Smitty, in both of Eric's last posts you have observed that he could have done with more length, yet in both cases the shoe extends beyond the heel. Can you tell me how you assess correct shoe length? I've heard various formulae ranging from 'fit to the end of the heel' to 'half way between the end of the heel and a line perpendicular to the bulb of the heel'.
I'm interested too. I know the first one I was really wishing for some more length the whole time. Today I had to tighten up the medial quart and straighten it because it wasn't reaching the heel the way I wanted it to fit. I also think on both of these horses having an over all bigger stock dimension would have made everything look a lot better.
Its hard to say what lenth is right all the time but fitting to the widest part of the frog i think is a good starting point
I think the picture is a bit misleading. I can see what John is questioning. It looks like the heels were left wanting with the funky shape this horse has. Looking at the bars I'd say the heels are well covered and supported. The whole foot looks like someone grabbed the toe and heel bulbs and just stretched it out.
i reckon the steel is there , but personally i would have set the shoe a lot further back , its my personal preference to shoe square in the toe and set back ( hunter style ) behind . i only fit to the toe on horses that have a toe clip behind , before you ask why , its because that is the way i prefer to do it
I have been using more and more 3/8x1. Horses of all sizes seem to really like more steel and I like all the forging possibities. This horse usually wears a size 3 Kerk SSP. My son Dillon who is 11 works with me every Wednesday. He was my striker on these and did a great job. I cut 12 inches and we forged to fit. I was set up at big nice barn today and you should have seen the ladies watch Dillon swing the sledge. The end result were shoes full of hammer marks but they fit right off the hammer. I ran them on the grinder to clean them up. All in all we shod five horses all around and made these shoes and some bar shoes for another horse. He pulled and finished every one.
Smitty, looking at this photo is the first time I think I noticed something. Part of the reason I think your work is so appealing to my eye. If I draw a line at the highest, widest part of the trimmed frog, your forged heel on the shoe sit right in the middle. Very appealing . Do you have a photo from the side of this hoof?
Eric, I like the fit of the heals allow the dirt and stuff to clean out. For a hind, are they a little short, or is there a reason for the length?
I would say thats the camera angle this time. Theed pent of shoe there. I can't get good picks at that barn because its dark an the sun shines right through the door. I move the foot and camera until I get rid of most of the glare. Eric Russell
After seeing the pics enlarged on my pc, the camera angle looks reasonable. I thought the shoes came out a hair long for my liking. The shoe is pretty much at the widest part of the frog. It's a good amount past the heels. I don't see any reason for adding more length unless it was a therapeutic situation and then I would be reducing the toe lever also.
One thing I know seeing things in person is different than seeing only the views of a camera. Have seen that many times myself. I really like your hand mades - they got a good look to them. I have to admit my hand mades are not so pretty, but they fit the horse and they work. One thing I have noticed for myself is this year I am trying to do a cleaner finish with a little "Tuff Stuff" to end with. After seeing the smiles on some of my customer's faces, I have made up my mind that "looks" are also important to a job.
I think to get a nice finish everything has to be in place foot prep,fit,N/F wheather your fitting hand-mades or machiners if all the above aint right it dont look right that goes the same for putting stuff on feet to make look nice workmanship has to be in the job IMO
Karen the shoe is fullered, or creased, down the medial side to help widen the section of steel on that side. It also will pack with dirt and footing causing that side to wear slower than the lateral side. The lateral side of the shoe is drawn down and narrowed. It is more narrow on the ground than it is on the foot surface. The shoe is made to give flotation to the medial side and allow the lateral side to sink in footing, or in his case in his stall bedding. His medial collateral lig. of the pastern is ruptured and the thinking behind this was to keep the medial side of his foot from sinking down and pulling on that lig. That is the idea any way. I have talked to the owner and she said that he was doing better the next day. I'd like to think that the shoe helped but it could have just been my lucky day.
