Weighted shoes, some help?

[SlowShoe]

Well heres an area i havent been. I dont advicate weighted shoes, but one of my clients wants weighted shoes on his tenn walkers for a bit to bring out their action. How do you weight a normal keg shoe? How much weight should do the trick? These are big horses about 1700lbs, (size 3's maybe) and the other 1350lbs. Or should I purchase weighted shoes? I wanted to avoid purchasing weighted shoes becuase Im not sure how big these guys feet are... Any tips would be great.

Thanks!
Josh

[Gary Hill]

First off, how good in the forge are you? Are you going to make a Plantation Shoe,Country Pleasure Shoe, Toe Weight Shoe, or a Lite Shod Shoe? If your not that good in the forge ,then Anvil Brand makes some good gaited shoes and they come in the sizes comparable to keg shoes. Are these shoes going to have caulks or turndown's? Go to the market place and check out the other dealers. Buy some then before you nail any on, practice copying the type you want. Good Luck! Gary

[Roy Amaral CJF]

You might want to pass this one along to someone with a forge. ;)

[SlowShoe]

Gary good advice. How do the heal caulks relate to the action? Im no pro in the forge, But I pick up on everything fairly quick. I honestly couldnt tell you what type of shoe Im looking for. All I know of are Toe Weight shoes, I dont know what the others are. These horses have ZERO natural gate. I think they are crosses. Do they make, or has anyone made a shoe with removable weights?

-Josh

[SlowShoe]

You might want to pass this one along to someone with a forge. ;)

Roy, I took mine out of the shope and mounted mine in my new truck TODAY! I was up till 4am makeing my own swing arm for it. Came out very functional, looks fairly good too. Where in CT are you located Roy?

[Roy Amaral CJF]

Sweet!

Going to compete at PPFA?

[SlowShoe]

Sweet!

Going to compete at PPFA?


Is that Penn Pro Farriers Association? I dont think so, dont think Im ready for any sort of compitition yet. Also I dont bring my shoeing rig down to PA (I just bought it their last week though) when I go, we take the Horse Trailer and bring it back stuffed to the gills.

[Bill Adams]

Josh,
Good job on the forge!
Sounds like the TW owners are trying to get you to fix something that never worked in the first place.
Recomend that they have the horses with a good TW trainer as to what would be best for the horses feet, and you can work from his sugestions. They won't do it, you get off the hook, sounding profesional. If hell freezes and they do it, you get to learn something about TWs.
Go to the contest and watch. Ask if you can help as a scribe or clean up or anything. I bet you get hooked.
Always shoe hot,
Bill

[Jason Maki]

A well trimmed appropriatley fit weighted shoe will enhance a horses natural ability; What is zero multiplied by zero? Bill is right ( could he be the Bill of Rights?) Shoes do not replace ability and training.
Jason

[Roy Amaral CJF]

Is that Penn Pro Farriers Association? I dont think so, dont think Im ready for any sort of compitition yet. Also I dont bring my shoeing rig down to PA (I just bought it their last week though) when I go, we take the Horse Trailer and bring it back stuffed to the gills.

Forget about being ready-throw your tools in the trailer and just do it.

Div 1 is modifacations to keg shoes, welding up a couple of long heel barshoes and building a couple of plain stamped shoes. You get plenty of time.

I posted the list allready, if you get stuck on anything let me know and I'll try to help.

[jseyffer]

Yep - it is called lead. You can buy a mold or use an old muffin tin. You want half circle pieces in different weights. Drill a couple of holes and fasten them to the pads. You used to be able to get brass weights that screwed on to the front of a horses foot but they were for harness horses and were not very heavy.

The hard part is figuring out what shoe style and total weight. The removable weights can give you an idea what you are going to need for weight and placement. When you get that figured out, and know how big the shoes need to be, you can order shoes.

[Greg Thomas]

Like Bill and Jason said.

Without seeing these horses and assuming alot-

You didn't say where they wanted weight but if the horses are trotty-as I suspect- then they need weight on the rear feet instead of the front to get an amble gait.

You can nail anvils to these horses feet and they will never run walk or rack worth a hoot. Leaving them barefooted and making their feet tender will probably get them closer to a 4 beat gait.

Probaly nurse mare colts they were given or rescued.

I can't imagine a 1700 lb walking horse and would guess that a TWH trainer would tell them to bring him/her a TWH if they want a TWH. Would be like wanting a Shetland pony to pull a 3 bottom plow.

Greg

[Dave Whitaker]

Josh,
I shoe a bunch of flat shod TWHs. My 17HH, 1400 lb. T Walker was the biggest one at the Nationals......out of hundreds.....sooooo... if these guys are as big as you indicated, they are probably crosses. Now, getting any natural gait out of Walker crosses seems to be about a 50/50 **** shoot..... I have a client with a qtrh/walker cross that can flat out walk most TWHs.... on the other hand I have seen crosses that couldn't run walk if their asses were lit on fire and the stream was in front of them! My guess is that is what you are up against here.

The most important equiptment to get a true running walk gait out of these guys is the horse itself and how FIT it is. You could put the finest running shoe known to man on me and I know I'm not going to win the Boston Marathon!

If you have a T walker that is properly trained, in good shape, and has some ability, THEN you can encourage that gait and enhance training with the addition of some weight. There are regulations as to shoe size depending on which class the horse will be shown in...... on your trail horses you can do what you please.

If a horse has some decent gait, and has been in work awhile, I have real good luck making a 3/8 by 3/4 lite shod shoe with a turned back heel caulk. If your horse is pacey, generally you want more weight up front than behind, (pacey Twalkers tend to do real well barefoot behind). Walkers that tend towards trot do usually benefit from a little more weight behind and a slight medial dump can help too . They are wicked fun to play with..... BUT, I imagine these guys you have might never gait.... good luck... be conservative...sneak up on changes......Dave

[SlowShoe]

Well I shod him today. I used some diamond size 3's toe weighted. They were just big enough. Im glad I installed the forge, I drew some clips and they fit up nice. He didnt exactly go off like a gaited TW, but it was a bit better. Thanks for all the advice. I love reading all your responses, its like going to a farrier convention everynight. You guys are really supurb.

Thank you once again!!

-Josh