Strange shoes?!

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blackhorse37

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Hi all,

went to see a couple of horses today, only had time to ride one and going back tomorrow to ride the grey. I was shown the grey and really like it BUT its front shoes are odd! The shoe seems to be a centimetre infront of his toe!!

His feet and confo look good and when i questioned the woman she said "oh, hes just slipped a shoe" I have been around/owned horses for over 35yrs and never seen this before (she said shoes were 4wks old) and that he had had a little seedy toe.

Is this a "trick"? (to mask a problem?) some kind of balance issue? Have contacted my farrier but with it being Bank hols dont expect to hear from him til later in the week so really need your advice.
 
Is it both front shoes? My horses shoes have slipped a little but you can see the shoes are worn and that he needs a farrier soon. I'd wait and speak to the farrier tommorrow. You could still go and see it and try it out but seek advice before committing to it. A dealer once tried to pull the wool over my eyes saying showjumpers were being put in heart bar shoes as it was the fashion DUH!!! was a lovely looking horse and good confirmation but the heart bar shoes had the alarm bells well and truly ringing.
 
blackhorse37 said:
its both fronts. just spoke to an old friend/riding instructor who said that it sounds like natural balance. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Natural balance shoes should be very slightly behind the toe (shortened) to improve breakover. If it is 1cm away from the toe forward (as you described) then this isn't very good shoeing. How awful, must be hard to walk properly.
 
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I had natural balance on mine for a while due to previous incorrect shoeing. They are put slightly under the toe to improve the breakover point, so I would say the ones you have seen aren't natural balance.

Wouldn't it seem a bit odd to have slipped BOTH front shoes at the same time?
 
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My pony had a touch of laminitis and the farrier put some bigger shoes on to spread his weight more on his front feet. They were slightly ie 0.5cm wider on both sides, not at the toe which were flush. I was told that the horse could step on them by mistake and pull them off that was the only down side but it was done as corrective shoeing to support the feet better.

Usually a loose shoe is loose? I have never seen them 1cm in front of the toe, seen bar shoes but not that. Hope your farrier will advise better, perhaps ask in the vet section on the forum??
 
I don't know but different farriers have different ways of doing things. Seedy toe/stretched white line is easy to treat but takes time. Hoof problems like this CAN be remedied but up to you if you want to buy and wait 4-6 months for it to grow out... properly!
 
to be fair no comment should be made unless we can see a photo of what you are trying to describe , there is a chance it could be cytec shoeing but all comments including mine are pure guess work which could be unfair to the owner and farrier . by the way , heartbars on showjumpers are a fashion thing throughout europe at the minute , it was blue pads 2 years ago , eggbars 5 ago , the list is endless on shoeing fads
chris
 
Ask the owner when he is next being shod then try him once hes been shod.
My mare managed to come in once with a front shoe that had slipped forward. By the next morning it had rotated.
Queue a phonecall to Mr Farrier Man telling him my horses foot was about to drop off :D
 
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