Erica Altomare
09-13-2005, 02:11 PM
Due to our terrain, we have only found it necessary to put shoes on the front feet of our trail horses. However, we purchased a new horse who seemed more tender-footed and appeared to have a lower frog. Unfortunately, the new horse is more of a "boss" and is prone to kicking other horses. Our problem was to find a way to both protect the new horses feet and protect our other horse from a kicking injury. Following a recommendation from a friend, we had the Polysteel shoes put on the hind hooves of both of our
horses and replaced the steel front shoes when they were trimmed this past week. This seemed to work extremely well in alleviating the tenderness, but we found a noticeable roughness in their gaits (both horses are gaited and are only used for trail). We are wondering if the difference in the thickness of the polysteel hind shoes and the steel front shoes is the reason for this roughness. Is this something that will resolve as the horses become accustomed to the new shoes? Our concern is that the differential in thickness will result in throwing their back/hip alignment off. Please let us know if there is a potential problem. We are planning a long two-day trail ride this weekend and would appreciate an answer as soon as possible. We will remove the hind shoes and search for an alternative if there is a possibility of interfering with their alignment and causing injury. Also, it is extremely difficult to clean out the packed soil from their hooves following trail rides. I noticed in the literature that the conformation of the shoes encourages packing of dirt. Should we be cleaning as thoroughly/often as we have done in the past?
Thank you for your help.
Erica Altomare
undefined
horses and replaced the steel front shoes when they were trimmed this past week. This seemed to work extremely well in alleviating the tenderness, but we found a noticeable roughness in their gaits (both horses are gaited and are only used for trail). We are wondering if the difference in the thickness of the polysteel hind shoes and the steel front shoes is the reason for this roughness. Is this something that will resolve as the horses become accustomed to the new shoes? Our concern is that the differential in thickness will result in throwing their back/hip alignment off. Please let us know if there is a potential problem. We are planning a long two-day trail ride this weekend and would appreciate an answer as soon as possible. We will remove the hind shoes and search for an alternative if there is a possibility of interfering with their alignment and causing injury. Also, it is extremely difficult to clean out the packed soil from their hooves following trail rides. I noticed in the literature that the conformation of the shoes encourages packing of dirt. Should we be cleaning as thoroughly/often as we have done in the past?
Thank you for your help.
Erica Altomare
undefined