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Discussion on Out of Defeat Part II-Barefoot racehorse solution
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 6, 2010 - 9:28 pm:
This is a continuation of my barefoot/nailess horse saga.
Both of my horses have had much of the winter off. Wicked Persuasion (Hanna) stopped racing in November when I went back to work and my colt had the whole month of February off due to the severe weather conditions on the East Coast. My colt has also been gelded, he is so much nicer.
Any of you who read my previous thread on the trials and tribulations of trying to keep my horses barefoot and sound and the use of the combo Hoofwear/shoe combination will be surprised when I tell you I am going try and go in a different direction.
Since, I think what I am about to do will work for others, I've decided to outline my plan and see what comments any of you Ha'ers have that may get me to a good solution for my horses.
So, here is where I stand. I have long been a believer that my horses will stay sounder and healthier if I could find a way to not have to keep shoes on them either nailed on or glued on. Although, I prefer glue-ons over nails, they are not a cost efficient way of shoeing horses. Boots in general are too heavy and have too much hardware on them to be useful when racing.
Both Easy Care and Renegade have come out with lightweight glue-on shoes. But again, I would have to keep the boots on for relatively long periods unless I used gaiters (Easy Boot Gloves) and that added to the weight of the boots.
So, I am going to experiment with putting three or four dots of Adhere on the lower part of the hoof wall (where the cuff of the Renegade boot goes)rasping the Adhere flat, leaving 1/16" and using 3 or 4 flathead screws ( screwed through the boot cuff and into the Adhere, not the hoof) to semi-permanently affix the boot to the hoof.
By doing this I will be able to remove the boots as needed to do my maintenance trims, leave them off if I am not jogging or training to give my horses feet a rest and basically have the best of both worlds by being able to work my horses with or without boots as I see fit.
I like the Renegade boots more that the gloves because the break-over point in the boot itself is further back than in the Glove and it fits much better. It is a bit more giving in that it does not have to fit perfectly to do its job.
I will hopefully have all my boots next week, I am going to try and schedule the trimmer to come on Saturday. After he comes, I will be maintaining my own horses feet in between trims.
Wish me luck!
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 6, 2010 - 10:37 pm:
Rachelle, I'm kind of confused
I think you are saying you are going to do this with the glue on shoe? Not the boot right.
Do you think the Adhere will hold up if you put a screw in it?
I am a visual person so copied the renegade glue on (I think that's what you were talking about) and put dots approximately where you are going to put the screws??
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Member:
kpaint
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 11:57 am:
Rachelle, I have been reading the past hour about the Renegade Boots and Glue Ons.
Have you emailed the Renegade folks about the stability of putting a screw into the hardened Adhere product? Wonder if they have any idea if it would work and how much torque it would take to rip off that Adhere. Does it coming off under pressure damage the hoof wall and perhaps the underlying structures? It probably isn't a good comparison, but all I could think of was an human acrylic nail overlay being ripped off the nail bed. It hurts. Acetate is used to dissolve the acrylic once it is bonded.
How do you get the Glue Ons off anyway? I looked all over the Renegade site and didn't see how a person is supposed to take them off.
I did see that the Glue Ons were short term use although mention was made of five weeks on as possible. The site also stated that a short track Glue On was in development. Maybe you can be a test case for them. 
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 12:30 pm:
Diane,
I haven't decided yet, how many screws to use. My original thought was three, one on each side and one at the toe. But I may need 5 (2 on each side and 1 at the toe).
The Adhere would go directly on the hoof wall ( I picture either dots or squares between 1/2 and 3/4" around , allowed to cure and dry and then rasped flat with enough left so that once I screwed the screw in through the boot ( has to be a very small screw), it would not move. I might have to use a very thin washer to prevent the boot from tearing from the torque on the boot.
Lavender is the Adhere Glue spots, black dots are the screws.
I also haven't decided if it would be easier to just have a 3/4" band of Adhere on the hoof from the quarters to the first nail hole near the toe, on both sides and a dot at the toe. That will be the fine tuning, I'll need to do when the trimmer shows up.
