I seem to have a difficult time with horses loosing there shoes when they are only shod in the front. Just curious what others thoughts or opinions are about this?
The way the post reads are you suggesting they only pull shoes if shod up front..but on same horses if shod all around they stop pulling shoes..
I have certainly experienced this. I shoe the baby polo ponies in front and the pull them left right and center ridden and in the field. shoe them behind and it stops.
I have observed this happen and wonder if on some horses making them comfortable up front but failing to provide the comfort of shoes behind leads to a weight shift forward. In effect they may become heavy on the forehand. This could delay the departure of the front feet and lead to pulling. If I have an owner that wants front only I inform them that sometimes this happens and in the event that we have a puller we may need to do the hinds as well.
Thanks for the replies. Yes I meant the same as David and George are saying. I only have a few horses with front shoes only, but they often seem to be the ones that consistently pull shoes. Quite a few times I have shod them behind and they quit pulling the fronts. I think that other farriers have horses shod just in the front and dont seem to have this problem?
no we do; but owners don't want to pay for the hind shoes put on. I wish we would have 1 price whether you put fronts or all 4; that way would have control over if the horse needed just fronts or all 4.
John I think my problem is with young ones, it may be a grip thing, horse runs on the fore hand because he has more grip, or that has been my thoughts.
So I could get full price for only shoeing the fronts? Now that I think of it horses really don't even need hinds on. Actually they should not ever have hinds on. As long as I'm getting full price, we'll call it Natural Behind Earth Contact Balance. Thinking it through a bit further, that kind of name could run the price up a bit.
I have very few with only fronts on, usually horses just turned out, and don't see this problem. It stands to reason though, as others said above, that lack of protection and support on one end is going to have poor results. I remember a TB a few years back that had been a bare foot trial victim. Very sore walking up, got the fronts on and she walked of very much better, client was very happy. Got the hinds on and she trotted off sound, twice as well as with just fronts.