leaving bigger cuts in the grass for the following horses. At Thunder- bird and Spruce Meadows [Canada], choosing studs depends on how the ground holds up. The grass speci- fies how much it drains and how it might wear over the day. “At Del Mar and Blenheim, each
Left: A shoe nail can remove or insert the cotton plug that fits into the stud hole when the stud is not in place. Middle: Using the tee tap to clear the threads inside the stud hole. Right: Screwing studs into the stud holes.
running on grass or soft ground. Depending on the “give” of natural footing, riders can adjust the size of studs that screw into the stud holes drilled into shoes. Studs are normally placed on the heels of shoes. “Almost all use studs here on the grass,” Steve says about the grass field at popular New Mexico competi- tion venue HIPICO Santa Fe. “It’s soft and nice ground, with good cushion to land.” At that venue, he uses small studs. “Bigger studs can make the ground fall away
Tradition and Innovation
In shoeing, both traditional and modern approaches can help the horse. “Having competed 12 million years, I see the new wave is important. But ‘old school’ keeps horses going a long time,” Pam says. She calls herself “not overly creative.” “I’d rather take a little time to let nature help the horse, rather than a quick fix that doesn’t help very much,” she explains. She has some horses that go barefoot in the
summer. “Some do better barefoot. Nature does a better job.” When considering the benefits, others also choose
grass field takes a different type of stud,” he continues. “The majority of riders let the grass pick it.” Marc uses studs in competition,
but rarely for schooling. “We run on grass all the time, and we don’t stud as much as people who don’t run
on grass. Our horses are used to it, but also how much stud you need depends on how well you can balance your horse. If you’re used to it and you’re riding well, then all you’re doing is more damage with the stud.” “There’s a certain amount of slippage that’s necessary and important, especially in the hind leg and especially in a tight turn,” he explains. “If you limit that, you start work- ing on the tendons and ligaments and you can cause more injuries. So we go with as little stud as we can.” “If the ground is good, even with
my Intermediate horse, I won’t stud. Obviously it depends on the horse. All of mine are pretty confident. Less is more,” he adds. Alexa says she puts tiny road studs in up front, and small grass tips behind so she has some traction when turning. About competing at the Colorado
The farrier is working on a steel shoe with side clips for a jumper, after building up the heel with SuperFast.
barefoot. “I generally don’t have horses in shoes until they are five or six, depending on the surfaces and the footings,” Tim says. Christian is also an advocate of horses going barefoot. “We try to encourage the blood flow as much as possible. So you generally don’t have those big issues with the feet. They are turned out every day. Our school horses are barefoot, and they work a lot.” “In the wintertime we put shoes on one school horse because of the coldness
and the ground is a little hard, just to get him off the floor a little bit, because he is quite heavy,” Mckrell says. Copper-coated nails, a more recent invention, might help a horse with bad
walls. The copper over steel is designed to inhibit fungus in the foot. A lot of farriers have learned to become creative problem-solvers. For exam-
ple, if a horse might need its heels elevated a few degrees, a wedge pad can lift heels, or the farrier can apply a urethane product such as SuperFast to build up the foot. When the urethane hardens, the farrier can rasp it to the ideal thickness, and then attach the shoe.
64 January/February 2019
Horse Park, she comments, “This is way different ground than what we have at home. We did the Millbrook [New York] Horse Trials in August, and it was so muddy. We had huge bullets in at Millbrook. Here [in Colo- rado], you could almost go without studs. My young horses don’t go with studs.” Typically riders use two studs on
each shoe, front and behind. “I use two studs behind. A lot of riders use three studs behind,” Steve says. Rather than overthinking shoe
choices, these trainers concur on the back-to-basics approach, even as they carefully customize their shoe- ing approach to each horse’s needs. “I’m a fan of the simpler the better, and being horse-friendly,” Steve says. “The horses will tell you what works for them.”
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