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[RC] Natural balance shoes cost? - beth glover


Hi Ridecampers; I've been having problems with my mare Summer, who has been stumbling a lot this past few months. She is a real "long and low" mover. I noticed it more when I started riding her for longer distances and attributed some of it to laziness or tiredness. She does not really do it on rides very much. If she is walking along stumbling like a drunk, if I get after her and give her a bit of leg it stops.  But who wants to do that every second, right? So I talked with my shoer and he tried some half rounds on the front. This helped a little bit, and he charged me $10 extra for those. I told him it wsn't helping that much and I wanted to shorten her long toe a bit, so it looks like those rounded off horses who are going barefoot and shuffle around the corral all the time wearing off their toes. He decided to try Natural Balance shoes, and really rounded off the hoof. Then presented me with a bill for $20 above the cost of regular shoeing. I am going broke with this guy! 

My question is ...what do those shoes really cost, if you buy them at a farrier supply? Are they really $20 more? Or am I helping to absorb the cost of the damage done when he pumped his NEW F350 diesel truck full of gasoline? Sorry if I sound irritated, but living in Southern California seems to be a reason to be gouged for everything. Can those shoes be re-set, to save money if they are not too worn? Now I think it is costing me about $90 to shoe that horse, and at every 6-7 weeks, it is becoming painful to the budget!!!! (And no I haven't got my new Ariat Terrains yet either...grrr)

I am going to try them on a ride this weekend and hope they perform on rides as well as people have mentioned in the archives.

Please do not tell me that I really need a chiropractor, because I know all about chiropractors and it really would come down to who would win the fight over the last shred of my money, the chiro, or the shoer. This is not the horse that twists around to itch her saddle and needs a new custom made one, this is the other horse.

Thanks so much for your comments on the cost of the shoes.

Beth Glover


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