Shoeing Reiners!

© Phillip Fisher, CJF

published in the American Farriers Journal, September/October 1996
reprinted here with permission of the author

Balance is essential for the Western performance horse to complete numerous maneuvers, routines

The Reining Horse is a high-level Western performance horse that's asked to perform various maneuvers with smoothness, finesse and speed.

The horse and rider need to be in balance at all times while executing spins, rundowns, rollbacks, fast and slow circles, lead changes and, of course, sliding stops.

Each maneuver is judged with a scoring system based on a plus and minus system measured in half-point increments.

We tend to think of the sliding stop as the most important maneuver, but all parts of the reining pattern receive equal weight in judging.

SLIDING SHOE. An example of a slider with a rolled toe, for shoeing Western performance horses.

Well-Balanced Trimming
As with any performance horse, the reiner must be trimmed properly. Without well-balanced feet trimmed at normal angles with good medial/lateral balance, it doesn't matter what kind of shoes you place on the reining horse's feet.

Trim the reining horse so that the front feet land flat and the foot has a nice broad toe to ease breakover. A well-trimmed frog and sole allow the foot to function properly.

When shoeing the front feet, I use Gene Armstrong's support principle that a line extends down to the front of the cannon bone and comes out at least two-thirds of the distance from the toe to one-third from the end of the shoe. Roll or rocker the toe and extend the heel in order to ease the breakover and support the leg.

Your first priority is to keep the horse sound. It doesn't bother me to tack a shoe back on occasionally because I'd rather do that than make egg bars for a lame horse that won't be going to a show at all.

Most of the time when front shoes are lost, the horse has dropped a shoulder in a stop or the horse is fatigued.

HEEL EXTENSION. The proper length of a heel extension should be no more than one-half the end of the heel to the bulbs of the heel.

Shoeing Chronic Pullers
If you have a chronic shoe puller and the horse is going to a big show, all support theory is tossed out the window. Ease the breakover and fit the heels close and tight, grinding a taper and penciling the heels. It's usually the lateral heel that reining horses slide up and grab hold of.

Remember, this principle is just for shows where horses are pushed to the limit and only for chronic shoe pullers.

In the right hands, reiners can show in egg bars without problems since they are in the training pen for six to ten hours per week and rarely use maximum effort during training. Give them the support they need.

Front Foot Shoeing
Use a 1/4- by 3/4-inch plain-stamped shoe on the front feet of young horses since it gives less length to their feet. Properly fit keg shoes are fine. As horses advance in training, switch to concave or creased shoes to add more traction.

The Tucumcari Farrier Technologies "Performance Shoe" is an excellent front shoe for reiners. The TFT Performance Shoe will be a wider web, improved version of the "Natural Grip Shoe" style, which is no longer available. Use a shoe with an edge.

Remember that the medial branch still needs to be boxed and safed because these horses have a tendency to hit themselves during training for spins. Many sheers use half-rounds, but they don't offer enough traction for performance spins.

SUPPORT THEORY. Gene Armstrong's support principle states that a line that extends down to the front of the cannon bone should come out at least two-thirds of the distance from the toes to one-third from the end of the shoe.

Shoeing The Hinds
Normal balance is again key when trimming the hind feet. Trim the hoof to land as flat as possible. Don't try to load the medial side with the hope that it will cause the horse to slide straight.

These horses need to be comfortable to give their best performance. If the horse is spreading, turn the shoe inward a little but keep it in line with its body. Remember that normal balance and normal angle are keys.

What's done differently with reiners compared to other performance horses is that the toe on the hind feet should be left 1/4 inch longer than the front feet. This gives the horse a bit more foot to work with.

The angle and length of a shoe can be played with in order to fine tune the slide. A sliding plate needs to provide enough traction to let the horse do circles and enough support to slide well.

Leave the heels open so that the shoe cleans out. Place the slider on the foot so that it's in line with the horse's direction of travel. Put a twist in the shoe, depending on the conformation of the horse and the strength they have to hold themselves together in the slide.

Remember to keep the shoe in the center of the leg. Shoes that are too long with too wide a web allow the horse to get underneath itself and may not necessarily give the horse enough control in its slide.

A shoe that is too long and too wide doesn't provide enough traction in circles.

With normal angles and shorter shoes, horses won't get too deep in order to have more control in the slide, move better in circles and become less likely to drag a lead.

PROPER ALIGNMENT. The hoof on the right has a medial extension which keeps the slider in the center of the leg. The shoe on the hoof to the left has a twist in order to line the hoof with the direction of travel.

Shoeing Young Reiners
When shoeing the hind feet of young reiners, I may start out with a wide-web keg shoe like a St. Croix "Extra" that's flipped over, toe drawn, heel extended and back-punched with a head stamp. This makes a nifty quickie slider.

When shoeing young horses, don't make the sliding plate too wide in the web or too long. Having too much shoe makes it hard for the colt to control itself.

Colts may spread when stopping and hurt themselves and may not try too hard to stop the next time. They aren't strong enough to hold themselves together in sliding stops or circles.

The longer the heel extension, the further the feet slide under the horse. This causes the horse to be out of balance when stopping.

For any slider, the maximum length is half the distance between the heel and bulb. To get a good start on young horses, 3/4- to 7/8-inch web is plenty, while 1- to 1 1/8-inch web is all any reining horse ever needs.

Remember that too much web and too much length of extended heels on the slider plate can really cause problems when speed is increased at the shows. Big shoes are a thing of the past.

There are several good designs of sliding plates on the market. Don't be swayed by fads or gimmicks. The best reining horses are shod using fundamental principles of balance.

Phillip Fisher is an American Farrier's Association Certified Journeyman Farrier in Hastings, Nebraska, USA.

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