Cytek shoes

Just read through the thread maggiesmum. I believe you stated yourself that your experience of Cytek shoes was limited.

For example:
I keep hearing about the 'main man'. Warwick has had nothing to do with the shoes for years and despite what he may have told people was nothing to do with the shoes apart from being a trainer. Don't forget, he used to be my farrier and I've been a user/supporter since the beginning.
I keep hearing about friends, friends of friends and just ' a horse I knew'. I don't doubt that there have been bad experiences - for example carriage horses slipping on ramps should not be an issue if they are fitted correctly - they have tungsten pins fitted at the toe to give grip. I've seen plenty of traditionally shod horses slipping on ramps - let alone tarmac roads.
I keep hearing about the foot being shaped to the shoe - wrong again.
Angua complains about the state of the horse she took on and yet begins by saying the shoes were put on by the previous owner as a last resort because of pedal bone fractures in both front feet yet she blames the shoes!
Ferrador suggests that various countries have had written warnings - total rubbish!
Team Barney says their own knowledge is limited..
I surely don't have to go on.

You may also hear at some stage that they were a Natural Balance rip off - Wrong again - they appeared on the market BEFORE NB.
They're made of inferior cast iron - wrong!
I even once heard a rumour that all the cytek company personnel had died during 9/11. It beggars belief what some people will come up with.

No, horses are not factory made. The shoes have been designed specifically to fit the horses foot - so your horse gets the support it needs not some individual interpretation of what your horse needs by your farrier who will have a totally different idea of what it needs from the farrier down the road and the one round the corner. Why should this be the case? I've heard farriery called 'an art and a science'. What nonsense! Where does artistry come in? Can you call medicine, veterinary science, chiropody etc.. an 'art' in way shape or form?

I could go on.

No, horses are not made in a factory but they are living creatures who have long since had to put up with the same old same old inadequate shoeing methods that do not begin to address what, as a living, moving creature, it needs to keep healthy.

I don't have a problem with people expressing their opinions but as far as I'm concerned this is a deeply serious issue because it literally can mean life or death to a horse and I get very upset when I hear people regurgitating the same rubbish when it is very obvious they know nothing about the shoe and how it works or performs. Yes, there are people who genuinely have had bad experiences and I truly feel for them and I hate the fact that that has happened because neither they, nor their horses are likely to ever have the benefit. This is not because the shoe is wrong - far from it - it because the farrier putting them on made a mess of it. Just like traditional farriers can but there are also plenty of people out there who just love to repeat untruths, half truths and downright lies. They should be ashamed of themselves.
 
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Ratcatcher this is a forum different people will always have different opinions!! There is no need to get so het up about it! People have given there opinions about the shoe and of cause not everyone is going to agree but there is no need to call them liers unless you know them personally and know that they are in fact lying!! My horse is barefoot as she is being a mummy for a while. I was hopeing that taking her shoes off would improve her feet but unfortunately it hasn't and it's been nearly a year now, so when she comes back into work she will have her NB shoes put back on. I have never had a horse shod with cytek but have looked after a few and in MY OPINION the only horses that they seem to suit are horses with feet problems anyway. Like you have said peoples bad experiences may be down to the farrier fitting the shoes instead of the actual shoe but if this is the case then maybe they should provide a more in-depth training course for farriers which want to go down the cytek route instead of a day workshop!!! But that is just my opinion!!!!!
 
i used them as a last option and after being crippled in normal shoes, tried cytek and had a sound horse after a few days.

***HOWEVER*** a shoe is only as good as the farrier putting them on. I luckily had an excellent farrier, who incidentally stopped using cytek himself a year or so after and started using natural balance instead - Mark had Aluminium Cytek shoes available for my mare to use as standard metal shoes were too heavy and her hooves were too delicate.

i can't tell you what a difference it made to my little tb no foot left mare, it was an unbelievable transformation and a great way of getting her to the point that she could cope with no shoes at all, which really was our last option.

