Re: [RC] What do you carry in your saddlebag to pull a loose shoe? - Vicki Warner
Depends.
On long "Trail Rides": A blunt standard flat screw driver & Shoe Puller
or old hoof trimmer, fence tool/nail puller, PLUS a small hammer, or if you are
in rocky area just pick up a nice rock with flat side to beat the screw driver
under the clinches to attempt to straighten them out before you rip them through
the hoof wall.... Old Cavalry hammer/small utility type hammer is
nice-also can hold nails in the screw-off end to replace bad/lost nails. Hoof
pick & old broken file. Wrap sharp tool ends with cloth/duct tape. Or
have heavy duty pouches for sharp/pointed ends with all these and following
tools.
On rides where weight is more of an issue: Needle nose pliers, short
flat screw driver, leatherman (which will usually break while in the process of
pulling shoe), hoof pick.
On rides where weight and bulk is even more of an issue: Needle nose
pliers/hoof pick. Throw away that broken leatherman now-it'll just make you mad
every time you need it and there is only one "side" to the pliers cuz you
"forgot".
Most/many? times if the shoe is "twisting" it's ready to come off and
shouldn't be that hard to get off, maybe leaving portions of old nail in the
wall. (May need to re-evaluate the wear & timing of that horse's
shoeing schedule.)
If you catch a "loose shoe" in time, (usually by listening), you may be
able to put an Easy Boot (with after-market moderations...) over the shoe and
keep it on for the ride.
Subject: [RC] What do you carry in your
saddlebag to pull a loose shoe?
My riding partner's horse slipped a shoe on a ride yesterday [twisted it
by 20 degrees] and I had nothing on me to pull the shoe off so we ended up
slowly walking the horses [us on foot]out for a hour and a half. I
had easy boots with us for a lost shoe but nothing to deal with a badly
twisted shoe.
So what do you folks carry and where did you get it? None of our local
tack shops carry any farrier type tools to deal with on trail problems.
