How to Make Corrective Shoes for Horses
There is an important difference between corrective shoes and therapeutic shoes for horses. Therapeutic shoes help a horse feel more comfortable and deal with a problem, while corrective shoes help to facilitate and improve its motion. Here are the steps for making corrective shoes.
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Things You'll Need
- Horse shoes Hammer Pinchers Portable forge Anvil Protective apron (optional)
Instructions
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Making Corrective Horseshoes
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1
Assess the horse's movement to determine what is needed to facilitate or enhance that movement. According to petplace.com, you should aim to make a shoe that makes movement as easy as possible for the horse's whole leg, not just change or stop a particular movement at the foot level.
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2
Decide on the right kind of corrective shoe for that particular horse. These may include shoes that have rolled toes with a rounded bottom along the toe's surface, a rocker toe with the entire shoe curving up, a square toe or wide-web shoes.
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3
Pound the shoe into the proper shape. This is done with a hammer. Use the anvil as the surface on which to pound the shoe while holding it with the pinchers. This may be done in one of two ways. The shoe may be hammered while it is cold or it may need to be heated in a forge before shaping. Hot forging is needed if the reshaping will be extensive. The exact shape will depend on the particular type of corrective shoe you are creating.
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4
Check the shoe's fit for the particular horse on which you are doing corrective shoeing. Make any needed adjustments through additional forging.
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Tips & Warnings
While corrective shoes are usually used to help a horse move more easily, they can have other purposes. For example, gaited horses may wear special shoes to enhance their high-stepping movement. Horses that are being worked on slippery surfaces may need borium studded shoes to help them get more traction.
