This Thorobred mare came to me with two left shoes
missing after the owner moved her horse and couldn't
get her regular farrier to come to the new location.
The left hind foot was so broken up that it could
not be made level enough to place a shoe on it.
The only place the shoe would touch was a small 1
inch piece of toe wall and both heals (about 3/4
inches each) with the frog extended about 3/4 inch
lower than the heels. The sole was dangerously
thin around the entire foot.
Because of the danger of sole
pressure, which might cause lameness and abscesses
later, I decided to float the entire foot (even the
sole) over a bed of two-part silicone putty.
Applying the two-part silicone putty over the entire
foot might cause the shoe to shift around, so I
added quarter clips and Vettec Superfast filler all
around the foot to fill in the missing hoof wall.
This mare is extremely active and
athletic, so I also added a stainless steel hose
clamp to keep her from pulling the shoe during her
shoeing period. The shoes are drilled and
tapped on the sides to allow fastening of the clamp.
I've applied Borium (tungsten) on the ground surface
of the shoe under the drilled and tapped areas to
prevent the screws from pulling out of the sides of
the shoe.
The nails were actually visible
between the hoof wall and shoe before I added the
Vettec Superfast filler and glue.
There is also a frog support pad
to redistribute weight across the entire foot
instead of just the perimeter of the hoof.
This shoe protected the foot and stayed on tight for
8 weeks, at which time I was able to remove this
special shoe and replace it with a normal shoe.
This mare remained sound during the whole process.
The horse below was allowed to
graze in an area that was "unfriendly" to weighted
size 7 shoes, and he pulled off the left one along
with two layers of pads in a hole in the ground.
The size 10 nails used to keep the 3 lb. shoes on
tore the hoof wall off as came off the foot.
He needed a shoe that would protect his foot from
further damage and would stay on till the damaged
area had grown out again. The broken out foot
is filled in with Vettec Superfast material.
The horse below caught his foot in wire fence and
pulled off a big chunk of his foot when the shoe was
torn off. His foot would no longer hold a
shoe, so I added the clam and Vettec SuperFast
filler, which took him through the next 8 weeks.
I reset the shoe with the clamp one more time for
another 8 week period. He didn't lose the
shoe.
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