Young horse who keeps pulling front shoes off!!

Escada2004

Escada2004

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I have a young horse who is a nightmare for standing on her own feet (fronts on the inside) and pulling her shoes off when she is in the field. I have tried one pair of long over reach boots, this doesnt do a thing so i have been putting two pairs on which has helped a lot. The only thing is i leave one pair on all of the time and in the mornings im not at the yard as im working and the lady who puts her out doesnt have the best memory and guess what, today she forgot to put the second pair on and not we have a shoe missing!!! The worst thing is she doesnt have the best of feet and they are quite broken on the inside because of the traumer. My farrier is great and puts filler on to protect them,she also wears double clips as this gives the broken part of the hoof a bit more support. Does anyone know of something i can put over her hooves and leave on 24/7? i dont like leaving two pais of over reach boots on as they cant be very comfortale and im worried about rubbing - i think i will have to invent equi-wellies!!
 
I had a horse who did the same as a youngster. She was a very powerful warmblood, lovely paces, but she forever pulled a front shoe off in the field. What made the difference, was improving her balance through training, once she carried herself better under saddle she stopped pulling shoes.
 
Escada2004 said:
The worst thing is she doesnt have the best of feet and they are quite broken on the inside because of the traumer. My farrier is great and puts filler on to protect them,she also wears double clips as this gives the broken part of the hoof a bit more support. Does anyone know of something i can put over her hooves and leave on 24/7? i dont like leaving two pais of over reach boots on as they cant be very comfortale and im worried about rubbing - i think i will have to invent equi-wellies!!
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You could invest in some boots to cover the foot but I'm guessing they have to be used without shoes.

In the meantime are the shoes possibly coming off easier because her feet are constantly wet with the mud/rain? Like our own nails when we have been in the bath too long, horses feet get soft with standing in water/mud. In turn the nail holes get bigger and the shoe becomes loosened. It wouldn't take much to pull a shoe off in this situation. I would suggest Keratex hoof hardener. http://www.keratex.com/products.html This is designed to get your horse's hooves into good, strong condition for shoeing, working or going barefoot. This product will help prevent cracks, splits, thin soles, sensitivity, losing shoes and much more. The special formula contains an extra ingredient to add both flexibility and strength, hardening feet without making them brittle. Therefore its ideal for long term use.
 
yes i have seen these and think they are a fab idea, only prob is i think they might be more for horses that over reach rather than stand on the inside of their feet as they dont go that far along the hoof, i might be wrong but dont know anyone who has used them??
 
thanks applecart, i did think that before however our horses havent been out for months in the field due to the mud and wet, they have been turned out on the menage and still she managed to do it. Hoof boots arnt an option as she has to be shod, i compete her BS and need studs for the summer shows. She is very clumsy and trips over her own feet as she doesnt concentrate half the time i think thats her problem, yet when she is being ridden she is totally fine and never even clips herself. She does go loopy in the field hence her pulling the shoe off.
 
Very frustrating problem! Had a young horse did this lots of times, he was a long legged, short coupled strong horse, he gradually grew out of it when he figured out where to put his girt big feet!:p
 
I am going through the same pain at the moment - its a combination of a very good moving, short coupled and desperately unbalanced horse! I went for a pair of decent over reach boots (not rubber) and so far we are now into week two with no pulled shoes. I am very careful putting them on and it seems to be working. The farrier has also altered the fit of the hind shoes and they are slightly further back and the toe is pulled back a bit more to also help this issue.
 
Buster is the same when. When he was eventing last year he was a total nightmare would pull off anything up to 3 shoes in 10 days!! I found the more work he did and the more balanced he became the better it got. He's also the same every year when he comesin off his hols! He used to have overreach boots for everything and for dressage/showing I used black duck tape to try and cover the heels. My farrier also shoes him very short much to his dislike but it work and he's keeping them on much better this way and touch wood has only pulled one off this season!
 
I used to have the same problem with my tb before he went barefoot i- he was especially talented and even pulled both backs off in the stable once.

I used hoof boots over shoes in the field, boa ones suited his foot shape at the time. It invalidates the warrenty but it can be done.
However they were too slippy in the winter.

Plan b was neoprene or boots fitted snugly and rubber ones 2 sizes too big over them. But they only went on when he went out.


Could you not put a note on the door or leave them in such a place that the person turning him out practically falls over them when she goes to turn him out.
 
one of the many little trials my ginger minger put me through was to stand deliberately pulling his shoes off in the wire fence... great fun!!! Got round this one by putting electric fences in front of wire fences leaving him free to stand there all day dreaming up new plans to p*** me off. Off thread i know but related sort of.
 
thanks everyone, she def needs shoes as is hopping lame in front without, also i do a lot of road work on the hills for fitness training for competing, and need studs for summer jumping, would take her 6 months plus to get used to being bare foot and i dont want her off for that long esecially as she had 7 months of last year out of action as she tripped up the ramp at a show when i was bring her back to the lorry and cut her leg open!! I think the only answer is the two sets of over reach boots and a kick up the backside for the lady who turns her out!! Very frustrating as we have gone 3 months with no problems!! Thanks again everyone :)
 
My little princess was just like this in her first year of being shod. However, she used to hook them on the fence and pull them off :o Over reach boots were useless as she would lie down in the field and ‘chew’ them off… What worked was my farrier started shaping the shoe differently behind so there was no gap for her to hook the shoe onto the fence… :D
 
Have you tried quarter clips, we had one that was a nightmare, the 1/4 clip sat right where he was standing on the shoe to pull it off, hey presto, no lost shoes ;) schooling will help in the long run too :)
 
We had a pony which was always losing front shoes; mainly because he had rubbish feet. It was a nightmare as every time he lost one, the foot was in even worse shape with less to nail onto.
The best way to keep them on, I found, was to use duck tape wrapped around the lower foot/shoe firmly. Plus o/r boots.
Obv. this had to be done a lot, esp. if it was wet weather at all, but it def. worked a treat. The trick was to carefully dry the foot before putting the tape on and then winding it tightly and just catching enough heel to keep it in place.
He never lost a shoe with the tape on.
I got to be a dab hand at applying the tape and I've used it on other horses since to keep on slightly loose shoes til the farrier comes out.
 
Thanks emmyc yes she has quarter clips on the front and it has help massively, she actually managed 5 1/2 weeks this time! However because the foot breaks every time she stands on the inside of the foot, i need to have something 100% young horse proof! ha ha. AnShanDan, i will give the duct tape a go i think, im not at the yard in the mornings however if i put a good coating on at night when im there, hopefully this will still be on for the morning when she goes out!!
 
My horse went through a stage of this last year and it is so annoying!, he would have his feet filled (which is great stuff!) etc and they were still coming off- since he's been wearing much lighter almost aluminium like shoes he's had no more probs touch wood, I just think maybe the shoes were too heavy for his feet!

Also you've prob tried this already!!-, if your horse doesn't mind where the shoes is placed on his foot you could maybe ask your farrier to have a play around with moving the breakover point in the hind feet back slightly and safe the hind toes off?!.

I think sometimes it's a stage they've just got to get through and once they come out of it the other side and the feet are stronger, it does get better!
 
Thanks K27, yes its so frustrating isnt it! My farrier does shoe her like that behind, might be worth mentioning the lighter shows however i feel as she doesnt over reach and pull them off, she stands on her feet apart from sticking wellies on her she is going to continue and hopefully grow out of it, although she has been doing it for two years now! I did see comeone at a BS show last winter with what looked like some rubber over the front shoes that only went about a quarter of the way up the hoof, but when i went to find her to ask her what they were i couldnt find her again - any ideas??
 
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