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| By Bob Blackwell Shoeing a Missouri Fox trotting Horse may seem different from other breeds, but even so the basics of good shoeing practices hold true for all breeds. I have shod horses for 50 plus years and have shod gaited horses for 30 plus years. I was trained by and apprenticed under my grandpa who was a professional blacksmith and received formal training from Cal.Poly.Tech in San Luis Obisbo, CA. My Pre Veterinary training from Univ. of Pennsylvania helped give me a better, more in depth understanding of the rational and justification of procedures used in both standard and correctional shoeing. I have stated on my personal web page from the beginning that I fit the shoe to the horses hoof and not the hoof to the shoe. When necessary for correctional shoeing, I have even made my own shoes. I prefer to shoe a fox trotting horse with flat plates. My reasoning for this is that it allows the hind feet to slide making the gait smoother. I start out shoeing to the horses natural angles: ie hoof, shoulder, front pastern, hoof, hip, rear pastern. All three angles should be the same. The natural angles work on most horses bred for a natural foxtrot. The angles can be changed to enhance gait. To help a hard trotting horse fox trot you can raise the angle in front and lower it behind. A pacey horse is shod just the opposite to achieve a fox trot by lowering the angle in front and raising it behind. The changing of the angles in either case should not exceed 2-4 degrees. I first trim and ready the bottom of the hoof, then I LIGHTLY rasp off any flares. I use a draw knife very little on the frog just to trim off the dead material. I then fit the shoe and shape it to fit the edge of the foot. On the rear quarter of the foot to the heel I leave the shoe fit over the foot 1/16-1/8 of an inch. This allows for enough foot growth that the foot does not grow over the shoe. I use a shoe large enough to extend past the heel at LEAST 1/4 inch. With the shoe fitted full and extending past the heel and the frog left full there is little danger of contracting heels. I feel that the current popular ways of using a shoe at least one size too small, bending in the heels, and using heeled shoes are causing or contributing to the following problems: contracted heels, rough gait, and there is some evidence that some of these practices may be soring some horses and causing them to react to pain when examined. A "coon-footed" (understanding heels) horse fitted with small tight fitting shoes will not travel in a normal manner. After discussing this problem with two different vets we concur that this could be a reason that this type of horses could test positive for soreness at the DQP station. In closing, farriers are contracted by and paid by the owner and SHOULD shoe the horse the way the owner requests. If they refuse to follow directions, I would get rid of them and DO NOT PAY THEM for the work done wrong and not contracted. Shoeing the Missouri Foxtrotting Horse By Keith Mizer This year I would like to take the time to respond to some of the questions submitted to me weekly by the owner's of Foxtrotting Horses worldwide. I have been shoeing Foxtrotters for thirty years. For many years, there have been Foxtrotters going out of Missouri. The Foxtrot is a broken gait, meaning the horse should walk with an extended front end and trot with its back legs. When they arrive at their destination, the question is often raised to the farrier, "Why did our horse lose its foxtrot?" There are several reasons that this occurs. One of which is the angle of the foot. Sometimes when a farrier re-shoes a horse, they will take all of the heel off and leave all of the toe on. When they do that, it will tend to make a horse pace or run-walk. The angle of the foot is very important. For example, by changing the angle from 53 to 48 degrees, you can change the trot to a running-walk very easily. Although you can go from a 4 inch toe to a 3-3/4 inch toe, never differentiate more than five degrees from the original angle of the foot. Are the shoes appropriate to the needs of the Foxtrotting horse? Ideally, they should be neither too heavy nor to light for the particular horse. According to rule book, the maximum weight for the front end is twenty-one ounces, a number three toe weight. (This has been recently changed.) If the horse paces or run-walks, you can use a number three tow weight. You must heat the shoe and put a heel calk on it. This will cause the horse's front end to break and extended in the proper place. Both the front and back shoes should fit well and full. They should never be to small to support the hoof, especially in the quarters and the heels. In addition, they should allow as much room for expansion as possible, in order to provide support for the varied movements of the hoof in the heel area. Heel support is one of the most critical areas of good horseshoeing, and often one of the most neglected. If the shoe is too small and doesn't provide the proper heel support, the Foxtrotting horse can not break in the proper place. Remember that most weight-bearing functions take place in the heel or the Foxtrotting horse. If the heels are too low or to high, it can cause the wrong breakover period and interfere with the Foxtrot. It is the very basic, perhaps boring fundamentals of shoeing that make the difference between a good Foxtrotting horse and a mediocre one. It is just as important to know when the fundamentals should be purposefully neglected in order to accomplish a specific goal. High levels of expertise in anatomy or physiology and fancy shoeing are nice and worth their weight in gold when used in the appropriate situation, but they are not worth much to anyone if sound, basic principals of horseshoeing are not practiced on every foot, Foxtrotter or not. |
Shoeing a Fox Trotter
Shoeing a Fox Trotter
Shoeing a Fox Trotter
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