Outer hoof horn

And theses are just a few. Why bother making nails with so many different Heads, thicknesses & lengths if it wasn't important .

Then you two boys haven't shod any pacers of Trotters & if you have it must not been to well .Toe length is very important.

Toe length is very important on every horse. When the toe is too short, the horse bleeds.

Well eric,if you are not interested in either toe lenghts or nail stuff,could you and i go to the bikini barbershop?

Tom you are one of the smartest guys on this board.At what length does a horse start to bleed?

At what depth does a ship run aground?

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTBPdVpdMc

Rotfl,Jack,you are just not another pretty face anymore my son. What has really got me is you are the only other person on any of these boards who measures feet.In your opinion
what does that tell you? It tells me they probably only do backyard horses and ranch horses? I would be interested in hearing Chris's theory? Then the popcorn gets extra butter?
And Thomas could give an honest opinion litrally...............

I understand completely and i know you do too..................

i would say i have shod as many as you have Jack

So if a toe measures 3.5" is it too long or too short? How long should it be?

And how many has George shod???

Tommy,if a toe measures 3 and 3/4 is it to long or to short?

So if one foot measures 3 and1/2 and the other measures 3 and 3/4 and you don't measure what difference would it make?
There is nobody there to dispute you........... So if i were you just keep what you are doing why change something that has worked and got you to where you are today?
But,if it was ME only i would make sure i had the same length in each foot,unless the horse had an issue.........
If you never measure,how would you balance a horse with a dish in its foot?????????????????????????????????????????????????? BY EYE?

Tom,what is the pic in your avatar?

Smitty,i think you have shod more draft horses than jack also~ Ps,do you measure feet or not??? Don't be shy..........

I have done in the past when doing Pacers/Trotters
but when you have your eye in its the best ruler

Does the toe grow at the same rate on all paired feet? If the answer is "no", why would you want to make all paired feet the same length at the start of the shoeing cycle?

Perhaps the heel is more important than the toe. Does anyone measure heel height (as opposed to toe angle)? Maybe we should be measuring coronary angles instead of toe length. Why does JPT get to decide what measurements are important?

Who measures heel height on paired feet? who measures the angle of growth at the heels? who measures the change in feet at the middle of the shoeing cycle? How did we get from talking about TBs to trotters and pacers? Do the same rules apply to both? What do I do with a dressage horse?

When I started shoeing I used a hoof gauge on every hoof. Then I upgraded to measuring hooves with computer software. Now I use my eye.

If the goal is to have toes of the same length (not saying this is true), and toes grow at different rates- then maybe we should strive for even toes at the middle of the shoeing cycle instead of at the beginning.
Now to wait for the onslaught of silly responses from the three stooges...

Pat,if you are called out to shoe a horse that had thrown a shoe, and it had been off a long time its close to blood and the other foot has alot of foot,how would you deal with it?