Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

You've got the picture, Frank. I've never gone so far as trying to match
shoulder/pastern/coffin bone angles. My approach has been to focus on the
foot itself, and the gaiting balance achieved, or not achieved, with a given
set of numbers. With Standardbreds it was not unusual to reset the shoes two
or three times in a single day to get the balance right. Then, a couple of
weeks later, you look at shoe wear and reset again. Once you've got the
right numbers for that individual horse, then they stay pretty much the
same.

Another little "trick of the trade" is to soak the feet in water, shoes
pulled, for about a half hour before the farrier gets there. The compressed
areas where the foot was trimmed too long at a certain point, expand and
become very obvious. Coinciding with these points will often be excess shoe
wear at that place and a shiny spot on the coronary band above the too-long
area.

ti


Tommie Boy,

I thought you knew it all?? My first lesson with a farrier (who I had till
he died) had also been a Class A Arabian judge in the 60's. He said the
angle of the shoulder should match the angle of the pastern and then the
angle of the hoof when the foot is trimmed level. He shod for some of the
first endurance riders. (Wendell Robie, Hal Hall, Dru Barner, etc).  He also
created a "rocker shoe". These had a very slight convex appearance until
nailed onto the hoof. My current shoer is great. He looks at the bottom of
each shoe to see wear patterns and adjusts accordingly. I have one horse I
have had a year, and one only 6 months, both young horses. He asks how they
are going, and discusses any changes before he does them. We have had no
changes in the last 3 sets of shoes and the horses are traveling great. When
my 6 yr old was overreaching and pulling shoes occasionally, he squared the
shoe on the rear, but not the hoof. He also created a bevel on the rear of
the shoe to allow the rear hoof to slide off if it happened to connect. It
was interesting and has worked. I am sure this 6 yr old has learned to avoid
hitting himself as well. This shoer continues his education by attending
seminars and convention presentations. I would not use a shoer who did not
continue to learn.

Ranelle Rubin




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=