I was gutted when my farrier stopped using them as even natural balance shoes did not do the job that they cytek did by supporting the walls, heels and soles (her soles were so thin you could easily press and move them) but luckily her feet had improved enough just to try barefoot.

This is a loooong time ago, they didn't work for the other horse that was shod with them but they saved my girls life. Horses for courses i think....and i would like to reiterate, the shoe is only as good as the farrier putting them on! :)
 
Yes my experience of them is limited but I did enough research to form an opinion that leans more towards the negative, I wasn't prepared to try them and risk my horses soundness.

Again - the OP asked for peoples opinions and experiences and that was precisely what she got.
An opinion is an individual thing, I like eastenders I'm not much for corrie it doesn't mean one is right and the other wrong its just my opinion. Equally cytek works for some and not for others so peoples opinions express that, doesn't mean its right or wrong.

Just because your experience of cytek was a good one it doesn't mean everyone else's is, some will have had bad experiences, some will have friends who had bad experiences, some will have heard that their cats mothers owners sister had a bad experience which is enough to put them off, either way their opinion has been formed and its very very difficult to change. Its part of life that we all differ, sometimes we have to agree to disagree in the knowledge that if we're right and it truly is a fantastic thing then pretty soon people will catch on to it.

"What also upsets me on some forums is that I see the same attitudes that exist out in the real world" - Forums aren't a parallel universe, they're a sample of the real world and if you find a majority disagreeing with something in the real world then chances are you'll find the same on a forum - stands to reason.

In part I agree with what you say, only for me the sentence goes like this - a deeply serious issue because it literally can mean life or death to a horse and I get very upset when I hear people regurgitating the same rubbish when it is very obvious they know nothing about the HORSES FOOT and how it works or performs. Yes, there are people who genuinely have had bad experiences and I truly feel for them and I hate the fact that that has happened because neither they, nor their horses are likely to ever have the benefit.

Personally I believe that horses feet perform better without anything nailed to it but I have to accept that other people think differently, if they ask I give them the information that they need otherwise I keep my mouth shut, no one wants an opinion rammed down their throat (not that i'm suggesting that you're doing that) it just turns them off to the subject.
 
Het up? Yes I probably am but then perhaps you would be too if you'd heard over ten years of nonsense but seen what I'd seen. I've seen dissections of seemingly healthy feet with little half moon shapes in the tips of pedal bones where the bone has eroded. Guess what caused them - tapping the toe clips down again and again and again at each shoeing; tendon damage, navicular bones eroded, sesamoids bones crushed with just dead tissue remaining. It may not look like a damaged foot on the outside but when you look deeper - no wonder the poor horse ended up at the knackers.

Why if a shoe does such good work when the horse is lame, should it not work when it's sound? Doesn't follow.

Every owner has to make choices whether it is shod or barefoot but it helps enormously if the 'opinions' are based on fact rather than rumours, old outdated information and yes - sometimes lies.
 
I do believe, that in this day & age people should be free & take it upon themselves to make their own decisions & try not to let others influence you or make you feel wrong. We all do what we feel is best for our horses!

