Ridecamp: RE: [RC] Ground Control Horseshoes

Well, my experience with these shoes (the Ground Control Horseshoes) was substantially different.  In the interest of YMMV, here's my experience.

I tried these on two horses.
One horse ended up with the first hot nail I have ever had in 5 years.  No big deal, you may say, it happens.  However, it "happened" FOUR WEEKS into the set of shoes.  Your shoer must know that the flexibility in the shoe can cause a close nail to become too close over time.  The nails will move.

It took six weeks and three tries for the company to send the correct size per their measurement guidelines.

Its my HO that the shoes were still too big.  By the time the farrier rasped or cut enough off for the shoe to fit the hoof correctly, the nail holes were too far in.

They lasted six weeks, but they were cookies at the end of six weeks.  No way would I ever get a reset from these shoes.  Getting them off is difficult, as it requires a tool to push the head of the nail back above the plane of the shoe to get the nails out.

On the upside, for horses with contracted heels, I would use them anyway for long enough to get the heels grown out.  There is nothing attached to the foot from halfway back on the shoe, so you can take the back half of the shoe and bend it 90 degrees to the hoof.  Lots of freedom of movement for the heel and great support.

Post this set of shoes, its taken two shoeings to get the feet nice and smooth and round again.  The walls seemed to get banged up almost like being barefoot.

Both horses walked out better on asphalt, especially downhill; no slipping at all.

Alison A. Farrin
Innovative Pension
Innovative Retirement Services
858-748-6500 x 107
alison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Susan wrote:
> 
> I'll tell you all about great polyurethane shoes I've been 
> using the past 3
> 
> The most recent brand I've tried are Ground Control Horshoes 
> and I found
> them at www.plastichorseshoes.com . They are even better 
> designed than the
> previous ones I used- Helvetia's and I got them from KV Vet. 
> I can get 2
> shoeings out of them usually unless it's early in my 
> conditioning program
> when I have to do alot of asphalt road work.
> 

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