Blacksmith Buddy created by Wes Champagne, Champagne Horseshoe Company

Blacksmith Buddy by Wes Champagne

The Blacksmith Buddy is a ground breaking, revolutionary, new way to train farriers, veterinarians, and horseshoers in the art of shoeing horses.  From the maker of the Glue on Shoe, world renown farrier Wes Champagne brings this anatomically correct prosthestic horse leg with removable, recyclable and reusable horse hooves allowing everyone to learn, train and practice horseshoeing in a safe, humane and eco-friendly environment.

The horse’s hoof is composed of five major regions: the wall, the sole, the frog, the periople and the white line. The hoof grows as a result of cell division in the outer horn-producing cell layer of the sensitive structures of the hoof, namely the perioplic ring, the coronary band and the sensitive laminae. This process may be affected by many factors such as diet, stresses, injuries and diseases. In such cases, a distorted hoof is often produced. The hoof wall is of primary concern. It bears most of the horse’s weight, is the most subject to wear and trauma and is the point of attachment of horseshoes, an invention designed to protect the hoof wall from rough terrain. Horseshoes have been employed for hundreds of years to help alleviate trauma to the horse’s hoofs, improve traction and to help heal damaged hooves.

The design and application of horse shoes requires the hands-on, personal attention of the farrier, previously known as a blacksmith. The farrier’s job entails studying the hooves of a horse to be shod and selecting, adapting and even manufacturing horse shoes suitable to the individual horse. While there is substantial similarity in horse hooves, there are also many variations due to the factors mentioned above and simply due to genetic factors. After selecting and/or manufacturing suitable horse shoes, the farrier must safely install the horse shoes on the hooves of the horse. As horses tend to weigh 1000 lbs. or more and may have difficult personalities, the attachment of a horseshoe to the hoof of a horse without injury to the horse or the farrier is a task requiring considerable skill. Further complicating the work is the fact that the hoof must usually be trimmed to mate properly with the horseshoe and the shoe is typically attached with nails. If the nails are driven too deeply into the hoof, delicate capillaries may be injured and bleeding, discomfort and even infection may result.

Until recently, farriers were often trained using legs cut from cadavers. Recent legislation has severely limited such practices. The present invention addresses all of these problems in the training of farriers.  The Blacksmith Buddy serves to alleviate the current training issues with veterinarians, farriers and hoof care specialists.

This is an outstanding addition to any farrier school, veterinarian school, horseshoeing class, blacksmith school or farrier courses.

To learn more about the Blacksmith Buddy head to www.blacksmithbuddy.com.