Farrier worries

[Bexster]

My TB cast a shoe and I couldnt get my normal farrier for 2 weeks, in the end I got a farrier who doesnt really practice anymore. He put a smaller shoe on my horses foot saying that was the only way a shoe would stay on as his feet were in a bad way from not having a shoe on for so long, so now he has 1 shoe slightly smaller than the other. The other farrier has gone mad saying this is wrong and both shoes should always be the same size. Not sure who to believe but dont want my horse to suffer discomfort...

[MelanieD]

Not all feet come in pairs so the best thing is to shoe each foot to be as good as possible rather than try to force them to match. That was one of my old farrier's favorite rants, one of the few things that made him do anything other than mutter a bit :) Maybe he's used a slightly smaller shoe to shoe closer at the heels so less chance of stepping on a shoe and pulling it off? Maybe not ideal in terms of heel support but better than risking loosing another shoe and maybe not being able to get another one on.

[Wally]

I aggree that the thickness of the shoe should be the same, unless youa re doing remedial shoes, but some horses will have different sized feet.

If a smaller shoe was a better fit on that foot so be it. A big shoe will be heavier and the heels might overhang at the back inviting it to be trodden off again.

I shod someone's horse as a favour a couple of weeks ago, They came with the shoes as I only keep in sizes to fit my own, I wish I had had a size bigger as one foot was SO much bigger than the other.