First hand drawn clips on a horse.

Ok pics if your gonna go off topic on my thread.

Actually would love to see that Marc/ John.

Sorry

was picking on ya and fishing for pics of that shoe

I'm not sure if i took any of that job will have a look

yes i try and give him the right section as possible
even if there is more work forging the heels
i dont like heavy
thats the beauty of a wide range of steel availible concave/flat

Sure, but how would you keep certain modern materials in the foot like impression material, the mesh usually doesn't do a good enough job. Most of the horses I have pulled a wedge shoe and replaced with pads and IM the riders have a lot more positive feedback about the way the horse is moving. The weight is also a concern as pointed out by others. Most long footed horses don't do well with weight in the heels. Wedged heels sink in soft footing as well.

Tried the mesh three times, three different horses, was no good.

I use kk alu wedges with mesh and equipac, has never come out in the wet Irish conditions or in the desert sand over here, I have used the edss I.M over here as we have a large stock of it.
Marc I would agree on it only taking five more mins over a standard pair, its the twenty mins a standard pair takes me on top of that which puts me off I never had time in Ireland the mileage I had to cover between yards and rarely needed wedges. Over here I seem to be putting them on every day and would love a steel option that i could burn on to help keep shoes on but making them is not an option as no shoe making tools, but theyre on route from Ireland, but bar stock will take a long time getting here so will have to be plastic wedges or alu for the time being.

Gary im using some kk alu wedges but at the moment we have only 1 size in stock so unless the shoe fits its plastic

Hi Ray I took pics of my job which ill put on later the foot i shod could take either 3/4 or 7/8 but decieded to go with 3/4 to assess the issue of weight for next time round. I am 90% certain there will be no negative effects and will use 7/8 next time round but still apply the same forging process.

Equipak will stay in with mesh however soft impression material will not. I have seen ali plate welded in ali graduated shoes before with a large number of holes drilled to keep in the soft impression material. It looked real sweet but would take an awful lot of work.

Good discussions here I'm not saying which I prefer plastic or graduated steel. Its good to see the arguement for and against on both.



Here is a graduated bar shoe I put on last year made from 7/8 x 1/2. I draw down in the straight so that a constant 7/8 width can be achieved throughout. This shoe achieved a 3 degree wedge and the toe worn as if it was 5 1/16 flat. The horse is a showjumping warmblood is now totally sound and performing at a high level in normal shoes. Could the same result of been achieved with plastic wedges?

Firstly that's a lovely job Marc. The bar shoe has added another element to this, im open to correction but would a 3 deg wedge pad and a flat shoe with a bar welded in not create the same mechanics for the foot? It wouldn't involve the same skill and craftsmanship and I think would pull off easier than your shoe and most definitely wouldn't give the same satisfaction but mechanics wise would it not serve the same purpose?

What negative effects would the plastic wedges have on a foot over a graduated heel?

Sorry for thread hijacking kim

lol, it's a natural progression from where it started.

I'm sure Jaye uses the bar wedges in his competition horses if I'm not mistaken.

Kim get ur hands on screen.. but the wire kind ..I think its alum ..but just the kind that comes in a screen door or window..I hate the mesh as well.. I climbed in a dumpster and got mine and its lasted well over a few years but I think u can buy it at home depot or lowes .. but make sure its the wire kind not the plastic screen..

:.....I've never had any issues with the bar or plastic wedges :. And as others said its great for packing the foot with impression material or other.. cost effective I think the pad is the way to go.. its gonna be damn hard to get a trail rider in our area to pay for the wedge shoe with pour in ...

Also I worry about prolapsing if you don't support the bottom of the foot

Do you use the aluminium screen with i.m without it falling out? Ive seen redden use it one of his e videos but have never seen it used apart from that and assumed it would only hold the i.m in hospital situation or horse standing in.

Glad you brought that up, I have a horse now that the vet wants in an open wedge shoe possibly because the horse extremely sore in the back. I asked about supplemental support and he was against it. I mentioned about possibility of frog prolapse and he said for now he wants to check angles and the horses comfort.

If the horse just had to be wedged but couldn't take any pressure from support ...... would a hidden bar shoe be helpful considering the alternative to having no support?

If the horse just had to be wedged but couldn't take any pressure from support ...... would a hidden bar shoe be helpful considering the alternative to having no support?[/quote]

Whats a hidden bar shoe Kim?

Thank you David. I have used flat bar shoe combined with plastic wedges and equipak before and got more or less the same result - a much improved horse. I have nothing against mods on machine mades, as long as the horse improves thats the most important thing, I'm certainly no hammerhead!

However, I have found that using plastic wedges instead of steel graduation provides poor quality heel growth and more crushing of the horn tubules at the heel. They seem to take longer to make the transition out of the plastic wedges but I'm sure there are those here that would say otherwise. My biggest obstacle in correction of horses I work on is convincing the owner to get the horse on a more regular shoeing cycle, I can count on both hands the number of horses I shoe on a 5 week cycle the majority go on a 7 week or longer period.