natural balance shoes

[NuttyMare]

dont really know much about them - does anyone have any experience with them?

[KarinUS]

My horse had them when he was still shod. The break over point is much better than with regular shoes. We used the aluminum version.
They have to be correctly applied to be good (set back further, toe rasped accordingly, etc.)
Scarlett's Skeeter is wearing them right now. Maybe PM her for input. ;)

[Yann]

Rio had them on for a couple of years. As Karin says breakover is earlier as the toe of the shoe is set back and is cast with a roll in it. The idea is to mimic the form of a wild horse hoof, and the idea is that the toe, which is exposed can wear naturally during the shoeing cycle and help avoid the developent of the typical shod long toe. There is a school of thought that says they put pressure on the tip of the pedal bone and are therefore not such a good thing, but I don't know how much evidence there is to back this up. They're also heavier than a regular shoe, at least the steel ones we had are.

They worked well for Rio, and reduced stumbling and forging, but not as much as taking them off altogether :)

[coss]

my farrier had my mare in them last year (she needed shoes as wear was outwaying hoof growth) and i liked them, they allow the hoof to grow more. he tried putting my mare in conventional shoes with the front toe clip but her toe grew and pulled it away from the heel
NB shoes allow the toe to grow and be naturally worn down so they don't get worn too short but the shoes stay put.
one of my friends had her horse put in NB for a change and her horse's feet looked much better for it. my horse is now barefoot though :p

[Holly B]

At our yard, apart from me and my sister who keep our ponies barefoot, there are two other women who each have an Arab (they do endurance with them). One has natural balance shoes on all 4 hooves, the other has them on her front hooves and barefoot behind. They both seem to really like them. They woman who has NB shoes on her horse's front feet only used to use normal shoes and has only recently changed over to NB. She obviously prefers them as she's stuck with them. :)

[coss]

i haven't seen NB back shoes before Holly B, are they like the fronts in that you can't see the shoes with clips etc?

[laurenefb]

My boy wears NB shoes, but as someone said to me, 'they are only as good as the farrier who fits them'. I think if they are not fitted correctly they can do more harm than good. You can find the approved farriers on the TFP website (http://www.tfp.uk.com/nbfdata1.htm) and also some useful info on NB here.

coss - yes, the back shoes look much the same as the fronts, the toe is rolled and the shoes have side clips.

[Keket]

My RI's mare goes in NB shoes and works beautifully with them. The trim isn't pretty to look at until it grows out a bit, but if the horse is comfortable, who cares? The only problem is that they're aluminum and wear out much faster then regular shoes. The mare gets a new pair of shoes almost every time, the horses in regulars usually just get a new pair every two shoeings.

[shandy84]

Shandy has gone into natural balance shoes and is showing a distinct improvement in the shape and growth of her hooves. My OH had the manufacturers come to his college and demonstrate them etc he honestly does not believe there is any noticable difference in weight in the ones they fit. Also confirmed that a correctly fitted NB shoe should have no affect on any internal structures.

[coss]

Keket - what makes you say the trim isn't pretty? i always thought it looked neater than when conventional shoes were put on :confused: i don't think the one's i had were Al either, thought mine were steel, is it different in Canada?

[Keket]

Keket - what makes you say the trim isn't pretty? i always thought it looked neater than when conventional shoes were put on :confused: i don't think the one's i had were Al either, thought mine were steel, is it different in Canada?

The squared off toe isn't necessarily attractive to me. Could just be a matter of opinion. :) Or could be that I'm just more used to seeing the rounder toe of a traditionally shod hoof. Like I said though, it suits the horse's way of going, so aesthetics don't really matter.

I checked about the aluminum/steel thing. It seems that yes, we're using aluminum while you're using steel. Steel NB shoes may be available over here, but RI's farrier uses the aluminum ones. There seems to be a slight difference in the shape of the aluminum ones versus the steel ones, so it could be simply that the aluminum ones suit the mare better:
http://www.hopeforsoundness.com/edss/store/perfprod.html