By the way, my boots are black and I will be using black Adhere.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 1:12 pm:
Do you think that will be enough to hold the shoe in place? Especially with your horses hoof flight and speed? I'd be worried about them flying off
When I was looking at these and thinking about it I think I would want some sort of velcro strap holding the back in place, otherwise it seems kind of unstable? I'd be riveting me a strap on them to go around the top of the heel bulbs to stabalize the back I think... then again I am rather paranoid
Tah Dah!! I think this would be easy to add and make them much more stable??? I LOVE experiments!
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 1:25 pm:
Vicki,
Yes, I have emailed ( several times)I am not worried about the Adhere at all, since I've used Adhere in the past with other applications and it had not ripped away from the hoof wall at all even under racing conditions. I am more worried that the boot is going to tear. But, if I allow for more screws, I don't think that will happen. I just need to experiment with this.
Rachelle
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 1:33 pm:
Diane,
On an every day basis, I think I will be fine. To race and train, some black electrical tape would work fine as a little extra protection from them coming off.
Rachelle
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Member:
kpaint
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 1:33 pm:
I like the idea of a thin flat washer to protect the boot. Probably special order hardware, but I'd like stainless steel.
Did Renegade have any thoughts about dots/squares of Adhere vs. a band of Adhere around the hoof?
I'm curious how these would be in mud. Do you ever race in such conditions or is it always hard and dry?
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 2:43 pm:
Rachelle as far as the easy boots(glue ons) when you said gaiter did you mean cuff?
I see the easy boot glue ons come with a cuff you can screw into. I kind of like them (for me anyway)
I guess they now come with thumb screws or are going to so you don't need a screw driver. I don't know if these have been released yet, but wonder if rigging something like their cuff and gluing it on would be feasible, don't look like it would be too hard to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G4ENmeoMYU&NR=1
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 3:01 pm:
Diane,
No, the gaiter attaches to the boot and then goes around the pastern and the boot is held on by the gaiter.
Easy Boot does have a cuff application to go along with the Easyboot glove, but the cuff adds extra weight that I don't need. I looked at this to see of it would work, this might work for you. The cuff itself is glued on and you can take the boots on and off. This is similar to what I want, but it makes the glove stick out more than I need.
Rachelle
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 7, 2010 - 6:09 pm:
Lots of the winning endurance riders in the North Carolina mountains were using Renegade boots and I was told that some were using those plastic type of fasteners (tie wraps? . . .don't know for sure what they are called) that you can wrap around, pulling one end through the other and securing, before going out on muddy trails. Nobody ever showed me exactly where they were placing them.
The Renegades are great because they really flex with the foot and don't touch or rub the heel bulb at all.
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 12:28 pm:
Rachelle, how deep are the screws you plan to use? You are talking about screwing into the hoof wall right? I would be worried about going too deep into the laminae, and/or introducing bacteria or creating a weak spot in the hoof wall if you are going to be taking these on and off frequently. Or are the screws going just into the spots of adhere rather than the hoof wall?
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Member:
kpaint
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 12:33 pm:
Shannon, she is screwing into the Adhere "dots" she has put on the outside of wall and rasped smooth but still "tall enough" to receive the screw. If the Adhere pops off, the boot falls off.
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 4:17 pm:
Ahh OK I see that now, thanks!
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 8, 2010 - 6:35 pm:
Also, because there are several glue dots/squares with screws even if one does come loose the chances of them all coming loose at the same time are pretty slim, so once these are on the way I want them, I think they will stay put until I take them off.
I am also reviewing the idea to cut out part of the tread on the bottom, for ventilation and to be able to wash out any dirt and debris in between resets/trims. The backs of the Renegade boots are below the heel bulb and as long as there is no glue to block the heels, I should be able to just spray out any accumulating dirt.
The guy from Renegade boots isn't getting what I am trying to do and he doesn't understand my need to remove the boots and retrim on a more frequent basis. I told him I'd send pictures and keep him updated as to how well these boots wear in an abrasive environment.
Eventually, I am going to wear down the boot treads and have a mostly flat surface to which I will either glue or screw shoes to without having to nail into my horses foot.
This is actually what I wanted to do in the first place, but was unable to come up with just a boot shell with no tread.
