James D. Jimenez, a.k.a. Jimmy the Shoer, pulls his truck up to the back of Barn 88 at Santa Anita. He opens the rear doors at the end of the bed of his Ford F-250 diesel pickup and hidden within is an agglomeration of equipment that he slides out just beyond the bumper of the truck. It looks heavy enough to tip the truck over. Lest anyone wonder what it is, there is a sign prominently displayed on the top that says “Blacksmith Shop.”
“This is my office,” Jimmy says, “everything I need to shoe a horse.” He smiles and tells me, “I get a lot of comments on that sign but it’s true. It’s a mobile blacksmith shop.”
Groom Dago Torres brings today’s customer, a promising filly owned by W C Racing named Caradini, to a shoeing area that trainer Doug O’Neill outfitted specifically for the task. Hard rubber mats cover the ground – Jimmy says it is best for the horses to have a flat surface to stand on so they feel secure and balanced. Caradini stands calmly – after all she’s already done this a dozen or so times.
“We shoe them every 25 to 35 days,” Jimmy replies in answer to my question. “I like to check them at 25 days and decide when they’ll need reshoeing. This one is right at 35 days so she’s definitely due.”
Jimmy opens one of the side panels in the truck to reveal a collection of shiny aluminum shoes. Just like human shoes they are sized by number. Jimmy holds up two shoes side by side, one a size 3 and the other a size 8. It looks like the difference between a shetland pony and a clydesdale.
“Most horses fall between these two, but occasionally we’ll see one with feet that small or that large,” Jimmy says, anticipating my question. “I keep detailed notes on every horse I shoe, for two full years,” he says as he is flipping through the file on his computer. “That way if the horse changes owners and the new owner needs to know about the history of the horse’s foot health, I’ll be able to find it quickly.” He finds Caradini, looks at what he has previously written, then grabs a pair of front and back shoes and places them on his anvil.
Having the proper shoes and having them fitted properly is crucial for any horse, and more so for a thoroughbred. When the horse is shod properly, it hits the ground in a level fashion, distributing the force of stride uniformly through the feet and up though the bones of the leg. Proper shock absorption is perhaps the most important factor in keeping a race horse sound. More than that, running comfortably will bring out the best in a horse. If the horse is improperly shod, it hits unevenly causing excess stress on the feet and legs, and inevitably soundness problems. For a job not many racing fans think about, it can make all the difference between a horse staying in training and winning and spending time recovering from leg problems.
You can see the village smithy in Jimmy’s look. He’s medium height with a full head of closely cropped hair that was once fully dark but is quickly being overtaken by white. His forearms are as thick as a thoroughbred’s front leg, his chest barreled in a way that would seem to make it impossible for any piece of clothing to be loose fitting. His thick and calloused hands betray a lifetime of hard use.
Jimmy dons his leather farrier’s apron and working gloves with the top of the forefinger on each hand snipped off to expose his finger so he can safely hold the nails. Once properly outfitted he walks over to Caradini to check how she looks while standing, making sure there are no poblems that could complicate things. He looks at her balance and makes sure she is standing straight. He checks that the hoofs are the same height and level, both front and back. I notice what look like some small chips where the hoof meets the shoe. Jimmy assures me these are nothing to be concerned about – it’s common, especially as it gets closer to the time when the nails need to be trimmed. Today Caradini passes the inspection. Her hooves are healthy and the shoeing should be straightforward.
Before she can be fitted with new shoes, the old shoes have to come off. Jimmy pries the shoe a bit and then gently rocks it off with a shoe puller. He props her foot on a device called a hoof stand, essentially a metal rod with a flat top for the horse’s hoof to rest on, smoothing the outside.
Caradini is standing calmly for the whole procedure and I ask if all horses are as well behaved. “No,” Jimmy says, “some horses need to be given a mild tranquilizer to stay calm enough to get through being shod. Most of the trainers I work for give me permission in advance to use a tranquilizer on a non-cooperating horse.” Jimmy takes Caradini’s front foot between his leg and moves into an uncomfortable-looking, bent over position to trim the hoof. He takes a curved knife specially made for trimming the hoof and starts taking off some of the excess growth with skillful strokes. He then grabs a nipper that looks like something Torquemada may have invented and deftly nips off the quarter inch or so of growth that has appeared since the last shoeing. As long as the farrier only clips the insensitive part of the hoof, the horse feels nothing more than we might feel when we clip our own nails.
“I use a shoe with no toe grab on the front. Here in California you can use stickers running on the dirt, but not on the turf. Tears up the course too much. I just think the best choice for most horses is the regular front plate regardless of surface. On the back we’ll use a shoe with a small toe clip.” Once the hoof is trimmed Jimmy uses a rasp to make the bottom smooth and level and then fits the shoe, reshaping it with his hammer to make sure it is exactly conforming to Caradini’s hoof. He uses his rasp and his grinder to bevel the bottom of the shoe and then the outside. “Beveling the shoe helps to limit the potential of the horse catching it on something and having it pull off. It’s easier than you would think for a horse to catch a shoe – happens all the time.” Jimmy shows me a shoe that he keeps in his truck. It is bent in different directions. “The horse that was wearing this shoe only pulled it part way off and ran on it the whole race. He wound up lame because of it and never did recover to race again. If a horse is going to catch a shoe, it’s better for the whole shoe to come off.”
Once the shoe is fitted and shaped it is nailed on. Jimmy said, “Usually we’ll use six to eight nails to attach the shoe, but I’ve had to attach shoes with as few as two nails. They still stayed on. But three or four nails on each side is best to hold the shoe securely.” He holds the nails in his mouth, grabs one at a time, and quickly drives them in straight. He made the whole process look like easy, the way people highly skilled at something really difficult do.
Jimmy runs through the exact same process for each shoe until Caradini is standing with four of the prettiest aluminum shoes you’ve ever seen on a horse. Dago starts to lead her back to her stall, and I’m sure I see a bounce in her step that wasn’t there an hour ago.
Although some of the morning cool lingers, Jimmy is covered in sweat. He tells me, “It’s hard work and it takes a toll on your body. In the last few years I’ve had a couple of shoulder surgeries and a few other injuries. I’ve started cutting back, and now I only work for a couple of trainers. Doug O’Neill and owner Paul Redham will always have a special place because it was with their horse, I’ll Have Another, that I got to shoe the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. That gave me my own Triple Crown since I had previously shoed Touch Gold in the Belmont. That was a lifetime goal for me. I guess maybe if I keep shoeing I’d like to have a second Kentucky Derby winner.”
Jimmy is one of the hundreds of people who work in anonymity on the backside, the hidden engines behind the glamour of race day. They are an indispensable part of getting a horse to win, and while trainers and jockeys get most of the notice, they will freely heap praise on the grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers -and farriers – who all play a critical part in the success of any stable.
Remember the proverb for want of a nail? A morning with Jimmy the Shoer and you realize a horseshoer is as important today as he was back then, and there are few better than James D. Jimenez.