Although they were cleaner, they were also noisier and not as hot. Still, they did the job and enabled farriers to continue making the quality shoes they needed, while waiting for manufacturers to bring better shoes and more styles to the marketplace. A few farriers, however, still prefer to make some or all of their shoes, not from necessity, but because they enjoy the process and take pride in being able to do it. Hot Shaping Hot shoeing is also used to describe hot shaping. This is when a farrier heats a handmade or keg shoe in a forge to shape it or otherwise modify it.
Large shoes are much easier to shape after they've been heated in forge.
Hot Fitting Hot shoeing can also refer to hot fitting. The hot shoe scorches the high spots on the hoof, indicting where the farrier needs to rasp the hoof so the shoe and the hoof make solid contact. If the shoe is hot enough, it will actually melt into the hoof horn, ensuring a perfect match between the shoe and the hoof. Some farriers believe that hot fitting, because it melts the bottom of the hoof wall, promotes better hooves by sealing moisture into the hoof and preventing absorption of excess external moisture. Most horses are shod this way.