LARNED — What has 2 feet, holds up 4 legs and combines some veterinarian skills with a touch of blacksmithing?  
Of course, this is the description for the farrier that will be at the Tired Iron Show at the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum Oct. 12-13.
Mike Burnham is a specialist in equine hoof care. Burnham is a farrier, a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses’ hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves. A farrier combines some blacksmith’s skills — fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes — with some veterinarian’s skills — knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb — to care for horses’ feet.
Burnham will share his skills while explaining the various steps involved in hoof trimming and shoeing with several volunteer horses.  His routine work is primarily trimming each hoof so it retains the proper orientation to the ground.  Also, he will clean the “frog” (the underneath side) and check for the need for any remedial procedures if injured or diseased.  He will also demonstrate the process for shoeing the hoofs to give the horse more traction.  The times for these demonstrations are 1:30 and 3 p.m. Oct. 12 and 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Oct. 13.  
The Santa Fe Trail Center Museum is two miles west of Larned on K-156. For more information, call 620-285-2054; or visit www.santafetrailcenter.org.