Plastic shoes vs steel shoes for 'normal' horses

[paddy555]

I'm awaiting the promised real life video with interest.

There is a farrier on another forum who said he had some input into the development and that the attachment mechanism just attracts crud. I can't see it working myself, getting something sticky to attach to the hoof wall in a UK winter? not without it including something I didn't want to put on a hoof wall.

I ride through a lot of boggy ground and deep rocky ground. I am struggling to see that these are going to stay in place with all the mud and the holding bog. They may be fine on a tarmac road but not in real life.

 

[ester]

I suggested maybe if I kept and rode F in our positive pressure clean room, the response was yeah, but there are at least 10 other issues with them.
I want to see them on a real hoof, because on the model that breakover, particularly to the sides is horrid, you wouldn't want to do any lateral work in them, that and it seems more likely the horse will just stand on them then and break them too. My gloves made it through several new forest bogs earlier in the year, much to my surprise, even without tape and manage allsorts here too. I can't see these managing it.

 

[Casey76]

My response when I first sae them on FB:

So you are glueing on the "bottom" part of the velcro/scratch to the hoof wall - how long is it going to take for the hoof wall to grow/wear away so that you have to remove (with what? chemicals?) it and replace it?

Anyone who uses anything with a scratch knows that even with careful cleaning they don't stay sticky for more than 2 minutes if in contact with mud/sand/fibre etc.

If the fit isn't *tight* to the hoof, you are going to get gravel underneath and more stone bruises and abscesses than you can shake a stick at.

While I think it is admirable that new concepts are being thought of all the time, this one needs some solid and thorough testing before it is put into production.

 

[Lovethebeach]

I used Duplo shoes for 3 years on fronts of heavy cob mare with flat feet ( bare hinds), easily fitted by farrier, normal nails, they have a metal core, not just the nail holes. Wear wise they lasted 11 resets at 6 week intervals, so over a year. She was ridden or driven 4 times a week for average of 8 miles. Fitting was same as cold shoeing, I had extra hard, profiled, clipped ones but several different styles available, I ordered direct from the German site (it converts to English in the shop part) details on the website http://www.duplo-frank.de/en/advantages
Hope this helps

 

[BethH]

Really like the look of these, sounds a good compromise - will be investigating further. Thank you so much for taking the time to post, nice to hear someone has used something a little different with success, I will be giving my new farrier the details.

 

[Casey76]

A mare on my yard has just had the Duplo shoes put on. I'm interested to see how they hold up.

I'm also interested to know how a plastic shoe can permanently cure thrush (like it states on the website) lol!

 

[BethH]

Please let me know if you get any feedback - I've had a look into them after Love the Beaches post yesterday. I had heard the ones that are completely made of plastic flex too much so the nails fall out, whereas these look a much more sensible compromise - am seriously starting to consider them for my horse whilst bullying my podiatrist to become a farrier lol! Starting to get my hopes up there may be a good solution for my horse - fingers crossed eh but feel quite excited about the possibility of these!

As for the thrush - potentially a claim too far I feel! Silverstrol seems a far better idea for that!

 

[Lovethebeach]

I forgot to say that I used Red Horse Artimud under the shoes between sole and wall, so nail went through this before into the foot. On the frog piece, I also had the little V at the back cut out so easier access to cleaning centre sulcis daily, back of shoe I just cleaned under with brush of hoof pick by flexing it away from hoof.

 

[Bare hoof]

How about no shoes at all

 

[spookypony]

How about no shoes at all

From another barefooter: not a particularly helpful reply.

Earlier posts in this thread have thrown up various reasons why the OP and others might find going completely bare difficult, and sometimes that's just down to "real life". E.g., I have a metabolically-compromised pony, and I don't have the ca$h to put in a fully-varied-surfaced track system in my wet corner of the UK, nor do I have the time to spend hours every day conditioning his feet during ridden work. The use of hoof protection allows him to get the exercise he needs to be healthy and allows him to be comfortable over stony terrain. Adjustment of management (whether dietary, exercise, trimming, general living situation...) is generally the first place I would look if there were a niggling footiness, but sometimes, circumstances simply limit the amount of adjustment that can be done.

In his case, I use Renegades (Classics, and Vipers, which have amazing grip, and are really easy to put on/take off). I personally wouldn't consider nailing on hoof protection: I think that there are sufficient modern alternatives available, and I think that large contributors to the problem of availability around here are the lack of training in these alternatives by UK farriers in general, the unhelpfully rigid and backwards attitude of the WCF which makes co-operation with people trained in these alternatives so difficult, and a general conservatism in UK horsey culture.

