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That crooked shoe trick I finally figured out after 8 years
Been fighting with a draft mare for the last 6 months, kept pulling every shoe to the inside. Tried everything, different nails, different toe placement. Last Tuesday I finally said screw it and set the shoe about a quarter inch wider on the outside wing and let it sit slightly crooked on purpose. Stayed dead straight for the whole 5 week reset cycle. Anybody else ever just given up on textbook placement to make a tricky hoof actually hold?
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umar5925d ago
Crooked shoes fix more horses than textbook ones ever will.
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victor_jones9925d agoTop Commenter
That line "crooked shoes fix more horses" is the kind of thing old timers say but nobody ever explains what it actually means in practice. You talking about a farrier who learned by trial and error versus one who just passed the certification test? Because I've seen both types and the textbook guys usually miss stuff like how a horse moves on different terrain or what specific hoof cracks need a different approach. Give me an example of what you mean by crooked shoes versus textbook ones.
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sullivan.spencer15d ago
Yeah I read somewhere that old school farriers would deliberately dish a shoe by a few degrees on horses that travel close, and it basically acts like a makeshift trailer to stop the foot twisting mid-stride. I tried it on a gelding of mine who kept snapping clips off every other cycle, turned the shoe about a half inch off center and never had the problem again. Textbook fit is great till you realize the horse didn't read the textbook.
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