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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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umar595mo ago
Crooked shoes fix more horses than textbook ones ever will.
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victor_jones995mo ago
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.spencer5mo 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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