Cytek shoeing

[madhector]

juust wondered if anyone had any experience of it? my tb was shod with them once last year around may time as we were advised to try it, two weeks later he had laminitus for the first time in his life, (he was reshod traditionally and is fine)

just wonder if there was a link between the shoes and the laminituus, have since formed a very negative opinion of cytek shoeing and wish i had never been pushed into trying it, buut is done now, what im thinking is that if the laminituus was cauused by the shoeing then is uunlikly to reoccouur this year, any thouughts people? thanks in advance

 

[_OC_]

Can't stand it and the ones I have seen done (three on our yard have it!

) never sound like there shoes have been put on right,and done by two different farriers!

 

[the watcher]

I have had Cytek shoes in the past, and know some in the endurance world who are very much in favour of these shoes. There is a massive difference to the alignment of the foot and lower leg when these are put on, as you have seen, the toe is a very different shape - initially this can require some time to settle down as you are asking the horse to use it's legs differently- although I was only advised to not work for a couple of days when I had them put on, and there were no problems.

My gut feeling is this just an unlucky coincidence, however I guess it is possible that dramatic rebalancing may have caused some trauma. Cytek farriers are few and far between, so I now have Natural Balance shoes on, which I see as a bit of a compromise, but they work for me.

 

[Bounty]

My boyfriend's boss (boyfriend is an apprentice farrier) thinks
"Cytek shoeing is just a way to make alot of money quickly, to the detriment of the horse."
He gets the full explanation next week. Something tells me he'll wish he never asked....!

 

[madhector]

thats what the farrier i have now thinks

he now shoes him with natural balance shoes and have had no problems,

just got me thinking as a friend of a friend had a similar experience and thought maybe there was a link of some sort

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

I had them on my lad and did not get on with them, he was lame more often, they came off whenever he sneezed and I did not like the fact that you where not supposed to pick the feet out. Most 'normal' farriers hate them cause the foot is made to fit the shoe and not the shoe to fit the foot.

 

[Happytohack]

I know several people who were persuaded to try Cytek shoes. Every horse had problems. Don't know of a horse locally that has benefitted from these shoes. Natural balance is completely different - many in the endurance world favour these.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

My farrier can't stand them (thinks they are just an easy way to make a fast buck!!). I have had known 4 horses with Cytex.

When the 1st was shod Cytex farrier? (are they called farriers) warned the owner it maybe lame after it was 1st shoeing

. WTF you wouldn't be happy if a traditional farrier lamed your horse.

The 2nd one lost a shoe almost weekly (which he never did prior to having Cytex).

The 3 one at another yard had thrush for over a year (to the extent he was lame) and the Cytex farrier eventually advised removing the shoes (well there's an advert for you).

The last was loaned out, but was sent back in Cytex a year later because he wasn't staying sound (feet looked terrible, every foot was a different shape, trimmed mega short and unbalanced). It took several months for the owners farrier (traditional) to get the feet back in order (because he had to wait for the horse to grow sufficient hoof so he could rebalance the foot), and he has been sound since.

Thus I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Concussion and cause laminitis, so it is quite possible these shoes didn't help, however I would also be careful to watch your horses weight and would restrict access to lush grass as a precaution.

 

[madhector]

thanks, think youu are right, would never touch them again anyway,

will be careful this spring just incase, as a 16.3hh Tb with dinner plates for feet with laminitus was horrible to see, (well any horse with it is horrible) but vet said was lucky i rode him when i did because it actually made us aware of the problem in time to do something about it (he was sound on the sat, went for a lttle hack, next day he couldnt move) she said could of been a lot worse so i guess we were lucky and hes fine now

thanks for everyones response, not suprised at the lack of people in favour of them