. There are other potential problem areas, such as incorrect hoof angles, poor trimming and nailing which can lead to lameness and discomfort. While these issues are a fundamental part of the farrier's job, they also need to be better understood by horse owners so they can improve their dialogue with them, to get a better shoeing standard. This serves a dual purpose, of getting improved welfare and also superior performance from their horses. The book is a must for horse lovers
About the Author: This new book "Reclaiming the Farrier's Soul" takes an in-depth look at the ancient art of farriery highlighting changes necessary to improve performance and horse welfare. Life-long rider and horse owner Alvin Blench seeks to bring craft of farriery in line with current horseshoeing needs essential for modern-day breeds of horses. "Reclaiming the Farrier's Soul" is aimed at horse lovers everywhere as well as those interested in horse welfare. It provides the equestrian community with key guidelines to build their knowledge about shoeing, enabling them to communicate better and more productively with their farrier. It contains 85 color photographs which illustrate both current practises and new principles to help horse owners to gain a better understanding of horseshoeing, which should enable them to obtain an improvement in shoeing standards. The author lives in England with his wife and horses. He is an economist who has worked in senior executive roles for a number of multinational FMCG companies. He has lived and competed in many countries in dressage, show jumping, and eventing and been closely involved with the care, management, and training of horses for many years. During this time he has observed the work of over fifty farriers and vets and been involved with several hundred horse owners on several continents. While admiring the dedication and skill of many of them, including top-flight professionals at Olympic standard he has also disagreed with some of their practices. In the interest of the improvement of equine welfare as well as the horse's ability to perform to its full capability, he has been inspired to write this book. It is a must for horse lovers.