If this works right ( and we know how that goes) my horses will wear off the tread while they are jogging, so that by the time they are ready to train, I will be able to put their racing shoes on the boots and just continue from there. Who knows, I may like the boots so much I won't need to add shoes, just get another pair of boots.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 9, 2010 - 8:14 am:
Let us know how it goes Rachelle, I have a hard time picturing the adhere holding up to your horses vigorous workouts.. Hope it works for you I'm sure if it doesn't you will come up with something eventually. necessity is the mother of invention
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 9, 2010 - 2:10 pm:
Good luck, Rachelle.
Let us know how this works out.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 21, 2010 - 10:46 am:
Update:
Well the first attempt at my Screw on boots, did not go as planned. More from a material point of view than the concept level.
I wanted to use Adhere to be able to anchor the screws, but the trimmer had left his Adhere dispensing gun in his other truck, so we wound up using Equilox. The Equilox had not completely cured when we screwed on the boots and while I was quite excited to see them on my colt this way. One good pawing session and off came the boots. we did take pictures of before and after the trim and with the screwed on boots on his feet, so at least we have a starting point.
Because my colt was so patient( he basically stood for two hours while his mom was tryng to decide what to do) and I did not want to make a big deal out of this, I decided to glue the boots on. He has had them on for three days, I towed him yesterday and today and I am going to start to up his mileage.
The Renegade boots fit very well. The breakover is at the right point in his foot and he walked off with them on like he's been wearing them for years.
My next attempt at the Screw on boots will be with a little longer screw, or velcro that will enable me to fit the boot a little tighter and have a strap( Diane) that crosses and attaches to the opposite side of the boot behind the heel bulbs.
I also may use either a quarter boot or a grab boot in conjunction with the Renegade boot as an additional safety precaution and as a bit more crossfiring protection.
The funny thing was, when I went to tow him yesterday, he flipped right to the pace( no hobbles) and paced the entire 2 miles at what ever speed I wanted to go. I think when he was shod conventionally (steel shoes). He was not as balanced(gaitwise) as he is right now. So, far I am impressed, we will see what happens over the next few weeks.
The next prototype(victim) is my race mare. I know she can go barefoot. I'll get a better idea when I get her to the other farm later today and get a chance to look at her feet and deal with any issues before I decide what version of shoe/boot/barefoot I am going to go with.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 21, 2010 - 11:27 am:
HMMM Rachelle as I was reading your update something popped in my head. I wonder if after you set the adhere if you put a Small screw anchor in it and put it as far in the hoof wall as the screw is going to go you wouldn't have something more stable. Also physics not being my # one subject by far I would think setting the screws lower would give you a better chance at this.
The black arrow is the way in which the force on the boot would be at the beginning of flight. With nothing holding toward the bottom of the boot the boot is going to easily come loose on the bottom creating undo force on your screws at the top Right? A strap would definitely help this, but I think putting the screws lower would solidify it more.
Picture this boot on the ground as is and dragging it backwards...nothing holding it there with the screws high...you are doomed to the screws pulling out???
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 21, 2010 - 2:51 pm:
Diane,
Where you have your dots is almost exactly where I set the screws. Part of the problem was that we only had three screws per foot to deal with. I would have liked 5 and because the boot unless you do glue it on, is not an exact fit,there tends to be a gap on the bottom that adds to the tortion when the foot hits the ground.
I think I did the right thing by gluing on the colts boots, today he was bucking and kicking and playing on the gate and the boots stayed on, and because the heels are not glued I can wash any track garbage out of them easily.
I think the more I think about it the more I like the velcro idea, my trimmer is waiting with baited breath (not) to hear about my next experiment.
Rachelle
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 21, 2010 - 8:15 pm:
I just read through all of this. Would this be stupid: What if like a Velcro "sling" went between the yellow upper and lower orange base? I was thinking of attaching old fashioned aluminum snow shoes to our boots. These have Velcro and some kind of clamps too. There would have to be some kind of gaiter for protection above the coronet band of course. I am picturing a 2 part thing: A piece around the upper hoof wall first that then attaches to the straps under the boot. So the two parts would pull against each other when tightened.
I have a vague picture of what I am thinking, so probably not explaining it well.
Or we could go with my son's idea: IF duct tape, WD-40, and a big hammer won't fix it... Sorry, Yooper Humor!
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 22, 2010 - 9:02 pm:
Folks,
Here are some pictures of my unsuccessful attempt at the screw on boots, also the before trim and after trim for some critiques.
