Shoeing difficult horses can sometimes take some out of the square thinking.

Once, whilst shoeing a notoriously difficult Cavalry horse (whose name escapes me), we were all at a loss as to what course of action to take next, as this large hairy beast bounced numerous hairy arsed farriers off each of the forge walls.

A NAAFI break (army smoko) was called for!

As was routine, someone had bought some biscuits to accompany the large quantities of tea that 14 farriers could drink. Milk chocolate Hobnobs were the day's choice, and for anyone who has had them, a fine choice that was too!

Well it didnt take long long to notice that the horse in question was clearly very interested in these tasty oaty morsels, and all of a sudden was very amenable!!!

Lightening quick reflexes from said hairy arsed farriers, seized the opportunity and had the horse shod in a jiffy. One feeding hobnobs to the horse, one going ten to the dozen nailing on shoes, and one making tea for all three.

Noting the success of this new found methodology, the next time the horse ventured into the forge, the exercise was repeated....well almost.

You see, chololate hobnobs were in fact quite expensive, so the far better value, but equally delicious chocolate bourbons were purchased.

Little did we know that this horse had expensive taste! Once again, after numerous close encounters with forge walls, we invested in a packet of chocolate hobnobs. Needless to say, it worked a treat.

The moral of the story?

You can't beat a choclolate hobnob!!!

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The tradition of hanging horseshoes above your front door is to ward off the devil himself.

Legend has it, that the devil, infuriated with the constant ringing of the hammer against the anvil, climbed up to earth to see where this terrible noise was coming from.

Arriving at the farrier's forge, he became curious about the horseshoes that the farrier was applying to the horse, and demanded that the farrier shod the devil's own hooved feet.

The farrier, recognising that this insistent and rather rude new customer was in fact the devil, nailed the shoes on still hot from the fire.

Soon, the heat from the shoes began to make the devil somewhat uncomfortable, but as the horse stood there calmly, the devil, not wanting to be upstaged by a horse, gritted his teeth while the farrier clenched up the nails. The job complete, the devil left the forge to test his new shoes on the cobbled street.

Soon the heat became so unbearable, the devil tore off the shoes and cast them as far as he could, vowing never to go near another horseshoe again.

The debate continues as to which way up it goes, but for many years, the simple horseshoe has been displayed above many doors, and from what I hear, the devil hasn't been seen in any of them.