FWIW, OP and others looking into this, it's worth looking at the barefoot side of the Endurance riding community for ideas and suggestions (especially outside the UK): I think in many places, they're years ahead in terms of experience of booting and alternative hoof protection in high-performance situations.

 

[BethH]

Well said Spooky Pony, my podiatrist is absolutely brilliant, I am so frustrated that I have to use a farrier that I don't know to do this. I agree the WCF is archaeic and I would be much happier to have my horse shod if I thought the training scheme they ran was any good. It's the them or us attitude that gets me, why can't farriers and podiatrists work together for the good of the horse. I'd like my podiatrist to trim as he is fabulous at balancing the feet properly and then a shoe could just be popped on. Better still, use the podiatry qualification as an entrance to farriery!

It's all just vested interests and my horse has to have an approach to his footcare that doesn't work!

 

[ester]

I attended a talk with a v pro barefoot vet last week, I didn't realise that was the case I was just hoof geeking it.

His thought is that 50 years time we won't be nailing shoes on as materials science will catch up. His concept is something you can paint on, which will wear slowly for the duration of your ride and then the horse goes back into the field bare again

 

[supsup]

Hm. I'm slightly less optimistic that anyone will come up with a material that will stick to hooves just as they come out of the field - wet and dirty - without a ridiculous amount of prep work (see Easycare glue prep: clean hoof, dry, wipe with alcohol, roughen surface. Don't leave finger prints on boots, use glues at right temperature.... not exactly a field-ready process!).
I actually think that hoof casts are the closest thing right now to instant semi-permanent hoof protection that could be reasonably used without too much prep and training. Absolute pity that the WCF have managed to make the use illegal for lay people with their court case against a podiatrist. I can see how that concept could be developed a bit further (adding some sort of wear-resistant sole) to effectively give a custom-fit boot that will stay on for a week or two, and can be replaced by the owner.

 

[ester]

I think the painting was a >50 years dream but was something I hadn't thought of before and a bit outside the box.

 

[spookypony]

I like your vet's way of thinking! Was speaking with the farrier at an endurance ride a while ago; he also thought that metal, nailed-on shoeing is going the way of the dodo.

 

[Sheik]

Thanks for the further information BethH - it just seems such a great concept as an alternative to steel I cant understand why it hasn't taken off and why there's not more of a push towards it.

I think it has not taken off because a lot of people are traditional ( me been one) and people don't like change , I don't think I would be happy to have plastic on my horses feet we have never had any problem with good old steal shoes, I would be worried that the plastic type of shoes would wear away very quickly and not be sturdy enough.

 

[BethH]

But the concussion caused by steel is responsible for so many of the arthritic problems that we see in horses, and many of them so young. Well that and poor foot balance. The Equi-Eaze farrier told me the reason he was trying to get this invention to work was to reduced these issues. He reckoned if he could get it right, it would reduce/delay the impact of concussion causing such problems from a horse's teenage years to their 20's. I can only hope he manages it.

I take your point sometimes if it isn't broken don't fix it - except that I think modern farriery is breaking horses, and their feet never get a break from shoes causing much of the under run heels and toe first landing that create so many lameness problems.

 

[BethH]

So an update from me - Ryan had a yard move and the Farrier!!!! The new yard is fab with lots of different terrain so brilliant for barefoot and then the farrier came on Thursday. I was so worried about shoeing, but he was brilliant & a complete credit to his profession! Said that he could see I wasn't ready to shoe, trimmed Ryan and made a few changes to get the foot working more effectively, spotted a minor problem with one of the heels that he said could be causing him to move tentatively, spent loads of time chatting to me about plastic shoes & steel shoes and the pro's and cons - I've yet again learned loads! He didn't shoe him, said he wanted me to spend 6 wks working him in the new environment as he had good feet to see if we could make it work before we rushed to put shoes on and the upshot is my horse is suddenly standing square behind, is much more relaxed and given what a complete idiot he's been to try and ride lately, has managed to hack out around a farm that he's never been to before on his own walking over flints, concrete, tarmac and the works confidently - he actually feels level behind!!!! Fingers crossed it carries on, but I am beside myself with excitement that he may have a decent ridden future!

Just goes to show sometimes you have to try something different, am starting to realise what a rut I've been stuck in! And the most interesting thing was hearing his thoughts on plastic shoes which he said on the road grip too much and can cause as much joint jarring as you are trying to avoid with the concussion from metal - so the whole shoeing thing means you just end up going round in circles. So I am going to do my best to work my horse enough to get his feet tough enough to cope with Winter barefoot - wish me luck as I really would be thrilled if he could manage without any type of shoes!!

 

[ihatework]

Just bumping this up, samlf / BethH / anyone else tried the Easyshoe or Equi-Eaze and if so would you mind if I PMd you?