Pulling off shoes!?

H

honorgon

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Why does my horse continually loose his shoes?!

Over the last few months my Haflinger has been pulling his shoes off on more and more occasions - most often when i am riding.

I do my best to prevent this - he is on a healthy hoof supplement to strengthen his hooves so the shoes have a good chance of sticking on and he always wears over-reach boots when ridden!! These seem to just slip out of a decent position as he STILL pulls his shoes off!!

Today I was on a hack with a friend and all of a sudden I heard a scrape and the next thing Harvey's shoe was danging off his foot and I had to yank it off and walk him home !!

It's becoming really annoying and I'm sure my farrier is fed up of visiting me too!!!
 
Unfortunately, it seems that once the shoe has been pulled off the foot more than once in a shoeing it weakens the hoof, making it even more likely to be pulled off next time.

Your farrier may be able to help you both out, ask him directly for his advice. Is your horse shod behind? If not, try that. Also see if your farrier can place the hind shoes slightly further back than normal. This 'slows them down behind' so they don't over-track so much.

If he is losing shoes in the field, I use ShoeSecure for my horse. They are a bit of a faff cause you need studs holes, and if you're not a pro at studding up they can take awhile to get used to. But you can't ride in them cause they are slightly 'jacked up' at the heel so just for turn out.

The two above things I have employed on my horse who pulled his shoes off at least once a shoeing, normally more than that, meaning being out of work and damage to his hoof.

Hope you get it sorted, I feel your pain! :)
 
I would talk to your farrier about putting him into early breakover shoes (Natural Balance / Centre Fit for instance) so that the forefoot is leaving the ground earlier and the shoe is less likely to be trodden off. Do please make sure though that he is trained in right techniques as putting an NB shoe on a traditional trim simply won't do the job.
 
My horse does this, usually a week after being shod and mostly on the near fore. I asked the farrier what I could do about it, expecting to hear something like the advice you've been given above. The farrier is a master farrier and is brilliant at his job, there is nothing he doesn't know about shoes, hoofs and shoeing(sp?). He told me to ride with a stronger leg and ride the horse into my hand and that would make him rounder and improve the quality of his paces and greatly reduce how often he pulls a shoe. He could tell me how the horse moves by the wear and tear on the shoes. He said he could do the other stuff but it would make no real difference until I started riding the horse properly.

I was put properly in my place, but have taken his advice on board and the horse certainly hardly forges at all anymore, but he still pulls a shoe the odd time. I always ride in over reach boots and the near fore takes a lot more of a battering than the off. Obviously I dont know how you ride but it might be worth considering.
 
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