Three weeks into Riley's shoeing, and two days before the horse show we went to last week, here is what I found when I picked up Ri's foot. Something I've never seen before! The hoof wall just ain't holding the nails. Fortunately, the farrier came the next day, and to my surprise he was able to nail the shoe on. I had already gone out and bought an Easyboot, but it may be useful in the future....
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Have you ever considered glue ons? I had a horse that had a really weak hoof wall... The glue ons saved her feet.
ReplyDeleteThat looks fun! Amazing what horses will do to themselves... I had a mare once take off her back shoe, and leave every, single, nail in her foot, like they were still holding a shoe on. It was biazare.
ReplyDeleteGood farrier to get those shoes on.
ReplyDeleteThe constant wet makes the hoof walls soft. Could be the problem. Despite all the talk about keeping the hoofs moist, my farrier tells me not. Desert horses have hard, solid hoofs. This year it's just been too rainy and wet.
I try not to give my Boy repeated baths and hosing in the summer as well. I sponge him off mostly. Once again, too much water softens his feet and off go the shoes.
Weird. The only time I had ever seen anything like that was with my 1* horse. He had a loose nail sticking out about 5mm beyond the plane of the shoe and I ran him on it. Afterwards, when I was pulling studs, it was very similar in display to what you have here.
ReplyDeleteVery odd, though. I can't think of why they would get that loose that simultaneously. Are his hoof walls just really crumbly?
OMG! I've never seen nails do that before. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.
ReplyDeletei've just started a farrier apprenticeship a few months ago and even i haven't seen that happen to more than one clench before, is the wall really weak or something?
ReplyDeleteAs a farrier I've seen this a lot. It could be a number of things including wet pasture that goes really dry quick causing the hoof to expand/contract which causes clinches to become loose. As they become lose they can fall out and become stepped on like in your picture. It's best to periodically check the clinches with your hand and if any feel sharp or bumpy hammer them down against the hoof wall with a regular hammer. Another thought might be the type of nail or how your farrier is driving and clinching the shoeing nails. I find a few brands are holding the clinches tighter this year. It's been an awful year for horse feet.
ReplyDeleteVery weird! I've never seen a shoe like that (while it's still on the horse's foot). I hope he didn't scratch or cut himself on the edges of the nails sticking out. It clearly could have turned out to be a worse situation.
ReplyDeleteThat looks bad! I am so glad my horse is barefoot and has really, really good feet; at 8 he has never had shoes.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the foot needs a break from shoes? My personal belief is that shoes are for healthy feet only, and that feet need a good break from shoes every year, if the owner needs them on at all. Is there an alternative (boots, hoof cast, rubber shoes, glue-ons etc) that might help?
ReplyDeleteWow! Good thing you caught it. My mare has really thin hoof walls and the last time I went to the mountains, the farrier could not put shoes on her back hooves. Luckily, she has pretty touch feet. I used EZ boots on the back, but she lost one the first day. We continued to ride for 5 days and she was fine.
ReplyDeleteTry glue-ons! Or go barefoot and use boots!
ReplyDeleteWe were having a really problem with weak walls, thrush, abcesses. We've been using venetian turpentine alternating with hoof dressing to harden his hooves. He's actually gone down a size in shoes because they're now holding their shape. He also takes farrier's formula from smart-pak. We've fixed the other problems as well which helps.
ReplyDeleteNever seen this before, really bizarre! Please keep us posted!
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