What are natural balance shoes?

[happy haffys]

Hi,

The lovely Etta has had to have shoes back on this morning, as her feet were really sore & she was stumbling a bit.

Even my untrained eye spotted they were different to her last shoes & farrier said they were 'natural balance shoes'. He said they'd be better for her, as her hoof wall is really thin & brittle, & these shoes can be nailed to the White line.

But.... he said the holes in the shoe had to be matched to her white line & because her hooves are manky (to say the least!) they are actually bigger than her hoof at the sides & they just look weird.

Can anybody give me some advice on these please, as didn't wanna keep pestering my farrier with my blonde questions? :confused:

[Roofio]

i don't know a lot about them but i think Joyscarers Joy wears them :)

[Joyscarer]

Yeah she does. My girl wears them more to improve the breakover point which improves her way of going as she doesn't over-reach as she used to. Her conformation isn't the best in the world!

I'm sorry I don't know anything about the fixing as this isn't something I needed to ask about. My farrier is due again this Friday, I can ask him if you want?

I always pester my farrier with daft questions and listen wide eyed and wonderingly at his answers, I think he's flattered :D

[eml]

Natural balance shoes change the 'breakover' point and how the horse rolls its foot as it hits the ground. They also have two clips instead of the conventional front foot one clip to enable then to be set back on the foot. I think you have misunderstood about the nails, they would not go through the white line as then your horse would be very lame.

[laurenefb]

My horse wears NB shoes and my farrier told me that the white line is the indication of where the hoof is to be cut back to for the shoes to be fitted correctly.

[Lucy J]

please note that the natural balance school of thought is actually nothing to do with the actual shoes themselves (although their design is important) it is more about the preparation of the hoof (the trim) that makes the difference. my mare has terrible feet problems. my farrier in hampshire is an expert in NB shoeing and shoes at an equine hospital. I have now relocated in Scotland and am struggling to get control of her feet. my ex farrier is helping me but he stresses how many farriers he sees who use NB shoes but don't shoe to NB principles.

main principle is bringing breakover back. plus the shoes support the bone column within the foot and also address trimming more off the heel to prevent the hoof capsule being brought forward due the the heel being underrun. but hey, i'm no farrier, wish I was then I could fix my own horse's feet!!!

[coss]

my mare had them on her fronts last year as her toes grew faster than the rest of her hoof. with conventional shoes (with the front toe clip) her toes pulled the shoe forwards off the heel :rolleyes: so farrier put NB shoes on and said to let her toe get on with it. not sure about the nails though

[Lucy J]

have a read on here....

http://www.hopeforsoundness.com/natbalance/nbshoe.html

also, shoes with side clips are not true NB shoes but imitations. see the web page.