says. “A few of them, for two cycles in the summer, will go in glue-ons. They stay on really well.” “With one horse,” Alexa continues, “I can leave her glue-
ons on for eight weeks. She doesn’t grow a ton of hoof so I could leave them on for two cycles. Then I put real shoes back on her.” This strategy gives the horse’s feet a break, and allows the hoof wall to grow without adding nail holes. “You use them when necessary,” she explains, “such as
if I couldn’t get a nail through their hoof without worrying about running into the white line. You keep their feet from being sore. They have a shoe on for protection.” She notes the nail-free glue-ons are expensive but can
be well worth the cost. “If you’re saving their feet and keep from having to put pads on, that’s great.” She describes the horse she competed at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships, named In Any Event. “For the most part, he went in normal steel shoes. Then in the summer when his feet started getting cruddy, we used the SigaFoos shoes.” Her farrier suggested this option, and the horse
was able to compete those three summers. “It made a world of difference,” she says. Robert Sigafoos is a certified journeyman farrier who
invented the SigaFoos Series I, II, and III shoes. Series I and II consist of an aluminum shoe with a fabric cuff. (See
soundhorse.com for information.) “It was night and day with my horse,” Alexa contin-
ues. “That was the only way he could go to Young Riders. It was like putting a pillow on his feet.” In 2011, Alexa and In Any Event were on the team that won the CCI* at Lexington. Steve also uses glue-ons as needed and currently has them on a few horses. “Glue-ons, used correctly, are one of the best ways to fix a foot. When something is missing in the quality of the foot, it’s a good fix,” he says. “But it doesn’t make the foot better [quality]. And it’s for one season.” For her dressage horses, Pam also uses glue-ons to
address certain problems. “I’ve used glue-ons only to get me to the next place. If the shoe can’t be nailed on, that option can get the horse going for three or four months,” she says. The option of glue-on shoes can help with horses who habitually lose shoes. Keeping shoes in place can be frus- trating with some horses, especially in damp conditions. Pam trains in Florida during the winter show season
there, with its notoriously damp and muggy climate, “It’s really difficult, especially if you have a horse with crumbly feet, or one who has trouble with the humidity,” she says.
Shoe Shape and Fit Plain metal shoes are flat, without the “lift” of a wedge shoe. The width of a shoe’s web (the quarter) can be narrow or wide. Toe clips can help secure the shoe. Mckrell says, “It should be not too narrow of a web. We only put clips in the toe if it’s absolutely necessary.” Christian adds some of their horses are shod only in
front. “But we also have some horses that are shod only in the back. That’s very unusual—I learned that years ago in New Zealand. If they were a little sore in the hind feet, put shoes in the back so they can take more weight on the hind end. About shoeing only in front, they’re wearing the hoof away more than they grow it, and it will come to some point where they get inflamed in the soles,” he says. The shoe’s shape can allow for some hoof expansion
Top: This jumper has two studs on the rear hind feet and he has pads on the front feet. Left: A jumper fitted with a wedge to build up the heel. Right: This jumper has studs on front, starting the course on a grass field.
62 January/February 2019
at the heel. Tim Forster, originally from Australia, now trains dressage and jumpers in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He notes jumpers have the shoe shaped “so you see the fullness of the shoe” where the shoe’s outside edge is slightly visible. “For the highest level of dressage the shoe has to fit in
a very full manner as well,” Tim explains. “I commonly see shoeing done in a way that’s tight to prevent the horse from pulling the shoe, which isn’t beneficial for perfor- mance. Therefore you can lose a few degrees in what you’re after in the horse’s performance. By keeping the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