I would like to share my expiriences of cytek shoes. I'm not condeming anybody nor trying to purseude people to use cytek. I have the farrier who created cytek & all I can say is that he is the most inspiring passionate man, that I have met in a long time. He truly cares about horses so much so that he spent years researching horses in the wild! Their ways, their life style, their physical bodies & their feet, in America, Australia, Argentina (How many farriers do you know that have done that?)
I suspect there are traditional farriers & vets out there that have come across some lameness's in horses & have been stumped! When I used to ask my traditional farrier "Why?" He used to say to me "it's just one of those things!" Well my cytek farrier was one of those guys, he got fed up of not knowing & it was that, that inspired his travels & research. There is also a cytek vet, that can back up alot of true facts & information. I have read veterinary books & a lot of it seems to be dated information. Bring on current & new research!
All I really have to say is Google "images of wild horse feet" You maybe suprised with how they look. The hoof wall & toe is short, rounded & flat! So the horse can place his hoof down flat, with correct break over. Just imagin if the ball of our foot was rigid, therefor our break over point was at the very end of our toe & to top it of long toe nails or metal nailed onto our toes. Cytek shoes allow the horse's toe to wear to its natural shape, they support the P3 bone & don't force the hoof wall to take the whole of the horse's weight. As you can see by examples of wild horse's feet the hoof wall takes no weight in nature. Whereas rim shoes & in a lot of cases barefoot horses can have sand cracks, flat flying saucer feet & seperation of the hoof wall from the insides of the foot, Infections in the white line can occur. Also Mechanical laminitus (not from over indulging) occurs from badly shaped feet, that end up stretching & putting pressure on the sensative laminae underneath the foot. Which I have first hand expirience, with a 'so called' laminitic pony. She was in a bad way, although she didn't show the usual signs of laminitus. My vet said it was, I was confused because my vets diagnosis didn't sit right with me. But I carried on with my vets advice, which was box rest for the rest of the summer pads on her feet, drugs. After 2 weeks my pony was so much brighter & I still thought that strange for a laminitc pony! My friend mentioned cytek shoeing & I thought I would give it a try. Despite my vet said not to put any shoes on her. Anyway, the farrier just gently tapped his hammer on the bottom of her feet - She didn't even flinch & I believed that having shoes on her front would take the pressure off. She was shod with cytek fronts & OMG I saw a transformation in her posture within seconds of her having the shoes on. They bring a horse back to it's natural stance imediately. She was sound within 2 days & still sound now, full of life with a free gait. Whereas once apon a time she was reluctant to move & I just thought she was a laid back pony!
I was so pleased with the results that my other 2 horses have cytek fronts on too. One who has never shown a problem with his feet (apart from tripping up at times) & he has been barefoot & rim shod. But again I see such a transformation in his posture & his gait is relaxed & flowing.
My 3rd horse was a horse that never seemed to show foot problems too, but he always had an abnormal gait & never seemed forward or comfortable in his stride. No vet, chiropractor, physio, saddler, dentist or farrier could help me to work out what was up with him. He seemed to walk like a soldier, with a stretched out neck, like he was always trying to take the weight off his front feet & toes. As soon as the cytek fronts were again instant results in his posture & a little in his gaite. He was the only one that took a little longer to loose the choppy-ness! But put it this way, he had not balance with rim shoes or barefoot & now he does with cytek!
Its highly likely that things could take a little time before they truly settle, because it's such a dramatic change & it may well be that a dramatic change may not suit every horse (A properly trained cytek farrier will know this, some farriers are corrupt & haven't put themselves through the training, purely to geperdise cytek. If you need someone to blame, blame the individual not the system) Like us going to the chiropractor, ostyopath or dentist! we sometimes feel worse after, but that is the healing process!
My vet that was treating my pony is amazed at her dramatic recovery & his jaw dropped when he saw her turn a circle. His exact words were " Oh my gosh I have never seen a pony turn a circle like that EVER, let alone a laminitic pony!" I replied saying "It's the cytek shoes & she didn't have laminitus, it was azotoria with a dose of mechanical laminitus! I did my research!
Be inspired & research too! Dont just listen to title tatle on forums, find out the facts like I did. Also def have a look at pictures of wild horse feet & look at the website. Another gooden is CYTEK MILLENIUM on You Tube & Coffin bone suprise! Seriously he has saved ready for dead horses! Am sorry to hear about people's expiriences that wern't so good. Might be worth asking yourself if they were really cytek shoes (all sorts of crap going round saying they are cytek, when they are not) Also finding out about the farrier you had? All I know is the main man works so hard & truly cares about horses & travels everywhere he possibly can.
I went to a disection
 
Yes, I agree. Many owners know little about the horse's foot - couple that with knowing very little about cytek shoes and we get the sort of uninformed opinions that have been expressed on many forums where they come up in discussion.
 
