Miss B requires no shaping fo the shoe and the inserts slide in with
virtually no effort. Mr T has to be shaped slightly in the front, the
inserts are a bit tougher to slide in. He has lost an occassional
insert--in fact he lost one on the railroad grade at the Blue Mt. Gallop
50 for seemingly no reason.
Kevin carries a full set of inserts front & back. He also carries one or
two nails for cleaning out the attachment points on the base plate plus a
hoof pick. We also carry a full set of used base plates for the farrier,
plus a bag of nails.
The benefits are horses going down the road with a spring in their step,
the ability to "change tires" at the first sign of wear, even "rotate
tires" if the wear pattern seems abnormal due to terrain, and the
incomparable safety factor of a non-skid, flexible surface that will get
you down macadam, slick rocks, and anything else with ease and security.
We no longer have problems with wind puffs, back problems seem to be
evaporating, efficiency in gait is improving.
Yes, the maintenance is higher. We feel, for these two horses, that the
shoes are well worth it. Yes, we get annoyed when we lose an insert--in
the same way we'd be really annoyed at flipping a shoe and then trying to
get on an easy boot that isn't quite the right shape for that foot (never
mind trying to keep it on!) and will probably lose somewhere down the
trail anyway. (BTW--we sell the red ones now, for obvious reasons!!).
And yes, we took them off Kasey who not only flipped inserts almost daily
but also trashed several baseplates. And he didn't require shaping! It
was the way he fiddled around in the field, doing boy-stuff, twisting his
hind feet. We went to St. Croix eventers made into bar shoes for him.
So now I cringe when we hit macadam, fight to stabilize over the slick
rocks and constantly wish those Slypners had worked for him!
A farrier has recommended that the nails be redesigned with a higher,
additional head that would provide a securer fit into the nailheads on
the inserts. He felt the basic concept is excellent but some addiitonal
engineering is required to make the shoes stable enough for what we do.
Hope he talks to Slypner about it.
I ordered the Equithotics--$90 for a set of 4. My farrier would be
required to have quite a long list of power tools available for the
shaping (jig saw, etc). The life span was not good enough to warrant the
expense, no matter what the benefits. My farrier would have had to
charge me $50-70 to put them on the first time due to the time involved
for shaping if power tools were not available. That's $90 + 50 =
$140/horse times 3 horses = $420 every 6-8 weeks. I sent them back.
The Slypners are expensive, not outrageous.
My farrier is the one who has consistently commended us for going with
these shoes. He has seen a very positive change in our horses'
feet--stronger foot, better heels, little or no bruising even on hard going.
As far as we're concerned, these shoes have made a real difference in our
horses' way of going. It's going to take an awful lot more than an
occasional lost insert and a little inconvenience to offset the wonderful
benefits we've seen over these 8 months of use.
And I won't even bother telling you what a splendid difference it makes
during the horrible winter months to have secure traction--we need to
forget those awful days!
This is sort of my 50 cents worth.
Diane @ Safe Haven
Allentown, PA