Loosing shoes.

[colettybetty]

Any suggestions as to how to prevent it ? My mare has good feet, farrier calls them 'baggers feet' because he can take the shoe straight from 'the bag' and they fit perfectly, but it doesn't stop her loosing them frequently. Over reach boots won't help as only her fronts are shod and she is shod every 6 weeks to keep her feet in good shape but in between she'll lose both the shoes. This happens summer and winter regardless of weather . It maybe that she is spinning in the field as she plays and the shoe wrenches off as she pivots.She is now having the shoes double clipped to keep them on, otherwise farrier may get sick of coming out to us !!

[Bay Mare]

Maybe she's asking to go barefoot :)

Seriously, though, if she keeps on losing shoes (particularly a problem in muddy horrible fields) then it may be worth taking her shoes off for a few months to get some structure back even if you do put shoes on again at the end of it. Horses always used to have their shoes off for a few months of the year but that practise seems to have fallen out of favour.

[Alfies-slave]

Is it that your farrier just doesn't fix 'em on as well as he might? What about other horses he shoes?

If you know you are going to ride somewhere boggy get some tape and put it on the dry feet so it covers the join between the shoe and the wall of the hoof. Lots of people have been using it out hunting this year and they believe it stops the shoes being suctioned off. They use Gaffa/Duck tape. It is broad so they cut it or rip it to half its original width.

I have noticed eventers using tape for the same reason. I think you can even buy special tape if you have money to burn!

[Daffy Dilly]

Try seaweed. Daffy lost a shoe a fortnight one winter, put him on Seaweed on my instructors recommendation, and in the last 18 months he's lost one shoe, which he pulled off on a wall when he ran into it. :rolleyes:

[MelanieD]

A bit of white line disease can make shoes come off more easily. It's quite common to have a little bit around nail holes and under shoes and it's not something a lot of farriers even think of mentioning as a problem as it's not at all unusual. A little bit often doesn't make much difference but it can lead to shoes being lost. Soaking the feet in borax or something similar to kill off the gremlins should help a lot.

One of mine had quite nasty WLD by the time I finally gave up trying to keep shoes on her and she was taking shoes off so often and so well I was starting to wander if she had some farrier tools stashed in the field somewhere :D

[Nik-n-Kia]

I use caornucrescine soft and crumbly to harden Kia's feet to keep the shoes on!!!

When I got him that was the only thing that wasn't 100% and he was getting shod every 5 weeks as he was loosing shoes.

Now due to feeding and the corncrescine his feet got 8/9 weeks without reshoeing. Does make toe feet grow like bu**ery tho lol :rolleyes:

Nikki xxxx

[colettybetty]

Thanks guys for your suggestions, may have her shoes off for a few months if things don't improve as with this last shoeing her hooves are now showing damage from the nails. Good to know others use duck tape, I'm not completely barking to consider it !
She didn't have WLD, as its only been this year that she's been backed and shod, but looking at her feet now its something I may have to be wary off.Farrier doesn't seem too concerned about her feet, but then its not his horse is it ?:rolleyes:

[horse babe]

i agree with bay mare maybe having no shoes for w hile might makethe struckture stronger and then maybe depends on weather he/she needs them backon or not but after a few months try again and see what happens keep us posted

shivXxX

[horsegirl_12]

Hmm... maybe he's warry of it because then he won't be paid to come back in put more shoes on!!! LOl no I'm just kidding. Yeah, it may be a good idea to just leave the shoes off for a while.