The old saying, "A horse is only as good as his feet," is undeniably true for the Paso Fino, which like most horses, spends most of its life on its feet. Breeding plays a critical part in producing good feet, but no matter what your Paso's bloodlines, there are certain rules to follow to provide your Paso with healthy, properly shaped feet to ensure that silken smooth ride and willingness to move for which the breed is prized.

Rule#1: feed right. Rule #2: trim right. Rule #3: shoe right.

And since the best performance is what we all expect from our Pasos, we owe it to them -- and to ourselves -- to make sure their feet are as good as they can be!

Tony has been shoeing horses for 34 years, since apprenticing at the age of 14. Although as a farrier he specializes in shoeing Paso Finos, he is experienced in a wide range of situations, having shod for stables as well as racetracks in New York, and Puerto Rico. He has trimmed and shod many types and breeds of horses including pleasure mounts, hunter/jumpers, along with Tennessee Walkers and all gaited breeds.

His many years of working with Pasos and his gift of the foot has enabled Tony to treat and bring back horses that were suffering from laminitis (separation of the lamina or wall), founder, crossing over, or not gaiting in addition to stimulating hooves to healthy condition, e.g. weak walls, soft soles, contracted heels, etc. All of this is carried out logically and safely.

Additionally when Tony was working on a thoroughbred farm in P.R., just by implementing regular footworking on thoroughbred broodmares, he was able to decrease the mortality rate of foals on that farm.

Below are photographs of a colt that had foundered. As a challenge the owner asked Tony if he could do anything with the horse. The horse had been in his stall for a year, unable to move and very unhappy! Within an hour, Tony had the horse on his feet and out of the stall.

Call (352)401-3525 or (352) 401-3526 (Barn) for more information. Serious Inquiries Only.