New Shoes- Natural Balance -Pics Your opinions please!

[foraday]

My horse was in NB shoes for over 6 years and this kept him sound!

They do have to be fitted by a Farrier that HAS HAD THE TRAINING!

From the pictures shown it doesn't look like they have been fitted correctly but it could be the pics!

NB shoes quite literally make the horses feet look 'square' I used to call my horses feet donald duck as they looked square. The break over should be 60/40.

NB shoes are not for everyone-some horses it suits and some it doesn't. Ideally you should be able to take them out of NB shoes and put them into quarter clips. However my boy did not approve of his quarter clips and preferred his NB shoes and so he remained in them.

It may take a couple of days for your horse to get used to them and to undo a bit of muscle memory but see how he goes.

 

[skewbald86]

My horse was in NB shoes for over 6 years and this kept him sound!

They do have to be fitted by a Farrier that HAS HAD THE TRAINING!

From the pictures shown it doesn't look like they have been fitted correctly but it could be the pics!

NB shoes quite literally make the horses feet look 'square' I used to call my horses feet donald duck as they looked square. The break over should be 60/40.

NB shoes are not for everyone-some horses it suits and some it doesn't. Ideally you should be able to take them out of NB shoes and put them into quarter clips. However my boy did not approve of his quarter clips and preferred his NB shoes and so he remained in them.

It may take a couple of days for your horse to get used to them and to undo a bit of muscle memory but see how he goes.

Glad they helped keeping your horse sound.
is there a website of finding out if they are trained? The NB HO directed me to a website to qualified people and he isn't on their. they all seem to be a bit to far south for me.


He was still going badly yesterday. He has not heat in his legs though, maybe he just doesn't like them? hes normally so sweet in his going I hate to see him unhappy. Will give it a week and get someone out for a second opinion.

Thanks again for everyones advice

 

[Natch]

Yes, I believe farriers should have training in natural balance shoes as the whole concept is very different to how they are trained. I'm not convinced by the argument for them.

* insert usual disclaimer that I am a layperson who has studied feet for the last year or so but am not qualified*

Hi,
After my post last week about the state of my lads shoes, I go a new farrier.
He did them yesterday and used natural balance shoes on him.
His feet I think look great compared to what they were like.
The only thing is he is moving differently. I expected a bit of change as the farrier said it will change his movement slightly.
He has gone from lovely long paces to short choppy paces, he doesn't look sure of them when hes walking, I only hacked him today to get used to them but he took a bit off kicking on. He did improve ever so slightly in them but not to his usual lovely big strides.

This change in his gait would really concern me - if a farrier had just replaced shoes, or a barefoot trimmer had just attended to your horse, you'd expect their feet to be in prime condition, wouldn't you?

to me, the toe looks horrible here - I'd want to ask my farrier and vet why does it have such a convex line rather than straight?

Heel looks under run to me - again, I'd be asking what is being done to correct this, and how does that work?

I'd be interested if this is just the camera angle, but to me this looks medio-laterally unbalanced (if you drew a line down the centre of the hoof and leg, there is slightly more on the horse's left - the viewer's right). There is also a bit of flare.

I think these heels are slightly medio-laterally (side to side) unbalanced.

[/QUOTE]

This to me just surmises why your horse isn't comfortable. If you chopped the hoof in slices from coronet to sole, the sole would be much smaller than the coronet... imagine the pressure on the internal structures, and/or how thin/weak the sole and lower hoof wall is.

All in all, I would take those pics to your vet and farrier, and ask a shed load of questions, and educated yourself as much as you can from a wide range of sources on the horse's hoof, its structures, what normal and NB shoeing does, and the implications for the horse's ability to work of any abnormalities.

If you PM me your email address I can send you a document I wrote for college about hoof balance, that should give you an idea of the basics, and some references for further reading

 

[Kallibear]

Horrible shoeing. The farrier has tried to acheive, through chopping bit of his feet off, a 'healthy' foot shape, but without the healthy foot being there. It's like trying to force a pearshaped size 16 woman into a an athletic shaped size 12 corset.

1) he has had far too much toe dumped off the front. His toes are long and his feet flat because of his heels and poor internal structures. Just chopping off the toe won't suddenly make the foot better. It's also destroyed his hoof-pastern axis, giving him upright 'boxy' feet.

2) he has underun (but not long) heels. What exactly is the masses of shoe behind his heels trying to achieve? How exactly is it meant to encourage the heel to grow down at a steeper angle (which is what it needs to do)?

I don't see how you could quickly encourage those feet to grow a healthier and better shaped foot with shoes on, since they problems were caused by shoes in the first place. But I do know that how to fix them within a couple of months barefoot.

This is the healthy, well shaped foot the farrier has tried to achieve by chopping bit off - but it only comes from correct use of the foot: (and yes, the very short foot is how they're MEANT to look)

 

[spookypony]

T
I rode him again yesterday in the school. he was really hard work, not extending (which he does without being asked normally) throwing his head up when asked for trot and canter, which he never does, he always stays in a lovely outline through transitions, and when in canter he kept breaking into trot. He was so chopy, it was like riding a pony. He also had his ears back the whole time (not like him) I'm worrying the big change may damage his legs? He has fine TB legs and I don't want to put any strain on them. I have a lesson on tuesday, so I'll see if my instructor notices a difference.

