A video of a farrier cleaning and trimming a horse’s hoof was the most watched UK upload on TikTok in 2022, amassing more than 273 million views.
Sam Dracott joined the platform in April 2021, and within a month had more than a million followers. Two of his videos that year had more than 109m views each, but this year topped that by some margin.
“That was pretty wild!” Sam told H&H. “I didn’t think it would do that well – it exceeded our expectations, by millions.”
The video shows Sam removing a hind shoe, then cleaning and trimming the hoof and frog. As a registered farrier for 13 years, Sam shares footage of his daily work, which many people find “oddly satisfying”. He said his aim has always been to educate the wider public about a profession many may not have known existed.
“At a lot of yards I go to, there are people who have never seen what I do,” he said. “They might know horses have shoes but have never seen the person who puts them on, or what’s involved. I had people saying ‘Wow, that’s interesting’, so I thought I’d give this a go and see how many other people were interested.”
@samdracott_farrier Satisfying!! #samdracottfarrier #farrier #asmr #oddlysatisfying #horsetok #farmtok #horses #horse #satisfying ♬ original sound – Sam Dracott Farrier
Millions, is the answer; Sam’s 3.4m TikTok followers have racked up 48 million likes on his videos, on which comments include “So relaxing to watch, thank you” and “A proper craftsman at work”, as well as the more intriguing “Any chance you could do my husband’s toenails?”
But another theme of many comments is whether or not the process hurts the horse.
“A lot of comments are ‘what a trade’, or asking how you get into it,” Sam said. “But there are always a lot asking if it hurts the horse. I’m trying to educate people who aren’t in the industry; a generation is so far into city life, they’ve forgotten about country life, and this is just a small snippet of life with horses.
“It’s very simple; I’m not trying to teach people about bone growth or formation of the hoof capsule, just trying to educate the general public. They think it’s bad or it hurts the horse but once they understand, they know it’s fine, and it’s to benefit the horses’ welfare.”
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Sam’s future plans include “keep going; keep pushing the videos out”.
“I’ve got a few things lined up for next year,” he said. “People seem to like it so I’ll keep going and the more people I can educate, the better.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
