Balanced Stride

"Sweetie" is a strange case I got a call one day from a lady that said that her friend, a young farrier, had suggested that she call me to help her horse. Why it was strange was that there was only one foot that was affected and the other three feet were fine. It appeared that the one of the feet had been trimmed quite a bit shorter than the others and the horse could not walk very easily on the front feet. She had been going to the trouble of bandaging the shorter foot with a lot of padding to make the horse comfortable. It had already cost her a small fortune in bandaging material, not to mention the cost of the vet coming by to check on the horse from time to time.

What had happened was that the lady's regular farrier had come by and done the horse on the regular basis and did not feel that anything was wrong and that there was nothing that he had done and was nothing he felt responsible for and needed to do nothing to correct the problem in the horse. Once that you see the pictures you need to make your own decision as to the truth in that statement.

The first picture shows the amount of bandaging materials that was being used. I had a discussion with the vet and we decided it would be in the best interest if we were to use a glue on shoe and see what progress could be made. After all, I believe that every horse can be helped in one way or another.

If you look close you will notice that the shoeing job on the other front foot is not all that great either. In the next picture you will see that the foot is about 3/4" shorter than the other one.

With this problem the horse has quite a bit of trouble putting any weight to that particular leg in order to support itself. At this point in time most of the weight is placed to the left front foot so excessive stress is now placed to that particular part of the horse's structure. Our task is to make the horse as comfortable as possible and help the feet get back to normal. The next picture shows that I have already rasp down the outside of the foot to get it as smooth as possible. This is the start of a multi-step process to get the glue-on shoe to adhere as tightly as possible.   

A close look at the condition of the hoof wall shows that there is considerable peeling away of the hoof wall. This condition shows that there are other problems with the hoof wall as well, but it also tells us that the condition of the wall tissue is in such bad shape that even if the foot was not too short we would have a very rough time to getting the nails to find strong enough to be able to have a shoe stay on. The previous photo shows you that the bad condition of the foot continues all around the entire foot. It is not just located in one small area of the foot as in some horses. IN fact I could take a horseshoe nail and place it in the area that was pealing away and it would go up into the wall of the foot about one inch.  

This picture shows the next step in the preparation of the foot, I have removed most of the flaking tissue of the wall and gone over the entire foot with a much finer sanding block  than the smooth side of my rasp. Getting as smooth a surface as possible is the true key to getting the glue to adhere to the foot and the shoe and create the strongest bond.   

This is the shoe that was used. It is an aluminum shoe that is completely covered with a firm but flexible plastic. It has no nail holes so it has to be held on with glue. The glue that is used is super glue and when used correctly will bond to most porous materials, that what makes it right for this application.  

Once that the foot has been sanded down to a very smooth finish it has to be cleaned of any dirt and grease that may have come into contact with the outer hoof wall. Leaving any dirt or oils, etc., on the hoof wall will undermine the bond of the glue. You can use medical grade alcohol or acetate, both are effective and dry quickly. If there is a problem about drying then use a heat gun to speed up the process. The next step is to check the chosen shoe for fit. It has to fit snugly but not tight. It has to fit properly just as any horseshoe has to. Once that the fit is determined to be correct I once again clean the foot with medical grade alcohol or acetate and once that that is done and dry, I clean each and every one of those tabs that have to attach to the foot. A strong bond is dependent on that part of the preparation of the foot and the shoe. The actual attaching of the foot does not take long, as long as the proper preparation of the foot has been accomplished. 

When checking for fit, don't forget how it is on the bottom ~ after all, it has to support correctly.

The next picture shows all the tabs have been glued into place. It is best to start with glue on the two rear tabs and getting them set into place on the foot and then working your way forward while alternating from side to side as you progress to the front of the foot and should be done with weight on the foot. This allows for the maximum expansion that the show must be able to accomplish.  Again, it is important to not get any foreign materials between the tab and the foot when you are placing them into position. This does take time and patience so be prepared to use both.  

Once that I am satisfied with the fit of the shoe on the foot and all of the tabs have been glued into place I then go around each and every tabs with the super glue container to make sure that there are no lose ends. Lose ends will snag on anything that the foot will come into contact with all day long and the more that a tab is pulled at the more it will work lose. The goal here is to keep the shoe on so that the horse can move about comfortably and allow the foot the time to grow to a good level that will permit the use of a regular steel horseshoe.

I always leave a tube of glue with the horse owner and council them as to the possible loosening of the tabs, what to look for and how to stay on top of any problems before they become nightmares.

This shoe stayed on for a total of 12 weeks, it allowed us to get the necessary growth to get a long enough foot that allowed the horse to walk comfortably and was able to support its weight. It was on a limited exercise schedule for this time period, it did get turned out and allowed to self-exercise in a turnout, but there was no riding. This was due to the fact that the sole of the foot was so thin that any excessive weight to that particular foot could have done some serious permanent damage.

Once that the first shoeing cycle was seen the other three feet were shod correctly and started to correct the balance problems that were also present in the horse. Once that the second shoeing cycle was completed we were able to remove the glue on shoe and place a lightweight shoe on that foot. We had to go with what is referred to as a training plate, since we were still working with an extremely thin walled foot and this shoe allowed me to use much smaller nails than I would normally use. It took able two more shoeing cycles to get strong enough hoof walls to be able to use a much more substantial shoe and stronger nails at the same time. 

Once that the horse moved into the training plate the riding schedule was allowed to become part of the horse's daily routine and was placed into a regular riding program again with the owner.

It took a total of three shoeings to get this horse back to a normal routine and maintenance program of regular shoeing. It was at that point that the horse then had a normal life once again and acted as if the problem never even existed.