Ratcatcher said:
Just read through the thread maggiesmum. I believe you stated yourself that your experience of Cytek shoes was limited.

For example:
I keep hearing about the 'main man'. Warwick has had nothing to do with the shoes for years and despite what he may have told people was nothing to do with the shoes apart from being a trainer. Don't forget, he used to be my farrier and I've been a user/supporter since the beginning.
I keep hearing about friends, friends of friends and just ' a horse I knew'. I don't doubt that there have been bad experiences - for example carriage horses slipping on ramps should not be an issue if they are fitted correctly - they have tungsten pins fitted at the toe to give grip. I've seen plenty of traditionally shod horses slipping on ramps - let alone tarmac roads.
I keep hearing about the foot being shaped to the shoe - wrong again.
Angua complains about the state of the horse she took on and yet begins by saying the shoes were put on by the previous owner as a last resort because of pedal bone fractures in both front feet yet she blames the shoes!
Ferrador suggests that various countries have had written warnings - total rubbish!
Team Barney says their own knowledge is limited..
I surely don't have to go on.

You may also hear at some stage that they were a Natural Balance rip off - Wrong again - they appeared on the market BEFORE NB.
They're made of inferior cast iron - wrong!
I even once heard a rumour that all the cytek company personnel had died during 9/11. It beggars belief what some people will come up with.

No, horses are not factory made. The shoes have been designed specifically to fit the horses foot - so your horse gets the support it needs not some individual interpretation of what your horse needs by your farrier who will have a totally different idea of what it needs from the farrier down the road and the one round the corner. Why should this be the case? I've heard farriery called 'an art and a science'. What nonsense! Where does artistry come in? Can you call medicine, veterinary science, chiropody etc.. an 'art' in way shape or form?

I could go on.

No, horses are not made in a factory but they are living creatures who have long since had to put up with the same old same old inadequate shoeing methods that do not begin to address what, as a living, moving creature, it needs to keep healthy.

I don't have a problem with people expressing their opinions but as far as I'm concerned this is a deeply serious issue because it literally can mean life or death to a horse and I get very upset when I hear people regurgitating the same rubbish when it is very obvious they know nothing about the shoe and how it works or performs. Yes, there are people who genuinely have had bad experiences and I truly feel for them and I hate the fact that that has happened because neither they, nor their horses are likely to ever have the benefit. This is not because the shoe is wrong - far from it - it because the farrier putting them on made a mess of it. Just like traditional farriers can but there are also plenty of people out there who just love to repeat untruths, half truths and downright lies. They should be ashamed of themselves.
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YAY!! I like!
 
I've honestly never heard of Cytrek shoes - perhaps they've not made it up to the North West yet? :D
Even from the positive view points on this thread, it seems like their main value would be as a remedial shoe? I don't really understand what they're supposed to do or how though, I'm not very good with things like that!
 
HashRouge said:
I've honestly never heard of Cytrek shoes - perhaps they've not made it up to the North West yet? :D
Even from the positive view points on this thread, it seems like their main value would be as a remedial shoe? I don't really understand what they're supposed to do or how though, I'm not very good with things like that!
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The shoe is made to completely cover the sole and has a cut out area for the frog. They also have a squared toe. They change the break over point of the foot and load the sole rather than the hoof wall. For thin soled horses it conditions their soles (often meaning they can go barefoot easier than horses going straight from normal shoes to barefoot) and for horses with laminitic troubles they support the pedal bone and remove the "sink" process that "rim" shoes have on the way a foot operates.

They arent a remedial shoe - they are an option for horses who arent sound in traditional shoes.

Ofcourse the above is from experience - I am no scientist and no expert !

I dont know why all the hoo-hah to be honest. *shrugs*
 
Whether you are for or against cytek shoeing and especially if you use the traditional method YOU SHOULD all read and understand the hoof structure and biomechanics of the hoof.
You don't need a degree in biology to do this at all and you should be aware of what your horse's foot is about so you can spot any problems.

