Help! Need to remove shoe! - I can't do it (feeling feeble)

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,022
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
I need to remove a front shoe - have got all the requisite "tools", i.e. hammer, pliers, clench-hammer.

Have gone out to horse, propped front foot up farrier-style; and tried to do it...............

I can't!

The bleddi thing won't shift.

I'm trying to use the clench-hammer to knock back the clenches so I can then plier the thing off.

It isn't working, all I'm doing is getting very hot and bothered, am not making ANY impression on the clenches; horse is getting sick of it.

Can anyone tell me what to do please??

TIA
 

Burnttoast

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 March 2009
Messages
2,189
Visit site
I'd rasp the clenches down if I couldn't lift them with a buffer. Do you have nail pullers? You can take the nails out individually with this, which makes things easier.
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,022
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
Gaaarrrgghh!.

Just tried it again. Nope! the blessed thing won't shift one jot.

The "rasp" I've tried using is basically like an old-fashioned whet-stone for sharpening knives etc., I had hoped it would do the trick but obviously not.

Giving up. The problem is the shoe was only put on last week so its proving a b@ggar to get off.
 
Last edited:

w1bbler

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2011
Messages
1,045
Visit site
If its any consolation, my vet took 40mins to remove a shoe for xray. Admittedly that's no help to you, but might make you feel better :)
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,022
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
Yay!!! I dunnit!

Those who are accustomed to taking off shoes will no doubt scoff at my intense exultation......... but by gawd I worked bleddi hard at that flippin shoe!

The breakthrough was sitting back and taking stock. And then looking at various video demo's on You Tube etc. Someone there mentioned that if you hadn't got a rasp or a clench-hammer, that a bog-standard thin-as-possible chisel would do equally well.

It did! OK so several bashed fingers and naughty words later, using this little device and a rubber mallet (which was suggested on one vid as being much better for the horse as reduces concussion immensely - so the old camping mallet DID come in useful after all :)) - I managed to bang up the clenches, one by one, slowly but surely. I placed horse's foot on part of an old silver birch tree that we'd cut down, and hadn't yet axed this huge chunk into smaller pieces. Invaluable, to have the foot properly supported and where you could actually get to it, instead of being bent double. This piece of wood measured about the height of the support that the farrier uses, and was thicker at the base, so a nice secure way of holding the foot up. Essential!

THEN, once the clenches had all been banged up and straightened up, the rest of the job was simplicity itself. I used the pliers to grap hold of the shoe and lift it from the heel ACROSS the foot not to the outside, as the videos had all shown. THEN banged the shoe down again using the rubber mallet and managed to get all the nails out by gripping them with the pliers.

No damage to the foot; horse stood there like it was the "proper" farrier. Ha ha. I don't think.

This was a shoe which had only been put on in the past week; so an older shoe (like in ALL the video's online!) would have been a far easier job.

Tips for newbies (like me - always let the farrier get on with it but NEXT time I will WATCH!!) - is to firstly not panic. Get all the tools assembled first, get prop for horse's foot sorted out and make sure its secure and safe for both you and horse.

If you don't have a clench-hammer then a straightforward chisel or even a straight-across screwdriver will suffice (available at any DIY). In fact I didn't even use the clench-hammer tool as couldn't get the hang of the blessed thing. The one ESSENTIAL item is a pair of long-handled farriers pincers/pliers which you will need to nip off the nails and get the shoe off with - I got mine in a sale at a now defunct tack-shop; best investment I ever made. Presumably one can get these tools on-line.

Rubber mallet is a good idea; makes it far less uncomfy for the horse.

Give yourself & horse breaks when you need.

And - don't despair! the blessed thing WILL come off.

Of course, in most cases one would ring the farrier and I can just hear the critics Out There saying FFS why didn't you. But for reasons which I can't/won't state on here: it HAD to come off, and the job needed doing today or tomorrow.

Off for a stiff drink now........ think I deserve it (OK so I know its only three-o-clock in the afternoon).

Thanks to all for their advice and encouragement, and forebearance.

Next time I will WATCH the farrier and see what he does............ :)
 
Last edited:

sunleychops

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 August 2011
Messages
504
Location
At the yard!
Visit site

sunleychops

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 August 2011
Messages
504
Location
At the yard!
Visit site
Yeah...... that's what I meant, sorry, didn't phrase it very well. What they say is that you should use the pull-offs to grasp the end of the shoe nearest to the heel and then gently lever off in the "one o'clock" position on the toe.

Sorry, my phraseology at fault!

Haha! I had images of it being pulled across sideways and was wincing!

What do you mean by clench hammer by the way?
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,022
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
Haha! I had images of it being pulled across sideways and was wincing!

What do you mean by clench hammer by the way?

I would describe it, gosh! as a little tool which has got a sort of pointy bit at one end and the other end has a kind of edge that you would put under the clench, and then hammer it to get the clench up? Think I've seen the farrier with a similar tool, and I think I heard it described as a "clench hammer" but it could have been something else he was talking about!
 

Red-1

I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
Joined
7 February 2013
Messages
17,814
Location
Outstanding in my field!
Visit site
Never mind watching, have the farrier train you. If he is like mine you even get to wear the leather trousers!

Mine taught me to remove, clench up and finish off. Also to trim, and that has been useful now we are barefoot. Much better to learn with a sympathetic farrier with you than on your own in the dark.

At one point I before I hurt my back I was removing and trimming every time, before he made the shoe. Nice to be confident.
 

sunleychops

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 August 2011
Messages
504
Location
At the yard!
Visit site
I would describe it, gosh! as a little tool which has got a sort of pointy bit at one end and the other end has a kind of edge that you would put under the clench, and then hammer it to get the clench up? Think I've seen the farrier with a similar tool, and I think I heard it described as a "clench hammer" but it could have been something else he was talking about!



What you have is known as a buffer or clench cutter 😄
 

Ronalda

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 March 2014
Messages
86
Visit site
Mine taught me to remove, clench up and finish off.

Can't be many farriers that will do this now.

A few years ago no-one would have bothered about it, (although this has been illegal since 1975) but in my experience farriers seem very touchy about owners doing any hands on stuff.

You can of course remove shoes providing that no new shoes are too be fitted at that time.
 

Graeme Burt farrier

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 March 2013
Messages
57
Location
Sevenoaks
Visit site
Never mind watching, have the farrier train you. If he is like mine you even get to wear the leather trousers!

Mine taught me to remove, clench up and finish off. Also to trim, and that has been useful now we are barefoot. Much better to learn with a sympathetic farrier with you than on your own in the dark.

At one point I before I hurt my back I was removing and trimming every time, before he made the shoe. Nice to be confident.

I will pretend I didnt see that, but its actually against the law to do this unless he is an approved training farrier and you are an apprentice. As such I wouldnt put it on a public forum.
You are allowed to show someone how to remove a shoe, and in general the powers that be will allow for this in case there is an emergency and you need to remove a shoe, but clenching up is a definate no no as it is considered within the definition of farriery under the terms of the act. Its not just you that can be in trouble for this, your farrier can be prosecuted for allowing it.
 
Top