Best Horseshoer Is Wes Champagne
 

He came up with many of the innovative techniques that guys are using today. Some people think that he is the best in the business. When he was asked by one of my trainers a few days ago what he could do with BB's quartercrack, he said that nothing could be done. Here is an article about him. He is defintely one of the best in the business. I think he was the one who invented glue-on shoes. I know he helped to perfect the technique but I'm not sure if he is credited with actually inventing glue-ons.


http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/int.../champagne.htm

Honest to god Richie, this is silly. We're going to now debate who the 'best' farrier is and take a swipe at someone who did the best they could with a tough, likely impossible, situation?

First of all, Ian McKinlay isn't a farrier. He is a hoof treatment specialist that specifically treats problem feet, and has been respected and appreciated by horsemen for decades. His methods have been adopted by young veterinarian podiatrists widely, and no one will argue that he has advanced the progress of understanding hoof care.

Ray Amato is generally recognized as the East Coast's top smitty.

sorry steve....that's a farrier. he just specializes in corrective shoeing.

having said that, this thread is definitly in the running for the most ridiculous "california is better then everyone else thread".

and if we are going to debate which glue-on shoe is "the best" my vote will have to go with Sigafoos. and like Ritchie I even have astupid interview with the man...

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/curren...901/staff.html

Got ya.. but mean that McKinlay doesn't put shoes on.

lots of farriers...including mine...don't put shoes on...they have their bitch to do that, they just make the decisions and the shoes, the bitch does the rest.. he only gets hands-on with problem cases, quarter cracks for example.

We used Wes as well and he is an awesome farrier.. However, seems a bit on the silly side like Steve says about who is better...I reckon thats all just a matter of preference and where your located. I would think they are both in the top 5 farriers in the country/world. Both are masters of their trade no doubt.

Is there a nudey version of Anvil? Is there a calender of the hot "bitch" farriers? I see dollars in my future..

Speaking of shoe guys...At the derby(08) I was sitting next to the guy who did like 6 of the colts in the race. He worked at Winstar with a big cowboy hat on, I got the impression it never came off..He did Corinel John Gayego(huge horse huge feet size 9 you know I asked if his piece was huge I am a pig) and the pletcher etc.. Sweet guy worst opinion ever.. You folks know his name? I think he is a pretty well known and sort out craftsman..

steve norman?

I believe that was his name apparently he is a great one as well. He had his daughter in the box and the Winstar folks where all over him like family. Actually I thought it was very cool of Winstar to make sure the "shoe guy" was so well taken care of on such a big day..

Steve, I was groggy when I made that post. It was very late. It came out totally wrong.

Here is what I meant to say: McKinaly is obviously great at what he does. He is one of the best in the country. I'm sure that he did a great job with Big Brown. But as you said, he did the best he could with a pretty much impossible situation.

One of my trainers regards Champagne as the best. He asked Champagne earlier in the week what he could do with Big Brown's quarter crack if he was the one working on it. Champagne said there was nothing he could do.

My point was really that there was nothing that could have been done that would guarantee that the quarter crack wouldn't bother the horse.

I guess my only criticism of McKinaly is that he should not have basically guaranteed the public that the quarter crack was a non-issue.

We all have speculated that it was an issue but we really dont know if it was

You might find THIS interesting.

Hope there's no rule against posting a link to another forum.

Wes invented glue ons? That's funny because when i trained a horse named Colonel Rumbo in So. Cal in 1992 no blacksmith on the grounds knew how use the equilox method of putting shoes on without nails. Wes included. A blacksmith from Los Alamitos named Will McDounagh not only shod the horse, but also taught any blacksmith that was interested..

Not only is Walter Ray Williams Jr. the best horseshoer I've ever seen - but he's also one hell of a bowler as well.

And Tony Amato, Ray's brother, I believe, had the meanest left hook on the racetrack.

You posted a professional, 2nd hand redboard. you cant be serious

Not about the betting; the comments about the horse 'pointing' after the workout. I haven't seen that tape; nor do I know what 'pointing' is, if, in fact, it's something; or whether the horse was doing what was claimed.

If the guy has to make a phone call to determine what he saw how do we know what he saw in the 1st place? you could have been a sage with this "info" before the race, now it is just redboard, 20/20 hindsight. I have had horses with quartercracks get them patched a few days before the race and run fine. i have had some that went fine for a day and went lame again. it is hard to believe that there were 400 people and cameras watching the horse everyday and noone except this guy who doesnt know what he is looking at saw this?

I have no interest in the expertise of the poster (or his clocker); let's look beyond the BS.

What I'm interested in is whether horses actually 'point'.

If they do, does it follow that if they're sore then this would be indicated by heat in the area?

Sure horses point. Sometimes it means something and other times it means nothing. But a horse pointing while getting a bath and then walking off sound would be unusual to say the least. Most trainers dont know what they are looking at let alone media guys.