Thoroughbreds keep farrier on his toes

The 57-year-old said that was based on eight horses a day and was "a lot of horses' hooves and lifting".

Formerly of Victoria, Mr Beveridge and his wife, Yvette, moved to Alloway near Bundaberg, to seven hectares for the warmer weather last October. They also have 101 ha at Deepwater.

Mr Beveridge said he was shoeing between eight to 15 horses a day with two apprentices in Victoria and was slowly building up his business in Queensland.

"I was doing performance horses, mainly veterinarian work, gluing shoes on foals and fixing problems," he said.

One of his regular clients In Victoria was the Victorian Mounted Police branch for whom he shod horses for 22 years from 2001 to 2023.

"Every Monday, I would shoe five-six horses on rotation - they had about 20-28 horses...they were okay horses once they'd come in and got used to the goings on," he said.

Mr Beveridge also shod horses for seven vets in Victoria out of Carl O'Dwyers Farrier Shop in Kilmore, and shod nine runners in the New Zealand Pacing Cup.

For four years, he was a judge for the Man from Snowy River shoeing competition in Corryong,Victoria.

The experienced farrier said he shod his first horse - his own pony - when he was only 15.

"My grandfather looked after the pit ponies in the coal mines on the west coast of New Zealand, my uncle trained thoroughbreds, my dad trained standard breds so I was doomed from day one," he said.

"They all shod their own horses, but I took it to another level."

Mr Beveridge said as a farrier you "need to balance the foot at the end of the day".

By way of example, he said one of his horses, Pelican, was 700 kg standing on four tiny little feet.

"And, if you haven't got him perfectly balanced and the shoes fitting out back under their heels you can cause lots of injuries for the horse," he said.

"So, the old saying is 'no foot, no horse'."

Mr Beveridge said it normally took him about 50 minutes to one hour to shoe a horse.

"I can normally get through them quicker if I have shod the horse before because you have got that foot exactly where you need it," he said.

"In 37 years, I've only had three kicks so I consider myself very lucky.

"But, I don't muck around when I am under the horse or worry about what anyone else is doing as I am paying attention to what the horse is doing and what I feel it's doing."

Mr Beveridge said thoroughbreds were the most volatile of horses to shoe because they were a flight animal.

"And the adrenalin kicks in pretty quick whereas a lot of the other breeds will normally give you some warning - you can feel them move whereas a thoroughbred will just lash out straight away," he said.

Apart from taking one of his wife's horses to the beach every so often for a ride in the water, Mr Beveridge is not a regular rider.

"I do love horses, yes. My wife, Yvette, events them. I just sit on them every so often. But they are just a beautiful animal," he said.

Mr Beveridge believes a horse should, on average, get their feet trimmed at the very least every six to eight weeks.

He said it had "got very scientific" these days, but a horse should be standing up properly.

"When the toes get too long, they are putting pressure on their joints and tendons so you need to be standing them back up and realigning them," he said.

Mr Beveridge said it all came down to what an owner was actually doing with the horse and what it was being trained on as to how often it should be shod.

"Because obviously the foot's not going to wear down on grass as much as it would on sand or a crushed rock arena," he said.

"It's only those times when you really need them shod or for conformation issues they need to be shod or they'll wear down in the wrong spots.

"You should get advice from a farrier about a horse's feet and when to get them shod."

The usual cost these days, he said, was anywhere between $120 to $200 per horse.

In Victoria, Mr Beveridge used to take in and treat horses for laminitis which is inflammation and damage of the tissue between the hoof and underlying coffin bone.

"They get better by managing it through their food and I normally use heart bar shoes or impression material which is a special shoe that you make up to fit on top of the frog and which pushes the bone back into the foot...although it will never ever close 100 per cent," he said.

Mr Beveridge thinks he will probably continue as a farrier for another 10 years.

"It's been a good industry for me and it obviously keep you fit, I don't have to go to the gym," he said.