Just hit 1,000 shoes this year and I had to sit down

James Carter · 2026-05-05T11:20:05.562584+00:00

I was going through my records last night, tallying up the year so far, and I hit exactly 1,008 shoes since January. That's way more than I expected, especially since I took three weeks off in June after my back gave out. I'm just a one-man shop out of a barn near Lexington, Kentucky, mostly doing local trail horses and some show prospects. It hit me how many times I've bent over and picked up a hoof this year, and honestly my knees are feeling every single one of those shoes. I guess I never stopped to think about the volume before, it just felt like each day was the same grind. Has anyone else done the math on their yearly numbers and gotten surprised by it? Or am I the only one who downplays how much work this job really is?

charlesowens4mo ago

Wait, you actually sat down and counted each one? Like individually, not just estimating? That's wild. I don't think I could even remember that many.

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jake_walker4mo ago

Man I feel this in my bones, literally reading this while icing my elbow. It's one of those jobs where you don't realize how much you're putting your body through until you actually stop and look back at the numbers. Respect for doing the count because most of us just block it out and keep going.

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henderson.kim4mo ago

108 shoes is a lot but I bet counting 1000 shoes means you counted each one twice since they come in pairs. You've actually only put on 504 pairs of shoes this year.

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