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  Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
   
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | Do any board members have a horse who is prone to stepping off shoes because of an enormous stride? What does your farrier do to help prevent it?
What are the best ways to treat and then prevent contracted heels? Wider shoe? Larger shoe? Pads? etc etc |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 350
| You might want to look at how long the toe is and or style of trimming/shoeing. Most of the time contracted heels almost always means the toe is too long. You might want to get a second opinion on the farrier work. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Contracted heels are common if your horse has no frog pressure.. Like halter horses standing on those tall heels with the frog way above the ground or a horse that has lost a frog due to thrush... Another possible cause is a farrier using the very back nail holes on a shoe too small for the foot and preventing proper expansion of the heels. Proper frog pressure is needed to make the heels expand with every step or the heels will start to contract and that will be what is needed to correct the problem if it has already happened.
If by stepping off the shoes you mean overreaching, the simple fact is the front foot is not getting out of the way before the corresponding back foot gets there... There are lots of reasons for this. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Back up the toe and leave the heel and let it grow. It will take a while if they are badly contracted. It would be best to just go barefoot for a while and let the feet grow. It is also from being shod too tight, no heel expansion, too small of shoes, unbalanced...the list goes on. I would get a new farrier. |
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Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | Thanks guys. I know why they are contracted. I do understand the mechanism there. He's barefoot for the time being. He has stepped shoes off his whole life no matter how many different ways he's been shod. There are no good farriers around here. So I was hoping for ideas on options when I start trying to ride again |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I've got one prone to forging and occasionally stepping off shoes--he's got long sloping pasterns with matching feet and a big overstep. My farrier started doing a rocker toe and that made all the difference in the world.
My old farrier was short-shoeing him to keep shoes on and it had his heel under run and contracted. Took nearly a year to get him back where he should be. |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | I am trying glue on flexible shoes on my mare that has these exact same issues.
I tried the barefoot thing with her, had a very good trimmer but her heels never uncontracted and her whole foot just pushed out in front of her. We are gluing on PLR Race shoes now and since there is so much glue in the heel area, it is much harder to step the shoes off. Next shoeing we are going to a flex shoe since locking her heels in to an aluminum shoe will not allow them to expand.
I have ordered the Easyshoe Compete and the Flexx Sport from Soundhorse, not sure which one will work best until we set them on her foot. |
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Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | Barnmom - 2014-10-27 9:48 AM
I am trying glue on flexible shoes on my mare that has these exact same issues.
I tried the barefoot thing with her, had a very good trimmer but her heels never uncontracted and her whole foot just pushed out in front of her. We are gluing on PLR Race shoes now and since there is so much glue in the heel area, it is much harder to step the shoes off. Next shoeing we are going to a flex shoe since locking her heels in to an aluminum shoe will not allow them to expand.
I have ordered the Easyshoe Compete and the Flexx Sport from Soundhorse, not sure which one will work best until we set them on her foot.
I'm looking at doing something similar. Very expensive but.... |
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Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | Which is why I am very lucky that my hubby is also a farrier along with everything else he does. I could not afford to keep messing with this mare otherwise. Farriers around here charge $100-200 a foot to glue shoes on, plus the cost of the shoes.
Honestly, it is not hard to glue shoes on once you get all the equipment to properly prep the foot and the shoe, just time consuming and a PITA. I can't remember the guys name, but there is a farrier that travels all over to glue shoes (Dubai, Kentucky, California etc.) and he has an awesome how to video on the Easycare website. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| If the horse is pulling off shoes he is not balanced.
I had two horses who would pull shoes all the time with one farrier, we went to the extreme of putting trailers on the hind feet to change the movement of the leg. It did work.
Went to a different farrier, horses never pulled another shoe |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | cheryl makofka - 2014-10-27 9:55 AM If the horse is pulling off shoes he is not balanced. I had two horses who would pull shoes all the time with one farrier, we went to the extreme of putting trailers on the hind feet to change the movement of the leg. It did work. Went to a different farrier, horses never pulled another shoe
I definately agree. |
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Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | I know his feet aren't balanced. I know why his heels are contracted. I'm looking for ideas on options for a horse that will still step shoes off even when his feet are balanced. He is on vacation and barefoot until further notice and I'm working on his feet daily. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| missroselee - 2014-10-27 11:36 AM
I know his feet aren't balanced. I know why his heels are contracted. I'm looking for ideas on options for a horse that will still step shoes off even when his feet are balanced. He is on vacation and barefoot until further notice and I'm working on his feet daily.
If he is balanced, he shouldn't be pulling shoes.
If he is running around the pasture without shoes, is he clipping himself? If he is then it may not be the balancing problem.
Putting trailers on the hind feet will eliminate the pulling shoes, but will create havoc with the hocks are the trailer is pulling the leg out of alignment so it lands on the outside of the front foot
I have had a few horses farriers have contracted over a years time, my vet is the one who diagnosed them and supervised their trims and shoes for the next year. Farrier lady will disagree with the method, but it did work.
My vet pared the sole around the frog to 1/2" away from the frog practically till blood, this allows the elasticity of the foot to drop when there is pressure on the foot. The last 1/4" of the heel he would rasp down 1/8" lower then the rest of the foot, the hoof wall on the front of the foot where the toe is he would rasp down from cornet to bottom approx 3" in the front this allows the release of the foot, think of an egg the concave shape doesn't allow flexibility so he weakened the area to allow flexibility of the back of the foot.
Then he applied shoes leaving 1/8" of the entire shoe exposed all the way around the foot, I never had a horse pull one and these were competing horses.
Remember the last part of the heel is shorter then the rest of the foot so it didn't touch the shoe. Within 30 min of the new shoes the heel was touching the shoe, and very little of the shoe was exposed around the foot.
I had to reset every 4 weeks.
Just an FYI my vet is a certified farrier from university of Oklahoma as well as a equine vet, dentist, and surgeon. |
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Stepping off shoes and contracted heels....