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  Discussion on Do rubber shoes work?
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Member:
liliana

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007 - 5:59 pm:

Hello all

We are preparing to start some riding for the disable at the yard, my problem is that with the two hurricanes that we have all the bedding/sand that had taken me years to build up on the schooling area flew and washed away.

The surface is hard and being a 20m by 40m it takes a lot of covering.

I found this in the net.https://www.smoothwalker.com/index.html

And I was wondering if anyone has used them and if you think that they would do on hard ground! I mean to carry a rider and not damage their hooves.

As you might remember some people dabble in trimming hooves here but there isn't a farrier as such, not a qualified one at least
Many thanks
Liliana
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 10:05 am:

Hello Liliana,
I don't have experience with these type shoes but what I have seen in horses and mules used for carriage work on paved roads is pads cut form used tires and placed between the foot and the shoe. I am told that expense and durability is the reason for this choice as opposed to commercial pads.
DrO
Member:
liliana

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 12:05 pm:

Thank you Dr. O That is a great idea and also we will be able to recycle tires!

Never thought of that but I will tell the people trying to protect the horses that pull the carts here. There has been very little improvement but hey Rome was not build in a day was it?!

Thank you very much again Dr. O

And although I have not written on the thread my prayers are with you and your family I sincerely hope your in-laws are on the mend.

Liliana
Member:
amara

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 12:40 pm:

when i worked for a carriage company a long time ago they used polyurethane covered shoes... were supposed to be more comfortable for the horse - and the roads i assume....
while i was a lot younger at the time and didnt have as much education about shoeing and such, i noticed they were hard to keep on, and those shoes at least, couldnt be shaped.. looking at the website you gave it says these can be shaped, but i wonder to what extent... you might need to shape the hoof to fit the shoe...

the best thing we did for the carriage horses i drive now at work was to pull the shoes off...of course, ours only work about 8-10 hrs a week...

good luck
Member:
liliana

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 1:01 pm:

Thanks Melissa,

So you have them bare foot and no problemo!

That would be even better my main fear with the wanna be farriers, and some really try is if they miss and prick the hoof!

Thank you
Member:
amara

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 1:53 pm:

its also very hard to find a good farrier that does drafts, so my boss has been really keen on the barefoot... a former employee was a horseshoer, so then she was able to get these big guys shod, but once she left she was kind of up a creek.. no one around here wants to shoe horses that weigh upward of 2000 lbs!... so i started trimming for her and she loves it... took a while to transition one horse but he eventually was doing great..(unfortunately died of colic last year).... have one horse with shoes right now as we just got him a little while ago and his walls are a disaster... we'll leave him with shoes for a little bit (found one guy who will shoe drafts) until he grows some healthy hoofwall, then transition him....
our horses have healthy feet and legs, no arthritis.. we have no problems with slipping... while we do mostly walk for the general public tours, we sometimes do quite a bit of trotting and they move forward evenly, strongly and very willingly...
i'm not saying its for every horse but it works find for ours...
Member:
liliana

Posted on Thursday, Mar 1, 2007 - 4:56 pm:

Ah sorry about the big guy! I guess I'll try my guys barefoot and hope for the best. Admittedly now that we hardly touch their feet they are all a lot healthier and nicer shaped. My 19 month old baby has formed a kind of shoe with his own horn it looks pretty neat
Thanks a lot Melissa, we'll give it a go
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