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[RC] Shoes or No Shoes... - Kari HanesI don't want to start a big debate on shoes for this sport but I have a question...Last month we noticed our stud being a little sore footed when we ride a hard packed gravel road on our training rides. A week before Oak Leaf our farrier came out and put shoes on him (he's never had shoes prior to this). After two training rides and bloody feet on both we decided not to take him to Allegan and give him a month or so to get used to the shoes in his pasture. Now we've started working him again and he's clipping himself very slightly, no injuries, but we can hear the shoes click about every 1/8 mile or so. It looks like he's barely hitting his front shoe with the back shoe. We use the same farrier as Wayne Gastfield and the horses are full brothers, the farrier claims both have almost identical feet so he used the same shoes on our stud that he does on Wayne's. Is this something the horse will eventually get used to or is there something else I'm missing? The only thing I can think of is the shoes do hang a little off the back of the hoof, maybe 1/4". Should we have the farrier curl the ends in, try different shoes or take the shoes off and let his feet toughen up with more training? I would prefer not to have shoes at all, my little mare does just fine without them, but she's 9 and the stud is only 5. Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA Kari Montalee Arabians Holton, Michigan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.endurance.net/ads/seabiscuit.html Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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