I have recently been looking into the frog, it's form and function - what does a healthy one look like ? I was quite surprised when wandering around a livery yard and observing the underside of the occupant's feet (with the owners present of course) how many are unhealthy.

Some of you say you are not experts or scientists - but you should be, your horse relies on you.
 
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HashRouge said:
I've honestly never heard of Cytrek shoes - perhaps they've not made it up to the North West yet? :D
Even from the positive view points on this thread, it seems like their main value would be as a remedial shoe? I don't really understand what they're supposed to do or how though, I'm not very good with things like that!
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Here are a couple of YouTube videos if you are interested,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeYlrjI-X1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWmPkzukWBQ
 
Here are some more links for people who don't know much about cytek shoeing.

http://www.cytekhorse.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGGgPcU3eTE
(Look closely to see the cloven hoofs & abscesses on the corronet band)
This looks like a terrible senario.

I believe cytek shoes or cytek trims are also great for horses that don't seem to have any foot problems at all, aswell as those that do have bad feet. A lot of people think that if a horse's hoof looks good on the outside, or if the actual hoof material is nice and hard, then that horse must have good hard feet!? Er not always, people don't know what's going on inside. And even if a horse has nice strong hoof material, it doesn't mean that the hoof is the shape of how it should be in nature.
My horse, in my eyes has always had good feet & never seemed to show a problem with rim shoes or barefoot. I've put cyteks on him now despite me thinking his feet were fine & actually the way he is now, a whole lot of difference for the better! His vibe & presence is so much happier with a free flowing movement & correct stance. More so than I've ever seen him before!
You will never know the difference untill you see it for yourself. I never knew that a horse's natural leg position was further back, untill I saw it for myself.
Am meeting loads of people these days that have great expiriences with cytek shoes or trims.
 
A farrier friend has advised never to use them they cause severe leg problems. Not sure if this is true - but I have been told that insurance companies in USA will not pay up if the horses have them on and the farriers are refusing to fit them as they are being sued by customers.
 
texel said:
Some of you say you are not experts or scientists - but you should be, your horse relies on you.
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and so you know all there is to know about everything you subject your horse to then ? You are a nutritional expert ? a saddler ? you can make your own rugs ? you cut your own hay and farm your own straw ? You are a leading expert to the world on breeding and you specialise in insurance claims and property development ? Yep, ofcourse you do !! because you've swallowed your own advice and become and expert in everything that you subject a horse to.

Oh behave !!

Its a discussion about Cyteks - not a call to arms.
 
Evelyn said:
A farrier friend has advised never to use them they cause severe leg problems. Not sure if this is true - but I have been told that insurance companies in USA will not pay up if the horses have them on and the farriers are refusing to fit them as they are being sued by customers.
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Why do people listen to all the he said, she said, friend of a friend of a friend's stuff?
Seriously if I had no 1st hand experience of cytek shoes (which I do, amazing results!) I would only want to listen to people stating the facts!!
 
A number of people, myself included, have shared direct personal experience with regards to Cytek. It was negative. Those were the facts. The best post was from Maggies Mum - OP asked for experiences/opinions/info and this is exactly what she got.
 
Evelyn said:
A farrier friend has advised never to use them they cause severe leg problems. Not sure if this is true - but I have been told that insurance companies in USA will not pay up if the horses have them on and the farriers are refusing to fit them as they are being sued by customers.
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No Evelyn this is absolutely NOT true. Your farrier 'friend' was lying.

What on earth is the motivation behind the lies that some people spread? Are they scared of a new system they just don't understand/can't be bothered to find out about/jealous of the successes?

Whatever the motivation I think it is utterly despicable of so called 'professionals' who are supposed to have our horses interest at the foremost of their practice, who you would expect, if not demand, to keep up with all the latest developments in whatever area of expertise they work in to abuse this position by spreading false information that is designed to prevent you from even trying a new development and getting the benefit.

