Posted by Lisa G. on July 01, 2001 at 16:39:49:
Hello;
I am writing this question for my husband who is a amateur farrier and shoes our horses. I have a 6 yr. old Arab/Saddlebred which I am starting in distance racing. This is the first year he has worn shoes. When he is barefoot he drags his back feet enough to square the toes. When he is barefoot he neither interferes or forges. Since we have had him shod he has steped on and pulled off 3 front shoes. My husband puts a 00 shoe on him and trims him to his natural angles. He forges quite a bit and interferes on his left rear causing an interference mark on his right rear ankle. My husband would like to sqare his rear hind feet (like they are when he's barefoot) but does not have experience in hot shoeing to give the shoes the square toes. Do you have any suggestions for him other than a seminar? He unfortunatley does not have the ability to get time off of work for that. He learned what he knows about shoeing from a book and has been shoeing for about 10 yrs. He has been shoeing my other distance horse without a problem and actually corrected a thin wall/interference problem on him by just sticking with his natural angles. Any suggestions you would have would be a help. Unfortunatley getting another farrier is not an option. The shoers in our area are totally unreliable and unreachable or unknowlegable about distance shoeing. A distance horse needs his feet done properly and on time, not when the shoer gets around to it!
Thanks in advance for your help.
Lisa G.