I also included a touched up picture of what they look like as glue ons although in real life they are a much closer fit with no gaps and good breakover.
I checked the wear today after 4 days of jogging( about 10 miles total) and there is no wear at all. The boots look like they just came out of the box.
Another plus, for a while whenever I let this horse stay in a stall for more then a few hours, his legs would stock up, so far no stocking up and he has been in for at least 12 hours a day. He and my mare are on opposite turnout schedules, so he is in during the night and out during the day.
Now, hopefully I can post these pictures and I won't get an error message, the file size was pretty large when they came over in the email I got from my trimmer, but I have resized them so hopefully everything will be fine.
Trim photos are from right front foot, boot photos are left front.
 
 
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 22, 2010 - 9:37 pm:
Nice hoof Rachelle want to trade hooves for awhile? It looks like he hardly has any hoof wall, did you have to take extra off for the boot? Or am too used to seeing too much wall hanging down?
I think you have your work cut out for you keeping the boots on with screws and adhere. If the glue is working well is there a reason you don't want to continue to use it?
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 22, 2010 - 10:02 pm:
Diane,
No, we did not take any extra hoof wall off for the boot and the reason I don't want to keep using glue is that once these boots go on they stay on. There is no getting them off to trim or do anything else. since my original idea was to trim every ten days and give my horses feet a break when they did not necessarily need shoes, glueing them on does not fit the bill. Also from a conditioning prospective, if I ever want to race barefoot, my horses feet have to be conditioned to take it, leaving the boots on doesn't allow me to work them on the surface they will be racing on. But for right now, this is a good alternative and the colt certainly likes them.
I am looking to get about 100 miles( about 4 weeks) on each set of boots. If I get more. Thats a plus. So far so good. I think because of the HPT trim with the beveled toe, I will not have a problem with toes getting too long and causing interference. But we shall see at least now if he hits himself, he hits with a soft shoe instead of a hard sharp steel shoe that's gotta be a plus too.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 22, 2010 - 10:24 pm:
Wonder if a double sided tape would work???
Something like this...quite a flashy advertisement
https://www.getuglu.com/?refcode=1002
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Monday, Mar 22, 2010 - 10:46 pm:
Hmmm Diane,
That Uglu stuff looks interesting, I know it says it comes off easily, but I wonder how. I am going to order some and see how it works. I can't go wrong for $10 bucks I'll bet the shipping and handling is twice as much as the product. That's how all these infomercials make money. They offer 2 for the price of one and then charge you 2 shipping and handling charges.
Thanks for the link. I know something will eventually work.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 23, 2010 - 6:34 am:
Rachelle they sell it at amazon and some hardware stores like Lowes and Home depot. If you google it you may be able to find it somewhere near you that sells it.
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 23, 2010 - 10:59 am:
Glad the boots seem to be working so far. They must be made of some tough stuff to not be showing any wear at all; have you been working him on the stone dust track?
I agree he doesn't seem like he has much hoof wall thickness, though that is par for the course for many race bred horses. He also looks a little contracted and like his heels want to migrate forward a bit but I can see the trim is addressing that. I can also see why you really don't want to put shoes on him!
Interesting that the boots are preventing him stocking up. Any thoughts as to why?
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 23, 2010 - 7:27 pm:
Shannon,
The boots are actually made for endurance horses and are meant to wear a long time. I am on a stonedust track, but part of the outside is dirt/sand.
I believe that his thin hoofwalls are from his two traditional shoeings before I decided to go with the boots.
My only thought on the not stocking up is that the boots help him keep his HPT trim and thus his bony column stays more correct. He would not stock up when barefoot either, only with shoes. Tonight we get the mud test to see if they stay on since both my horses are ankle deep in mud and puddles.
Rachelle
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Friday, Apr 16, 2010 - 7:54 pm:
Time for an update:
Well the boots stayed on through just about everything, but I wound up pulling them off after about 2 weeks because my colt was starting to have an attitude and I thought it might be his feet. When I got them off, took me a very long time and wound up wrecking the cuffs to get them off, there was a lot of build up of a combination of dirt, sand and glue. So he is now barefoot again. The boots held up well to the stone dust track, enough so that I used the bottoms on my other horse.
