Question: The people who conducted the pre-purchase on my horse have a question about her shoes. Since you were the first to really work on her and are the expert , I thought I would ask you. They want to know why she has clips on on all four shoes. I told them I didn't know the exact reason and wasn't sure if it had to do with the clay soil we have but my Friesian and other horses had clips as well. If you could please clarify this I would appreciate it.

Subject: Barrel Horse

 

David,

 

I have a barrel horse that I've shod twice now, and this last time came up lame a few day later. 

The owner have a vet check the horse for them, and was told that the horse was shod with too long a toe and too short a heel.  He diagnosed the horse with Navicular.  I can't remember the vets name, but he's one you've worked with out of Allen I believe.

Now I know that it's impossible for you to diagnose this problem via email, but I trim and shoe this horse as I do all my horses, and this is the only one with the lameness problem. 

The toe is about 3 1/8" with an angle of around 56 degrees.  I used St Croix eventer shoes.  The heel is trimmed to near the widest part of  the frog and is level with the trimmed frog. 

 

I'm going to rock the toes of this horse next, and am considering a 3 degrees aluminum wedge shoe. If you have any suggestions or guidelines, I'd certainly appreciate you
sharing them with me.

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