[RC] Z shoe - Valerie JaquesWhat you're talking about is a Z bar shoe. It leaves the problem area completely without contact. If you imagine the shoe complete on one side, then on the problem side the shoe leaves the wall at a right angle as far back as possible, angling in to the frog, where it makes another right angle to the back of the foot over the frog, and is welded to the other heel. It looks a little like a letter Z. It's an effective shoe, however it has fallen out of favor in preference for the G bar shoe. This shoe has a frog plate like a heart bar, but the side where the horse has a problem is left off, the shoe on that side simply ending somewhere behind the toe. The G bar is a fairly recent addition to the farrier arsenal, only becoming widely known in the last year or shoe. It's favored over the Z bar because the Z bar creates a place where gunk collects between the shoe and sole, which can lead to bruising. Really, either shoe
is quite effective. Barefootedness can work. It really depends on why the crack occured in the first place. If it's due to trauma, such as from an abscess, or a permanent defect in the wall, it is less likely to be solved by trimming alone. However, if it is caused by an imbalanced trim, barefooting a horse is almost guaranteed to work. I doubt if your farrier has the skills to make a Z bar, that he's making such a horrendous error in his balancing that he has caused this crack. It ain't a shoe you can pick up off the shelf; it has to be hand made.
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