Pony Shoes - Am i being over dramatic?

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jenz87

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Hi everyone,
Ive recently started shoeing my pony up front, as recommended by farrier. My horses have mostly been barefoot before, and those that have had shoes, are 16hh +
My 14.1hh pony, has shoes on, and i was just wondering whether this is normal.
She has three nails in each side, but they dont fit into the shoe, they stick out, and she is in affect, walking on the nails.
They stick out so much that her actual shoe doesnt come in contact with the floor until the heads of the nails wear down.
It really is irritating me, as when she walks, i can see her foot rocking slightly as she is really only balancing on 6 nail heads.

Surely this isnt normal for ponys? Isnt there smaller nails he can use?

Ill try and get a pic to follow, as someones borrowed my phone cable!!
 
my horse always has nail heads are always sticking out the bottom but hes 17.2hh so i dont know if its the same with ponies i think it depends on the shoe too :)
 
Yes the nails sound too big, they do come in different sizes. I'd mention it to farrier and see what he says about fixing it.
 
They will stick out a bit if your farrier has used road nails, I have these for my horse as he used to slip a bit on the road, but these have really helped. They aren't so big that he is balancing on them though.
 
Just been down and taken a few pics, they dont quite highlight what i mean, but might help!

SDC10943.jpg


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This is a week after shoeing
 
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my ponys nails stick out when first shod but go down quite rapidly with the road work we do.

my other concern would be that all the nails are so close together so its going to give a rocking motion mine are much more spaced out and so get even wear till flush with the shoes.
 
i would not be happy- it looks like he has used the wrong sized nails for the fullering groove.

i also prefer to see 7 nails in a shoe, and them to be more evenly spaced around the hoof wall.

this may be down to personal preference, and the way im used to seeing things done though. ;)

best thing to do would be to speak to your farrier ;) he may well have a reason for doing things this way. ;)

x
 
Why did the farrier want the pony shod at all?

ps agree with the others, plus the shoe is too short, it does not even cover the end of the pony's heel, does it??
 
cptrayes we are doing more road work, and she has shallow feet and was getting footy and wearing too much hoof away. Also she has been abused in previous years and had very wonky feet and since shes had shoes on theyve straightened up oddly enough!! She only has fronts on.
 
i think that the size of the shoe is fine- the branches are long enough- any longer and they would be touching her frog. ;)

just speak to him about your concerns. if the protruding nails are causing rocking then i'm sure he will use smaller ones- he maybe just put bigger ones in to prolong the life of the shoe as you are doing a lot of road work- bit like using road studs. ;) xx
 
mmm good point whisp&willow
Im going to talk to him when he is next here, and see what he says, i just wanted some opinions incase i was being totally unrealistic and this was perfectly acceptable before i made a fool of myself!!

On average how long would you say a pair of shoes should last, as i am charged the same every month no matter if its refits or not, which as a rule i dont mind as i actually prefer this to a cheap and expensive month. However, im beginning to think maybe these nails are so we can keep the shoe on longer, theoretically saving the farrier more money??

Bah!
 
MrsD yes our farrier is here every 6 weeks, i just meant as in arranging payment i pay the same every 6 weeks, it was just me being lazy i always refer to the farrier coming "every month" in horse shoe world!! Sorry!!
 
jenz87 said:
cptrayes we are doing more road work, and she has shallow feet and was getting footy and wearing too much hoof away. Also she has been abused in previous years and had very wonky feet and since shes had shoes on theyve straightened up oddly enough!! She only has fronts on.
Click to expand...

Road work is no reason to need shoes in a barefoot horse that has the right diet and is worked at a constant level. Mine and many others do miles and miles a week on roads.

Also, what is "wearing too much hoof" ? Was the horse unsound? If not, it just had typically short feet of a barefoot horse. A foot is only ever "too short" if the horse is unsound.

Shallow feet and inability to do road work without excessive wear are signs that your pony's diet is likely to be incorrect.

Wonky feet getting straighter in shoes is par for the course, it is what farriers are taught to do. It is not necessarily correct. When allowed to by going barefoot many horses which are lame in shoes come sound, but grow some very wonky feet to compensate for less than perfect conformation somewhere higher in their bodies.

To the person who said that if the farrier put a bigger shoe on the branches would touch the frog - he should heat the shoe and bend the branches straight so that they come further back over the end of the heel without curling in and touching the frog.
 
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