Hanna was jogging barefoot until a few days ago, then I got the bright idea to do a modified combo shoe using Perfect Hoofwear and just the bottoms of the colts boots( instead of the shoes I used last year). I did that on her hind feet, worked great and they are just glued on, no glue on the Hoofwear and no nails. So far so good.
On the fronts, I used a full roll of Hoofwear, although I think the next time will only be a half a roll and then we finger painted Adhere around where a shoe would normally go and then left it alone, no rasping. I have had a problem in the past with the Perfect Hoofwear wearing out at the toe, but I checked today and there are no signs of it wearing away. The only thing I have to be very careful of are concrete and cement surfaces the Hoofwear slips. It's fine on all other surfaces. I can live with this.
The Perfect Hoofwear seems to be the trick for being able to put whatever type of shoe I want on to it without having to use nails. The Hoofwear comes with two tiny screws that it is wrapped under, so there is no longer any additional glue being put on the foot and it keeps the hoofwear down below the bulbs of the heel. This mare raced and won last year in a Hoofwear/shoe combination so I think we will be fine in that combination this year although I may go to a plastic shoe instead of steel.
I am looking at Easy walkers or Flex step shoes, can't make up my mind, there is one other shoe I am looking at it's called a Burns shoe( named after the guy that invented them). It's a very tough plastic shoe more like the nailed on Queens Plate aluminum shoe that Hanna used to race in but is very workable with the Perfect Hoofwear. It is normally glued on, but requires a lot of hoof preparation, using the Hoof Wear you don't really need the Prep.
Anyway, thats currently where I am.
I'll Update as we march forward in this experiment.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Friday, Apr 16, 2010 - 10:15 pm:
Thanks for the update Rachelle, your persistence is admirable and you will find what works for you eventually
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 2010 - 11:23 am:
Interesting. Thanks for sharing, Rachelle,
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 2010 - 1:49 pm:
Interesting, hope you have continued success with your mare this year.
Wanted to ask: what do you think of the horse shoes that are a steel core with hard rubber coating? Have you ever seen them? I don't think they would work for what you are trying to do as they are nail-on, but I find them an interesting concept because the rubber coating is supposed to absorb some of the shock/concussion regular shoes create. Just wondered if in your research you had come across them...
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 2010 - 3:27 pm:
Shannon,
Do you have a brand name for the shoes you are speaking of? They sound like the Burns Polyflex shoes I was talking about above.
I want to try plastic shoes on this mare for several reasons. 1. She comes very close to her knees going at speed and while she does not normally hit her knees and she does not wear knee boots, if she were to hit herself, I'd rather it be with something softer than steel. 2. I want her to go as light as possible, the less weight she has to carry on her feet the faster she will go. She is very good gaited and paces everywhere, so she really does not need any weight at all to balance her.
Almost all shoes can be glued on, what glue you use is dependent on the material the shoe is made from. Also, when you use Hoofwear the bond is to the Hoofwear and not the hoof, so there is more leeway in the shoe types and the glue. For most glue on applications I have been using Vettec's Adhere it seems to work on most anything, even steel upon which most normal glues don't work.
Rachelle
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Monday, Apr 19, 2010 - 11:27 am:
The ones I was thinking of are called 'Smooth Walker Shoes' though looking at them again I think they would be too heavy for your application. They are designed specifically for carriage horses and those working on very hard surfaces. https://www.smoothwalker.com/
There is another brand I came across in googling a bit called 'Remuda Tire Company' (??), they are a regular steel shoe encapsulated in polyurethane. Also I think made for carriage horses and probably not a good fit for what you are trying to do but I couldn't tell a lot from their website .. https://www.remudatire.com/RTC2.htm
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 9:45 am:
Another Update:
My race mare has been back jogging for about 5 weeks, I have been limiting how many miles she jogs because of the abrasiveness of the track and her conditioning level. She was barefoot in front up until this past Thursday.
About three weeks ago, I took the rear set of Renegade boots that I had on my colt and removed because of the build up of debris issues, and used only the treads with the cuff cut off ( cuffs wrecked from the removal from the colt)along with the pre-application of 4 wraps of Hoofwear installed with surgical screws and no glue. Treads were then glued to the bottom using Adhere.
