How to Pick Shoes For Your Horse

Just like people, every horse has a different type of foot, which requires a different approach to how they are shod. Not every horse needs shoes and not every horse can go without shoes. Understanding the basics of horse shoes along with help of a good blacksmith are the key ingredients to success.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Reliable Farrier/Blacksmith
• Good Understanding of Your Horse

1. Find a farrier that you like to work with and respect. Blacksmiths can vary in skill and price. Just because they charge a lot does not always mean that they are better than their competition, it means that they have found people who will pay that much. Just like any other service, be sure that you are able to easily communicate and rely on them.

2. Watch how your horse moves.

3. Compare how your horse moves with the job you are expecting them to perform.

4. Understand the makeup of your horse's foot from the outside. Look at the outside for chips, cracks or splaying. These are signs of weakness. Look at the color; white hooves are weaker than dark hooves.

5. Pick up the foot and look at the underneath of the horse's foot. Inspect the hoof for places of wear and tear. Horses have a tendency to put more pressure in certain spots and this will wear down the hoof or current shoe they have on in those points of pressure. Look at the wall of the foot and see how much hoof (gray) is to the outside of the white line. This can only be done without a shoe on the horse's foot. Also look for discoloration which are generally signs of bruising.

6. Decide after these assessments, with your farrier, what shoes could be possibilities. Certain farriers feel more comfortable with certain shoes and methods.

7. Understand what the different shoes do. Steel shoes offer more support, while aluminum shoes are lighter giving your horse a floating gait but are not very supportive for a weak foot. Flat footed horses and those with navicular symptoms generally do better with more shoe such as a bar shoe. Horses with backend weakness (stifles and hocks) tend to like a degree shoe or pad behind. Horses with bruised feet do well with full pads and silicone, or sometimes just a rim pad. Glue on shoes are great for the horse with thin hoof walls or brittle feet. Swedges, borium and toe grabs add traction.

8. Make small changes with the shoeing each time the blacksmith comes. This way it makes it easier to know what change helped. Too many changes too quickly can do more harm than good and you will not know which change was the possible problem.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask around in your horse community for reliable farriers.
• General maintenance for a typical horse is to be shod or trimmed every 5-6 weeks. This can vary with performance level and nutrition.
• Try to always understand the change you are trying to make. If you are not sure about a method or shoe look it up or ask around.
• Sometimes there are fast fixes and then other times there are slower fixes. Be patient and always ask questions when you do not understand something.