I think the thing we have noticed with the quarter horse is how over the past twenty to thirty years how the quality and size of the quarter horse hoof has gone down hill. It's probably not so much we can't get shoes on, but it's the over all change in the hooves for the worst. Where we use to be putting on, let's say, #1 and #2 St. Croix, we are setting more and more #0 and #00 shoes. Along with the decrease in size is the decrease in hoof wall as well. Sure I can get nails in, but one has to be so much more careful as the white line is almost thicker than the nail used.
The best way to shoe these small footed QH types is never trim the heels, keep a good amount of toe flare on the foot, then short shoe them. As long as your nailing in the flare you don't have to worry about quicking them and as long as you keep them toe stabbing and moving on the forehand and don't charge more than $45 for a half set or $60 for a full set you will have a full book.
back too the original thread then , the conclusion i have come to is that it is bad farriery and mismanagement then
Unfortunately this is the way most of these horses are shod ... Makes us look really good sometimes . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think that feet are different in some areas of the world to others. Wot I do know is that if the desired shoe doesnt match the hoof if you nail it on anyway you can speed up the capsule disintegration. If you are dealing with thin feet or poor quality feet then you have to be accurate. thin nails in a well fitting nail hole fitted not to shallow and not to deep with not to heavy a section then you will at worst not destroy the feet at best you will improve them. But fitting that accurate is not something all farriers can do, you only need to be shallow once to destroy the next 3 shoeings.
To some degree. The effects of breeding have made it more challenging for us to do our job. In finding those horses, one has to be more selective of nail size, placement. The real challenge comes when these type of horses pull shoes and tear some horn wall off. Especially when you get a horse who's hooves don't grow much at all. My wife's got a horse who can't go without shoes, even in the pasture. This spring she got down in the box and caused a stress founder. Her hooves never grow down´, mostly forward. Because of the founder horn separation followed and I had to resect horn, then replace with Vettec. It has been a challenge as the quality of hoof wasn't all that great. I do have heartbars on the horse now. Chris, and after writing this, I also realize I've got a few Danish Dumbbloods some what the same. But it is the quarter horse breed I have watched the change in size and quality because that is what I grew up with.
Old timers have told me that they started wrecking the QH feet back in the 1950s. Breeding for tiny white feet. On the other hand, among the cattle ranchers here in Northern California and Southern Oregon, the opposite has quietly happened. There are nice big QHs, with good cow instinct, that weigh fourteen to sixteen hundred pounds, and have size two and three feet.
Thin walled hooves start with bad genes, but can be managed just fine. I remember shortly after I started I got a call to shoe a few QHs. Nice account I was happy to get. One foot on one horse was tore up, so I told the owner to keep the horse in a stall for a couple weeks until we got enough foot to put a shoe on. Never heard from them again. Now I'll see a foot much worse than one was and not give it a second thought, just shoe it.
how would a week have produced more foot too put a shoe ? methinks so it would self dress so you could see where the foot should be under the crap
Like I said, I was young and incompetent. Now I handle much worse with no worries, as I'm old and less incompetent.