I wasn't sure how this would work. However, I am happy to report this combination has worked exceedingly well. The Renegade boots have to be the most long lasting hoof covering I have ever used. Not only don't they show much wear, but they are going to get reset again today, and will most likely last at least another 2 resets, not bad for a plastic shoe over a tough surface.
Since this combination worked so well for the back feet, I did the same for the fronts, with some minor adjustments.
For the fronts, I cut out( using a drill and exacto knives ( I think I am going to invest in a soldering iron, so I can melt and smooth at the same time) two sections on either side of the piece that covers the frog area. I did this for two reasons, 1) to lighten up the front boot ( most pacers go with light shoes up front) and 2) to let me clean under the boot and to avoid the dirt/sand and debris build up issues I had with the colt.
Today, when we remove the hind boot combo to reset, I am hoping that the boot will just come off when the Hoof Wear screws are removed. If this is the case, then I will have solved the main problem of how to get the boots on and off myself, at my convenience and I will most like be able to do this whole process myself, if I choose to do so.
This also lets me use different combinations of shoes and or boots depending in what I am doing, racing training, jogging, turnout etc. by unscrewing and removing one set and putting on a different set or none at all.
I like it!
I told the trimmer to bring his camera, maybe I can get some pictures and post them.
Rachelle
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 1:39 pm:
Awesome, Rachelle. Thanks for sharing this.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 12:25 pm:
Update:Wicked Persuasion
The hoofwear/boot tread combination came off without a problem. There was very little dirt/debris/sand under the boot, there was no sign of any of the bruising that was quite evident in her right rear hoof 3 weeks ago. There was a little bit of a bacterial issue going on, but we decided to treat with Silvestrol and leave the boots off for a few days, much of it came off with the trim. There was not much hoofgrowth, but then again I did not expect much since her feet were really short to start with. However, I had lots of sole exfoliation and the concavity is starting to come back into both her back feet. Three weeks ago, her feet were very flat and she was on her soles.
I would say she was drastically improved from where we started. The wear on the treads has been outstanding. I am going to cut out the hind boot treads the same way I did the fronts, I think this will cut down on the bacterial issues in the future. Trimmer will be back Tuesday to reset the hind boots(and take pictures).
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 12:40 pm:
Glad it is working for you Rachelle!
My horses soles seem to be going through excessive growth and exfoliation. It does seem as if when there is excessive sole built up they get a little ouchy or sometimes bruised
Look forward to your pics.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 8:26 pm:
Update:
After a 10 month hiatus from racing Wicked Persuasion made her first start back today a really good one finishing second in a very fast race with another new driver. Unfortunately, it was not barefoot or nailess. She was in regular nailed on shoes.
She was doing really well in her hoofwear/shoe combos until the trimmer decided he was going to start charging me by the hour, that got pretty pricey and became not very cost efficient, especially when he charged me if a shoe came off.
Oh well, I won't give up hope of figuring out a way to do this.
The good thing is the farrier I am using does a really great job. He really does fit the shoe to the horse and does not rasp down the walls to make the horse fit the shoe and he bevels the toe with the shoe on( Even though he does not know what the word bevel means, I asked him). Some how he gets the rasp between the hoof and the shoe and rounds off the sharp edges instead of rasping down the wall.
Her feet look pretty good, she is keeping her correct angles and heel height and she is growing foot between shoeing cycles every three to 4 weeks. I think keeping the shoes off of her for as long as I did, did her feet a lot of good. She never grew any foot, her heels were always crushed and I could not go more than 16-18 days without her needing shoes again.
She will probably get a few weeks off during her racing campaign where I will pull off her shoes and give her feet a rest, I think its good for me and for her.
So back to racing we go, I missed it and it was fun to get back to it again.
See you all at the races!
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 9:49 pm:
Good news on the race, congrats! Shoes are necessary sometimes, with a good farrier I bet she'll do fine. Nobody can say you didn't try.
Hope you have a successful campaign Rachelle and have fun!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 5:36 pm:
Good news, Rachelle.
I'm sure that the time out of the shoes made a huge difference.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Saturday, Oct 2, 2010 - 8:52 am:
I am going to start part III, as we are going on yet another journey. I don't think I'll get to 13 parts like Diane but, I look like I'm working on it.
Rachelle
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Oct 2, 2010 - 10:12 am:
Never say never Rachelle Looking forward to your new "experiment"!
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