Rubber horse shoes

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pennyturner

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We have just come back from Morocco. Much about the way horses and donkeys are kept there is not to be recommended, but one more positive thing I noticed was that many of the carriage horses are shod with rubber 'shoes' - actually disks of old car tyre cut to size.

I had a long chat with the driver of one of the carriages , and I was not surprised (I drive barefoot) when he said that they were much better than iron, as they did not cause the horses to slip. They were nailed on in the usual way. Riding horses seemed to be mostly iron-shod (badly).

Does anyone know if this has been tried here - perhaps in a more professional way. It seems like an obvious recycling opportunity, and addresses many of the problems with traditional iron shoes; lack of flex, weight, percussive shock, slip etc.

Would especially love any farriers out there to comment.
 
I asked my farrier about rubber shoes recently and his view was that they are actually worse for a horse because they don't slip...he explained that over time, the horses legs would be jarred as they went across Tarmac roads etc where the shoe "sticks" to the road causing potential damage to joints etc which you don't get with metal shoes because they provide a bit of give via the slipping. He also said they would wear our extremely quickly for the amount of roadwork I do!
 
Interesting, although I'm far from convinced by his argument - for a start, generally the horse's natural hoof doesn't slip at all, except occasionally on ice or loose mud.
Metal shoes don't just slip 'a bit', as I can imagine plastic ones might. If they slip at all, they slide horribly, taking the poor horse's balance with it, and I don't see how anyone can say that is a good thing.
 
I'm tempted to write biong-biong, I have visions of Zebedee like -like bouncing horses!
However back to the real world... I think they might cause problems with jarring of the joints as they will grip the tarmac too well.
 
Clava said:
But what about hoof boots like Gloves? They are made of rubber, no sticking to the road with them.
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Quite. I had an old boy with Navicular that was lame as anything on tarmac barefoot or shod, but would high-step down the road in his Old Macs without a care. The fit was good, so not much different from being nailed on.

I drove the calesh horses briefly whilst I was in Marrakesh, and the horses seemed to go well enough, without slipping, jarring or bouncing like Zeberdee. :D
 
Mine only slip on very very worn Tarmac surfaces and only if the surface is also very dry and she is due to be shod...I know exactly which routes to avoid if there hasn't been any rain and the farrier is due within a week...and if I do come across a road I am not keen on, I'll dismount until I am back on a better surface. I could see rubber shoes being worse for my pony as it wouldn't matter if it was rain or shine or whether the road was worn or in good condition, there would be the opportunity to potentially "stick" (even slightly) on every step thus making lots of small jars (if my farriers theory is right) to her joints which could add up to something potentially serious.
 
exmoorponyprincess1 said:
I asked my farrier about rubber shoes recently and his view was that they are actually worse for a horse because they don't slip...he explained that over time, the horses legs would be jarred as they went across Tarmac roads etc where the shoe "sticks" to the road causing potential damage to joints etc which you don't get with metal shoes because they provide a bit of give via the slipping. He also said they would wear our extremely quickly for the amount of roadwork I do!
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I expect he did not suggest barefoot, as obviously the hoof would wear out , lol.
The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust train farriers in Gambia, and they use tyres, not sure of the detail, but the tyres will be a variable product, OK, there the alternative is ordinary household nails and some sort of home made steel shoes of dubious quality. They won't ever be able to buy a box of manufactured steel shoes.
The horse walking on tarmac barefoot will walk out confidently, slipping is not the best "idea".
It would not work in the UK: the advantage of barefoot is to limit concusssion and allow the horse to walk on slippy tarmac, I see it as a differerent scenario. If one is going to seek minimal concussion and lack of slip, one removes the shoes and adjusts the management if required.
If you want to try barefooot v steel , try running in shoes with steel "segs", v running shoes as per Gymshoes of the 1960's. You will soon discard the steel rimmed shoes.
 
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I have seen them doing this on prince fluffy kareem - mostly to protect feet from all the rubbish that is about as much as anything- and usually in addition to metal shoes (like we would use pads). I don't think it is very conducive to great hoof health underneath though!
 
pennyturner said:
Interesting, although I'm far from convinced by his argument - for a start, generally the horse's natural hoof doesn't slip at all, except occasionally on ice or loose mud.
Metal shoes don't just slip 'a bit', as I can imagine plastic ones might. If they slip at all, they slide horribly, taking the poor horse's balance with it, and I don't see how anyone can say that is a good thing.
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I think there's some truth in in-Easycare have now stopped producing 'Grips' because there was too much traction (and the tread on the G1s was considered too aggressive as well) even though they (Grips) were marketed as to be used on slick surfaces only such as ice/compacted snow and categorically not for use on tarmac etc

Its not true to say barefoot horses never slip-smooth concrete or SMA is blinkin' lethal. My youngster still hasnt regained confidence on the SMA stretch we have to go on to get anywhere from slipping on it earlier this year.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
I think there's some truth in in-Easycare have now stopped producing 'Grips' because there was too much traction (and the tread on the G1s was considered too aggressive as well) even though they (Grips) were marketed as to be used on slick surfaces only such as ice/compacted snow and categorically not for use on tarmac etc
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I'm sad they are stopping making them. I like them and use them when the ground is wet. Our rides are part road/part grass and the grips don't seem to have any more traction on hard surfaces than the normal easyboot soles, though much better on grass. They wear down very quickly though on tarmac which I'd presumed why not to use them, but I've never had any other trouble.
 
Bonkers2 said:
I expect he did not suggest barefoot, as obviously the hoof would wear out , lol.
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He's got no issues with barefoot - the only ones we have shod at our yard are those who do the most hacking as we have some very stony and sharp tracks (that unfortunately are unavoidable if we want to do anything off road) that even when we did have a previous horse barefoot and in boots for some hacking, they struggled with the sharp surface and this was after a lengthy period of being barefoot.

I'm not here to say metal shoes are better than anything else - they just work for my pony and the info I got from my farrier when I mentioned the option rubber shoes was quite thought provoking as I hadn't thought about the potential jarring issue. To be honest, it hadn't occurred to me but I can totally see how it would happen.
 
Gloi said:
I'm sad they are stopping making them. I like them and use them when the ground is wet. Our rides are part road/part grass and the grips don't seem to have any more traction on hard surfaces than the normal easyboot soles, though much better on grass. They wear down very quickly though on tarmac which I'd presumed why not to use them, but I've never had any other trouble.
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I have to say I've always liked the look of them but was just going on what was in their newsletters etc. I find hoof boots an interesting engineering problem and they've come a long way :)
 
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