Imagine if you went to a doctor who told you that a method of treatment you wanted to explore was banned etc... and then you found out he was lying or just too lazy to find out the facts?
 
Ratcatcher said:
No Evelyn this is absolutely NOT true. Your farrier 'friend' was lying.
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Lying or maybe misinformed? You assume that because someone has repeated something they once heard that they're telling lies?

The problem is this - vets and farriers (and while we're at it many other horse care professionals) are not always up to date, and they'd often rather stick with what they know than risk their reputation using a clients horse as a guinea pig.
The client often has to be the driving force behind trying something new once they've researched it enough to have the confidence to nudge the vet/farrier in that direction.

I think maybe its time to realise that you will never convert the posters in this thread and that sometime you have to agree to disagree.
 
maggiesmum said:
Lying or maybe misinformed? You assume that because someone has repeated something they once heard that they're telling lies?

The problem is this - vets and farriers (and while we're at it many other horse care professionals) are not always up to date, and they'd often rather stick with what they know than risk their reputation using a clients horse as a guinea pig.
The client often has to be the driving force behind trying something new once they've researched it enough to have the confidence to nudge the vet/farrier in that direction.

I think maybe its time to realise that you will never convert the posters in this thread and that sometime you have to agree to disagree.
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Maybe I'm expecting too much from so-called professionals but I would expect them to take the time to find out the facts before they make such statements. If they aren't prepared to keep up to date why on earth are they shoeing horses? If doctors, dentists and lawyers weren't prepared to keep up to date we'd still be enduring amputations without anaesthetic, dentistry without proper hygiene and having to resort to hiring a hotel room and a willing accomplice to get a divorce.

I agree that up to a point the client is the driving force but if the 'professionals' are doing their best to block the information what then?

I don't for one minute think I'll change the minds of the dyed in the wool antis but there are many more people reading these posts who have a more open mind and unless the alternative view is stated they will never have the opportunity to make up their own minds.
 
Well when i got my horse last year he could not hold a shoe and had no foot. Since he had cytek fitted his feet have been better and better. They are now strong with good growth, no splits, cracks etc and I could not possibly be more delighted.
 
Ratcatcher said:
Maybe I'm expecting too much from so-called professionals but I would expect them to take the time to find out the facts before they make such statements. If they aren't prepared to keep up to date why on earth are they shoeing horses? If doctors, dentists and lawyers weren't prepared to keep up to date we'd still be enduring amputations without anaesthetic, dentistry without proper hygiene and having to resort to hiring a hotel room and a willing accomplice to get a divorce.

I agree that up to a point the client is the driving force but if the 'professionals' are doing their best to block the information what then?
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vets are still de-nerving or writing off navicular horses despite the fact that time after time horses are going to Rockley Farm for rehab and coming home sound, often they either don't know it exists or they're not that interested.

Doctors and dentists are very rarely up to date, my OH had a brand new treatment done to fit an implant because he was paying a huge sum of money to a private dentist in London, the more local private dentist had never heard of the treatment.
Likewise a relative saw a brand new form of HRT on a daytime TV programme and went off to the doctors, he'd never heard of it but went with it and let her try it, it turned out to be quite successful but had she not seen it she'd probably still be trying different tablets to this day.
It frustrates me too that they're often out of date with their knowledge but you have to accept that they're only human and are often doing the best they can within the limit of their knowledge and experience.
TBH I think this thread has run its course now so i'm off to do something more productive with my time than play devils advocate.
 
There's out-of-date and there's out-of-date. Cytek shoes have been around for the best part of 15 years so they've had plenty of time to catch up and traditional shoeing has not changed for about 150 years. Even Natural Balance is a copy of an old shoe - the Fitzwygram. If your friend's doctor had said 'oh it's a load of rubbish and it's banned in xyz number of countries' would she still have wanted to try it? I very much doubt it.
 
I hear all these claims about it instantly and dramatically improving the horses stance and movement and freeness of stride...

Come on then show us a before and after video of the same horse shod with cyteks.

