I have a fairly new horse shoer and he is talking about "hot shoeing" my 3 year old colt before i take him to be broke. I have never had a horse shoed this way. I don't know anything about it other than what i read online. I'm not comfortable with him doing this. He is also just wanting to put front shoes on him. He has great feet. Can i have some comments on what ya'll think about "hot" shoeing and front feet shoeing only. Especially for just a 3 year old who hasn't ever been shoed. 

Its great! All it does is help seal the shoe to the foot. Also kills bacteria and pushes the blood line back so less sore feet and chances of a hot nail.  

I would consider just how ground broke your 3yo is.   I have had "cold" shoes on my horses for YEARS.   However, when my old farrier retired, I was on the search for a new one.  One of the new ones was a "hot" shoe farrier.    One horse was Ok with it, at about age 22 or so.  My other horse who was about 16 at the time FLIPPED out.   The sizzle and the smoke was NOT his cup of tea.  He ended up cold shoeing him even though he didn't want to.   Then I found a different farrier because I wasn't interested in the hot shoeing. 

These horses are both exceptionally broke on both ground and in saddle.  You can pretty much do anything around them, including shooting guns etc.   

So keep that in mind as you think about hot shoeing your 3yo. 

My horse hated the farrier after he tried to hot shoe him, the smoke, the noise and the smell can be a frightening thing for some horses and my sensitive horse definitely reacted negatively to it. I really don't know why he decided he needed to do it that way after several years of just regular shoeing. I much prefer regular over hot for my horses. My new farrier is excellent and doesn't hot shoe mine. 

I've hot shod my three year old this entire year. It scared him at first, but my farrier was patient and my colt got over it pretty quick. I'd rather hot shoe one than cold. It tends to lead to a better fit of the shoe to the hoof.

Mine had fronts when I bought her as a 3 year old, and when I got her she started getting hot shod. All mine are hot except my 29 year old, bc he can only stand on one leg in super short spurts and it's easier to do cold and get him done as fast as possible. I actually prefer hot shoeing now myself, I had gone 15 years with cold shoeing before this farrier. I also seem to lose a lot fewer shoes. And they all adjust to the smoke after a time or two. Anything I have in work has fronts, if they're running they usually have all around. 

Hot shoeing gives a superior fit and the only way I'll have my horses shod anymore. How is your colts groundwork and desensitization? If you've worked with him a good bit, it shouldn't be a big deal to him. I just had my 3 year old shod for the first time and she got all 4 done. She was a little looky when the first shoe was applied, but fine with it after that. If you have a patient farrier, it will go fine. You'll probably be more nervous about it than your horse 

To those who would not let your farrier finish hot shoeing. 

You just let your horse win the game. 

I've had what I assumed was hot shoeing in the past with some farriers but I don't remember any sizzling or smoke or anything to scare the horse. Hot shoeing to me is when the farrier puts the shoe in the fire to make it more pliable to make a better fit to the hoof. Reading about this sizzling.... did I not get hot shoes? 

They should all be putting them in the forge to shape the shoe no matter if its cold/hot shoeing. Hot shoeing is they put it on the foot still smoking hot from the forge and essentialy burn it on. Then they peel it off and stick it in cold water, then nail it on. There will always be smoke. 

Over the years I have shod hot and cold.  I have an older horse that to this day doesn't like the smoke and smell but she stands for it and needs to be hot shod to seat the shoe better.  If it is their first time being shod hot I have been lucky that my farriers are patient and work with the horse. 

No, I never had it then. I've had a ton of farriers over the years because I moved a lot. A couple had a forge and heated the shoe to glowing red but I don't remember anyone putting it on the foot when it was hot. I could be wrong....

Most of them didn't have a forge but they shaped the shoe, banging and clanking, checking it on the horse's foot, etc. then back to banging some more. But no fire. 

Honestly, I should pay better attention but I yak a lot.