what s wrong with the nail holes and shoe shapes

Have a think about it

As I have stated several times, I think nail fit is highly over rated in a practical sense. This idea has been sniffed at when I offered it. Yes, an extremely large a nail will stick up above the shoe, an extremely small nail will sink too far into the crease or hole and can't be driven tight. However, I find that the difference within couple of sizes of nails is negligible. A size 3 and a size 5, for an example, or a 4 and a 6. 8 weeks ago I tried an experiment. I'm not saying it was definitive, or any thing like a study - it was an experiment. I put a set of size 2 natural balance shoes on a horse. The horse is a fairly large Hanovarian. The package also included snow pads and studs. As we all know, the NB shoes generally have shit nail holes. Assuming there actually is such a thing, I guess. In one shoe I used size 5 Vector city heads, in the other, I used size 3.5 Delta race nails. I reset both shoest Friday, none the worse for wear. I had fully expected the shoe with the race nails would have gone missing, and I would get a call. I wouldn't have minded seeing the horse before his 8 week anyway, he has crappy feet.

Regards

So you reckon throw any nail into a shoe

I don't think nails keep the shoes on, so a micro perfect nail head fit may not matter much. What keeps the shoe on is a trim, shoe shape, and fit that provides the horse with the best mechanics for the leg it's under. Better mechanics, less strain on the nails.

think you hit the nail on the head though they sure seem to help when the foots in the air. I have comitted Ricks gastly experiment many times do to the fact that im a little forgetfull and had to dig threw my truck to find enough nails to finnish the day not purdybut it rally dident seem to make any difference.

I think everyone is leaving clips out of the equation and the type of ground, environment, weather, etc.... horses in America are used much differently then Europe.

I rarely use clips but when i do its because the foot is so mangled that i have to flote large sections of te foot and cant place many nails in witch case a keg shoe is mostly usless as the clips and or nail holes are never where i need them to be. On that subject where do you all prefer the nail holes ither side of the clips on a hind shoe , most kegs place them to close to the clip in my opinion but as i said i rarely use them so what do i know.

Perhaps you should use more clips. Then you could use fewer nails. You can punch a nail in any shoe, anywhere. It does not need to be handmade. Clips can be ground off or forged back in and a proper clip can be made. Its could actually be easier to purchase shoes that are not preclipped.

I would like to hear david take on it,
does nail fit matter?

Well for me, I may be wrong, but I always try to choose the nail that sits the tightest in the holes. This way there is no place for any movement. I set many shoes on with only two nail per side and no clips. I don't have many problems loosing shoes. I also believe you get a good trim and good fit of the shoe to the foot that's the key. I worked one day with Dave Duckett and he was setting with only two per side. When I asked why, he replied why put more holes in the horn if you don't need to. I thought about it and that's what I do now as well. Sure you can get by many times with not proper sized nails, but in the long run, for me it helps when they fit right. But hey, I'm not one of the "big boys", I'm just one of the every day dudes.

Guess that reads wrong Michael .I draw all my clips ,I dont like the placement on preclipped. As far as useing less nails gose. I live in fill every hole country and its taken years to convince most my costomers that six will do. I dont use clips often because i dont need to . I shoe mostly working cow horses and rarly lose a shoe but when i do i prefer to have them come off clean and with my clips they dont infact they ushaly take a large part of the hoof with them.besides im old and lazy and hate pulling a cliped shoe off

That's not even close to what I said.

Regards

I put clips on every horse I shoe and I can't ever remember losing a chunk of wall because of clips.

I developed my "nails don't matter" theory after a few observations. I had a horse that was conformationaly all fouled up and had poor shoeing when it came to me. I worked to get the shoes under it where they should be and was getting it going right. I came to shoe it after we had let it go nine weeks through scheduling problems, and found the shoes worn thin, and that I had forgotten to clinch the nails on the off fore foot, the crookedest leg on the horse. Shoe was tight.
What makes me think that the horse's moment is the most important factor in this subject are a couple of endurance horses I did. One was the National 100 Mile Champion a couple of times and the other was their number two horse they were bringing up. They were always shod the same day, trained and raced the same number of miles side by side. The champs shoes had half the wear that number two's did. Talking to the rider about this, she said the the horse moves over the ground rather than on the ground, better than any other horse she's ridden. This case was the horse's inherent talent rather than mine, but the goal is to facilitate any horse to move better.

Condishions are probobly verry different hear ,
its hot and dry hoofs are verry brital in the desert sw

Dont take this wrong Gary as i mean no offence but the more i think about this the harder it is for me to wrap my brain around as it is compleatly contrarey with my experieance. Where do you shoe and what do your horses do?

Haha - that makes two of us! I have also been thinking about your post and just can't see how clips can tear a chunk out of the hoof wall.
I shoe in the UK, so mostly wet during the winter with dry spells during the summer, however I shod horses in the middle east for ten years - dry, rock hard feet - and never had any problems with clips there either.

Nice work by the way