Just thought i would open a new thread
this question gets asked alot to me

how much lenth do you like to fit with
i know your next answer

it depends on what the horses are doing
point taken

but you must all set out everyday
with a lenth in mind

just an ect i have seen farriers giving horses width
but not enough lenth IMO lately

what you think

Drop a plumb line from the place where the point of the heel buttress (the origination of horn growth) starts in the coronary band. That's pretty much where I start my base of support.

I like to fit where possible with heel length, and for where the shoe terminates to bisect the center of the fetlock if a vertical line was dropped down. This works for a variety of lower limb conformation. Unless the horse is doing fast work such as hunting and the shoe is fitted penny on a penny

This is a bone of contention with me.

1/ Horse owners here in NZ are not educated to seeing proper heel support. I am virtually alone in advocating it in my area. But it is seen a "not normal/shoe too big"

2/ Almost 100% of riding horses (and even many racehorses) are kept in paddocks, often with other horses, come rain, hail or shine. Consequently they will step them off frequently.

3/ Fencing is mostly wire, so those that aren't stepped off end up hanging on a fence.

4/ Most of the hoofbutchers around here will shoe them short so they don't have to keep going back to put shoes on. Because they stay on for 8 weeks "they have put them on well". (Corns and all)

Though I absolutely refuse to short shoe and ensure there is adequate coverage, the marketplace forces me to shoe with less width and less length than I think is correct. But I insist on a shorter shoeing cycle for the sake of the horse.

Anywhere from an 1/8 to a 1/4 past the heel and tight.

Gary_Miller wrote:
Why tight Gary

smitty88 wrote:Dry arid climate, hoofs are really hard, most horses are trail horses ridden in a rocky environment (they don't call it the rocky mountains for nothing) most of the time those that aren't usually will at one time or another so there is too much chance of catching a shoe under a rock or a tree root. Besides, the heels of the horses hoof don't flex/expand outwards upon loading they flex inwards, so there is really not much need for width/expansion with a strong healthy hoof.

Most recently my heel fit is aimed at matching the shape of the coronet band at the heel bulbs. Shoe pulling concerns will sometimes tighten up that goal.

Gary_Miller wrote:
Support of the whole limb is why one would want to have some shoe out to the sides. Grinding to a 45% helps with the stepping off problems. Also if you fit tight in 6 weeks you will surly have the heels of the shoes into the seat of corns so why shoe tight?:confused:

Gary Hill wrote:If thats what the horse needs.

Gary Hill wrote:Who said anything about stepping off problems.

Gary Hill wrote:That would depend on the horses hoof growth, and how tight the fit is. As of yet I have not seen this problem with my fit and I'm on a 8 week cycle.

in everyday shoeing lenghth is to point of heel plus depth of stock , i.e.,3/4 x 3/8 = 3/8 long . 7/8 x 1/2 = 1/2 long .3/4 x 1/4 =1/4 long .
i understand what i am trying to say
chris

My bad, apparently in Idado this time of the year horses feet don't grow and you don't shoe them so I guess it just doesn't matter?

Gary H.,

I understand where Gary Miller is coming from. It is a lessor of two evils if that is how you want to say it. The terrain at times dictates how we shoe. In the country where Gary M lives and shoes, if you leave heel length, there could be a whole bucket of worms to gather.

A horse tripping or stumbling as it grabs that 1/4" heel, even if it is ground at a 45 degree angle, then stumbling and having the owner get in a wreck on a rocky trail with no cell reception as they tumble down a 100 foot ravin.

I think I might shoe tight instead of having that happen.

Gary Hill wrote:Sure they grow, I do shoe them and it does matter. However, I have not had the problems you mentioned with how I fit so the fit must be OK. And like everything else it depends on the horse, the work its doing, the environment it lives in, ect..

THamilton wrote:Or the shoe being pulled, because it was caught under a rock or a root on the trail, while the customer is 5 miles from the truck in steep rocky terrain.