Re: squaring hinds
Gwen Dluehosh (dluehosh@vt.edu)
Wed, 27 Nov 1996 02:41:34 +0500
I agree with TOm 100% on this as well, and frankly, it sounds now with the
more detials you've added here that I would get a different shoer. I can;'t
imagine putting an 0 shoe on a hind foot of a 15.2 hand regular arab. You
can always shape the 1 shoes to fit the truly 0 foot and leave the excess
trailing behind in an open heel- I do this regularly with my stallion
becuase I feel he has extra space that way. I had to get a new farrier too
when I got a grade 1 lame on my horse at aride and discovered the heels were
digging into his poor frogs!!! That was the deciding factor for me to take
the two week short course. I wouldn't however put a size 1 on a truly 0
foot in front because the horse wmight grab his shoe by accident. It's also
better to take a size 1 shoe and cut the heels a little if it's slightly too
big for the front =- say your horse is an 0 and 1/2. You watnt the bigger
shoe, not hte smaller shoe.
I think you have the idea now, good luck...
Gwen
>---------------
>Tom, I can't thank you enough for writing this!! I have been
>dealing with exactly this problem, and my shoer just was not
>listening. He would refuse to leave any shoe trailing, and instead
>was curling them in toward the foot-which caused a great case of
>thrush becuase the whole area was covered and hard to access. He
>would rasp the hoof down to fit the shoe, also. It also seemed
>that the heels were just too high. I really got concerned this
>summer when an endurance rider I really respect saw my horses and
>asked why they were shod so "tight." At the last shoeing job, it
>looked to me that the heels were too long, too high, and the back
>of the shoe was way far forward of the leg, in other words, no
>support at all behind the heel (which was growing more and more
>slanted forward, if that makes sense.) Then the toe got rasped back
>to the shoe-it just looked like too small a shoe for the foot.
>I asked the shoer if he could put a larger shoe on, but all I think
>he did was spread the shoe at the sides, and curl the ends in.
>
>Enter another shoer to do my bigger mare. Shoer #1 had been
>squaring the back feet, I'm not sure why, but she dragged them
>some going down hill. New shoer thought the angles were too
>steep, lowered the heel, and put a larger shoe on this horse.
>Didn't square the back feet, just trimmed them naturally. Now
>the mare doesn't drag. The entire foot looks more balanced,
>when he was done, there was an edge of shoe all around the edge
>of the hoof, and some branch at the back. Seems like a much
>better fit to have a #1 size shoe on a horse that is big boned
>and 15.2h, than an O! The mare still had pleanty of heel when he
>was done.
>
>Tom, I am saving all your posts, as well as many others lately.
>
>I really appreciate your imput and that of all others. This is
>great!
>
>Karen
>
>
>To: RIDECAMP@ENDURANCE.NET
>
>
Gwen Dluehosh
Desert Storm Arabians
1156 Hightop Rd, #89
Blacksburg, VA 24060
540/953-1792