Prove it.
 
Like I said before I have only known cyteks to have a good effect on horses with foot problems and alot of the pro cytek posts on here are to say they 'cured my already lame horse'. This may not be the case, they may work on a sound horse and the cases of them making horses go lame may be down to bad farriers but again if this the case then surely it would be worth farriers getting properly trained in fitting cyteks instead of attending a day course. The only cytek farrier in my area that I know of turns up in a old style astra pulls shoes out of a box and bangs them on the horses feet and leaves. If your lucky he might even do the clenches for you but he has been known to just leave nails sticking out of the hoof wall without being clipped off!!!!
And yes I do believe it's farriers like this that give cyteks a bad name but call me cynical if you like but as these experiences are the only dealings I have had with cyteks this is the reason I would never use them. My mare is completely sound in NB shoes and in my eyes why try and fix something that ain't broken!!!:).
 
My friends horse has had cytek's on for probably 10 years. I wouldn't want them because I don't like either the sound or the look of the feet. However, I am not sure I would particularly want my horse to go barefoot.

Horses for courses - I had a TB - ex racehorse who had a dreadful front foot and I could not get him sound. I had a barefoot guru out who said it was the worst case she had ever seen and she couldn't not say that she could get him sound even with him living on tracks and no grazing etc.

In the 5 years I have known friend, her horse has never been lame. Whether it is because she is as tough as nails, or because the shoes suit her I don't know.

But I wouldn't slam it as dreadful, as I wouldn't slam barefoot, or treeless, or dressage, or NH, or anything else.

Whatever suits.
 
Luci07 said:
A number of people, myself included, have shared direct personal experience with regards to Cytek. It was negative. Those were the facts. The best post was from Maggies Mum - OP asked for experiences/opinions/info and this is exactly what she got.
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Hi Luci07.
Just as a matter of interest have you watched any of the videos on YouTube or have you attended a Cytek clinic or spoken to an experienced and well trained Cytek farrier?

Also if you had experience of or heard of a horse going lame that was rim shod or barefoot would you immediately condemn all rim shoeing and barefoot?
I imagine that you might take into consideration the expertise of the farrier/hoof trimmer and other possible contributing factors.

Do you consider Maggie's Mum's post to be the best because she implies there is something suspicious about new members starting to post in favour of Cytek?

As I previously stated I started to post here because I'd already accessed this site as part of my research before I decided to go with Cytek.
What many posts were saying was so different from both my experience and that of people I know first hand that I wanted to speak up in favour so that other readers would not be automatically put off a type of shoe that can make so much difference to their horses saving them pain and maybe even death.

I am not responsible for other people's favourable posts but I am delighted to see them as I believe a much more balanced picture is emerging than the one I first encountered.

My horses are both now in their fourth month of Cytek shoes, their hooves are growing through more upright, especially noticeable in my TB mare,their soles are hardening and their frogs are growing. Their movement is more collected and fluid and their stance more upright and balanced. There has been evidence of bruising which was sustained when they were barefoot.

I have a friend whose horse was very footsore with historically very poor hooves. I am happy to say that she decided to go with Cytek after seeing my horses being shod and having the chance to talk to the Cytek farrier.
The reduction of pain was immediate and the horse has gone from strength to strength, her hooves are improving daily and her general demeanor has softened.

Of course I want to spread the word. It saddens me to think of how many horses there are out there suffering when this could be alleviated.

Below is a quote from an article in the Natural Horse Magazine written by veterinary surgeon Edward de Beukelaer which questions current beliefs about hoof form:-

"In my opinion, too much energy is spent on examining small details of pathological findings that are associated with lameness and finding cures for this rather than taking a wider view of the horse's best possible foot shape, which may well avoid some of these lameness problems from arising in the first place"

Cytek shoeing is intended to promote growth of a healthy, natural foot shape. Rim shoes are invariably fitted to hooves which are already deformed.
Inevitably this will have a detrimental effect over time.
 
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