From Chapter titled "Basic Shoeing" Basic shoeing, for our purposes here, will deal with shoeing a saddle horse by means of the cold shoeing method as opposed to the hot shoeing method, in which a forge is used to heat the shoes and shape them more easily with hammer and anvil for a good fit. There is still a need for farriers to be able to work at a forge to build shoes or customize shoes for corrective purposes, and we will get into hot shoeing later. But with all the shoes that are on the market now, the cold shoe is just as good as the hot shoe for most purposes. These shoes have been designed with adequate length, and preshaped to the point where they need only a little adjustment with hammer and anvil in order to fit most every kind of horse a shoer will encounter. With the cold shoe, one has to be a little more precise at rasping the foot and getting the foot flat, assuring a good, tight fit. And with the hot shoe you can trim the heels of the shoe precisely to the length desired, where with the cold shoe, you might be 1/8-inch long on the heels. But as a rule, cold shoeing is faster and easier than hot shoeing, and works just as well as hot shoeing. One of the main reasons for using a hot shoe: it is easier to move iron-to roll the toe of a shoe, or pull side clips or turn hell calks.

Still, a farrier can do a lot of these things cold if he has a good anvil and a hammer big enough to move iron.