Posted by George Spear on March 07, 2003 at 09:42:56:
I have taken over a stable of arabians that do endurance. 2 of the horses who are related have been decribed by the owner to have conformation faults that result in excessive shoe wear. Steel shoes were not making it thru a 6 week shoeing period. During the season each horse is worked on roads and trails several hours a day 3-4 times a week. She does about 50% on ashphalt 50% trails. To deal with the wear borium was applied to the wear points by the last farrier in a hardsurfacing fashion (not built up but puddled across the shoe.)
My inital thought is that for traction and wear borium will probably be required but I was pondering doing the first set without. The previous farrier is a good one and stopped servicing a number of accounts for health reasons. I find that whoever I follow I often have a slightly different idea on balance that works well for me and the horse. In these situations I never tell the client the first guy was wrong just that he did what worked well for him and that particular horse I do what works well for me and the horse.
The client will most likely have a negative reaction to going without borium. I see the advantage of skipping it for the first set being I can see how the shoes wear when I have the horse balanced to my liking. On the other hand she does a lot of miles on roads and perhaps the additional traction the borium provides is too important to skip on these horses.
Any thoughts on this would be welcomed. Shoes go back on March 21st.
George