Graduated shoes? (Also in tack room)

mudmonkey17

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Does anybody have their horses in these and did they help? My farrier wants to change my horse from egg bars which he has worn for years to graduated shoes to help with his arthritis.
 
Yes, my poor pony was subjected to them and they did nothing to improve his situation but did make it much, much worse. Your horse's hooves need the support of the ground not bar shoes and certainly not graduated shoes.

Don't touch them with a barge pole - much better to take the shoes off altogether.
 
was does your farrier hope to achieve by using graduated shoes?
they will stop any stimulation of the sole and frog (heart bars already stop any stimulation of the sole) thereby reducing the weight baring area and the foots ability to absorb concussion before it reaches the arthritic joints.
graduated shoes will also change the angle of every joint in the horses legs and mean weight will be carried through the joints at an abnormal angle, it will also cause the horse to carry/hold the whole of its body abnormally in a bid to correct those angles.
If you wore heels 24/7 and were on your feet for as many hours as a horse is then it would be a very short time before your body started to to feel the effects.
 
twiggy, if you cave calcifications impinging on the joint spaces, a change to the angle of the joint can help alleviate the impingement and therefore the pain. Also, depending on the current angles of the joints a graduated shoe can help to realign an already misaligned joint.
 
twiggy, if you cave calcifications impinging on the joint spaces, a change to the angle of the joint can help alleviate the impingement and therefore the pain. Also, depending on the current angles of the joints a graduated shoe can help to realign an already misaligned joint.

it can as a temporary solution yes but it just encourages more formation due to the points mentioned above, creating abnormal load bearing on joints will never end well and creates a poor prognosis
 
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