[RC] [RC] Natural balance shoes and St. Croix eventer shoes - beth glover - Flora Hillman
Beth wrote ....<<snip>> 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....My question is ...what do those shoes
really cost, if you buy them at a farrier supply? Are they really $20 more?
...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!!!!
Beth - You didn't say whether your horse was shod in steel or
aluminum NB shoes, but here in Northern VA the aluminum Natural Balance shoes
sell for about $14 a set (pair) if you buy them from a farrier supply
company, and about $12 a set if you buy them by the box (10 sets). Steel
Natural Balance shoes sell for about half the price. I've noticed the
prices are similar through the on-line farrier supplies -- generally within a
dollar or two. (Check out http://www.northvillehorseshoe.com/)
Shoeing in our neck of the woods is very expensive (probably
due to our overabundance of eventing, foxhunting, and dressage horses)
with the average cost coming in about $160-$225 -- as opposed to your $90.
Consider yourself lucky. You're getting off easy. :-)
Depending upon the terrain you work your horse on, and the amount
of riding you do, and whether you choose aluminum over steel will determine
whether you can reset them or not. If you're exclusively on grass 100% of
the time with aluminum, the answer is yes to a reset. Otherwise, it's a
one-shot shoeing, and they may not last a full 6 weeks if you do a lot of rocks,
gravel, or hard road work. Steel NB will last a bit longer, but not
by much since the channels are not terribly deep, and the shoe has a broad base
that seems to wear faster. You'll notice the toe of the shoe quickly
"erodes" back because of the extremely wide roll in front which
narrows to only a sliver of material right at the top of the toe. (BTW --
the roll is only at the toe, not all around the whole rim like the St.
Croix eventer shoes.) I know of several local top level endurance
riders (100 milers) and endurance vets who use the aluminum NB in the front, and
put steel NB in the back. They swear by these shoes, and the horses
seem to do extremely well in them in all types of conditions.
I personally prefer the aluminum St. Croix eventers, which both my
14.1h endurance pony, and my borrowed 16.3h foxhunter, wear both front and
back. I had big problems with the hunter (a massive
Warmblood-looking 3/4 Thoroughbred) in the flat-plated 25 lb steel
"Frankenstein shoes" he originally wore. He stumbled and tripped
incessantly, slid on the slightest bit of mud, and never felt safe on anything
but dry flat ground. I switched him over to the aluminum St. Croix eventers
(front and back), and he's a different horse. The stumbling and tripping
stopped immediately since the rolled rim allows him to break over smoothly at
any point along his hoof, while the deeper channels allow him to grab
and hold the ground no matter how muddy or slippery or rolling the
terrain -- a must when you're flying cross-country over fences at a
gallop to keep up with the hounds. I have the heels of the shoes drilled
and tapped for studs in case the ground gets really bad (foxhunters will
still ride to the hounds in the worse weather imaginable -- they're every
bit as wacky as endurance riders (as a matter of fact quite a number of them
hereabouts ARE endurance riders!), but the St. Croix aluminum eventer
shoes seem to be grabbing and holding ground just as well without the
studs.
In my experience the aluminum shoe does the best job in eliminating
stumbling and sloppy gaits, more so than the steel. Yes, aluminum is more
expensive, and you may have to shoe every 5 weeks rather than 6-8, but the
benefits you and your horse will get --better gaits, no stumbling, easier
striding, less weight on the foot, more natural and more comfortable for the
horse-- will far outweigh the cost.