Not going to comment on the shoeing job, but that ^ ^ ^ , IMO, tells you what you need to know: he's uncomfortable, and the likely candidate is his feet. What you are describing is exactly what I saw when my pony had LGL in June: shortened strides, resistance to being asked to up the pace, tension, general unhappiness. How did the lesson go? I'd call up the vet and explain your concerns, and if you're not completely happy with his answer, get a second opinion from another vet and another farrier.

 

[skewbald86]

Just got back from my lesson. He went alot better, no throwing of the head and his canter was lovely and his strides were back to being long again, he was doing best shoulder in he has ever done so far and ears pricked, so relieved.
My instructor said she would give him a week or so to settle into his new shoes.
I am looking at changing farrier though after all the bad comments.

 

[LucyPriory]

I find it a bit odd that horses have to be given a day or two or even longer to adjust to new shoes. Surely if they are correct the horse should be fine? After all that is the standard that most of us apply to barefoot trimmers?

 

[the watcher]

I find it a bit odd that horses have to be given a day or two or even longer to adjust to new shoes. Surely if they are correct the horse should be fine? After all that is the standard that most of us apply to barefoot trimmers?

I disagree. If the work being done is remedial then i would anticipate a change in striding and movement, particularly if you are prgressing away from a previously very bad shape. The horse adjusted to the bad shape they were in before through growth, you have just undone all that with a trim or shoes and have to allow time for all the structures of the foot and leg (and even spine and pelvis) to adjust again.

Remedial work isn't always pretty in the process. I have been working on one that arrived in late spring with long toes, caudal pedal bone rotation, badly underrun heels and early signs of hock arthritis that may or may not have been related to poor foot balance. They were out of balance from side to side too. The shoes required to repair these problems were hand built and while changes have been taking effect I have taken the decision to do very little work on the horse, although he has been at liberty to scoot around the field as much as he likes. He has only been ridden on a soft surface in walk and trot.

Several months on his feet are really growing nicely and his muscle growth around his pelvis has improved substantially. This weekend he will be changing from his hand built platform shoes into NB shoes, this is still part of a process with the ultimate aim of getting him into quarter clip shoes on the front and ideally unshod behind if he can cope with it.

I expect the entire process to take up to 9 months, his workload will progress slowly during that time so as not to undo what we have acheived so far, or create new stresses as his point of balance changes.

In my view, making enormous changes to repair damage that may have occurred over a period of time cannot be done in a shorter time scale and far too many people are in too much of a rush to see results.

 

[KatB]

Completely agree with the_watcher.

I don't think the shoeing job done is bad. The horse has tonnes of heel support, and the shoe is well shaped. However, neither is it a true "natural balance" shoe, it is just a pulled back toe with no clips to change the breakover point and with lots of heel support. I would stick with this farrier and see how he looks in 3 or 4 shoeings time.

 

[skewbald86]

Completely agree with the_watcher.

I don't think the shoeing job done is bad. The horse has tonnes of heel support, and the shoe is well shaped. However, neither is it a true "natural balance" shoe, it is just a pulled back toe with no clips to change the breakover point and with lots of heel support. I would stick with this farrier and see how he looks in 3 or 4 shoeings time.

yay! thanks for the positive post dont feel so much of a bad mommy now!
his feet arent going to look as good as some other peoples horses feet, but they were in a bad state. and after all he is a highly qualified farrier so I was shocked at how bad the reviews on the shoeing job are.

 

[Peter026]

I disagree. If the work being done is remedial then i would anticipate a change in striding and movement, particularly if you are prgressing away from a previously very bad shape. The horse adjusted to the bad shape they were in before through growth, you have just undone all that with a trim or shoes and have to allow time for all the structures of the foot and leg (and even spine and pelvis) to adjust again.

Remedial work isn't always pretty in the process. I have been working on one that arrived in late spring with long toes, caudal pedal bone rotation, badly underrun heels and early signs of hock arthritis that may or may not have been related to poor foot balance. They were out of balance from side to side too. The shoes required to repair these problems were hand built and while changes have been taking effect I have taken the decision to do very little work on the horse, although he has been at liberty to scoot around the field as much as he likes. He has only been ridden on a soft surface in walk and trot.

Several months on his feet are really growing nicely and his muscle growth around his pelvis has improved substantially. This weekend he will be changing from his hand built platform shoes into NB shoes, this is still part of a process with the ultimate aim of getting him into quarter clip shoes on the front and ideally unshod behind if he can cope with it.

I expect the entire process to take up to 9 months, his workload will progress slowly during that time so as not to undo what we have acheived so far, or create new stresses as his point of balance changes.

In my view, making enormous changes to repair damage that may have occurred over a period of time cannot be done in a shorter time scale and far too many people are in too much of a rush to see results.

At last someone with a bit of sense

OP Rome was not built in a day, Some posters are complaining about M/L imbalance. Without full Lower leg shot, how does one know that this is an imbalance? was the Horse shod to footfall? I think yes, so all this shooting down the Farrier without the full knowledge of the conformation of the horse in question stinks. Stick with this Farrier and eventually the feet will come right

 

[icestationzebra]

Skewbald - have a look at this website. Lots of useful information from one of the best natural balance farriers in the country. Shame you are not in the South East, but you could try asking Clive if he recommends anyone in your area. However, as others have said, corrective shoeing takes time and I would give your present farrier a chance to do his job. If your horse is happy and sound then let nature do its work.

http://www.equinefootprotection.co.uk/about-equine-foot-protection.html