horse keeps losing shoes - any tips?

[LDavis104]

I have a great farrier, but an extremely accident prone horse who keeps pulling shoes. Yesterday the BO had to pry a shoe out of his stall door, so it's not necessarily that he's stepping on them or getting sucked off from mud, but getting them caught on things (happend with the last shoe too, the outside of the hind shoe was bent). Would bell boots on front AND back help keep him from getting his shoes caught on things, or anything I can do? I'm starting to feel bad this is like the 3rd call in the past couple of months to my farrier to come put a shoe back on!

I think he likes to rest is feet on things when he's laying down!

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

If the horse is laying down and actually catching his feet I don't know that bells will do anything coverage-wise.

[dutchboy]

Had the same thing happen in the stall. Since we found out he had ulcers and started treatment, however, no more shoes off in the stall. Connection? Everyone thinks so, including the farrier. Horse is also doubled belled in the field and not out without a little Ace if he has been in (due to weather). He has an extremely large stride and once he gets going, it's all over. Can't be free lunged for the same reason.

[deltawave]

Keep him outside all the time?

[Thomas_1]

If he's catching them on things then you need to ensure there's no thing for him to catch them on.

Is his stable big enough?

Does he have banked beds so that if he lies down he can easily get up without getting cast?

What the heck is on the door for him to catch a shoe and rip it off on?

If he's lying cramped in with his legs up a wall then I'd be more concerned that he's likely to get cast than bothered about a shoe coming off.

By the way, bell boots won't help. All they're for is to protect the heel and coronet from an over-reach.

[winfieldfarm]

I have seen a horse in a friend's barn pull his shoes off behind by deliberately stepping quietly with one heel of the shoe onto the heel of the other shoe and puuuuuulllllling until the shoe came off!

My first thought is to fit the heels a bit shorter if this particular horse's feet can take that. Many of my show horses get regular turnout. So my farrier would like to fit the shoe fuller but doesn't on many of them. This prevents them from stepping on sides and heels of shoes and pulling them outside.

The owner should be having a discussion with a competent farrier, preferably journeyman status, to get to the bottom of this.

Weird!! Shoe in the door?

[JeanM]

Perhaps -- angles. Are. WRONG.

I went through a stretch of my mare pulling off front shoes last year, when I started conditioning her for the first time for 25 mile CTRs. I mean, losing a front shoe the flippin' DAY AFTER she was shod, kind of stuf. :mad: Finally the farrier added 2* pads to her fronts. BINGO problem solved. [why in heck did it take him so long to address the issue?!?!:confused:]

Talk to your farrier about this. He may be able to help, and he may need your "push" to get him to do so. :confused:

[LDavis104]

Hmmm all good thoughts... horse has a 12 x 12 stall, and he's not super big himself, so he has plenty of room... I've actually seen laying down in his paddock with a couple of his feet resting on the bottom rung of the fence (he'll stretch his legs out and find it, so I think he really does just rest his feet on things sometimes).

He got it caught in between the threshhold of the stall and the door itself. Outer corner of hind shoe was bent at a 90 degree angle.

I board him and there's no openings in the paddocks with the run-ins for 24/7 field board, so he comes in his stall at night. Not sure that BO would bank a stall for him, but that's a good thought.

I'll talk to farrier about anything that could be done on his end.

Thanks guys!

[sisu27]

I was about to say something about it being that time of year (mine threw both fronts in 24 hrs last week....silly bugger) but in the stall door!! Yikes! If your BO won't bank his stall maybe you could offer to buy shavings and make sure you pick his stall every night so it doesn't increase the staffs workload?

I'm still trying to invision how he would manage to get his heel at the right angle to jam it in there. Is your horses name Gumby by any chance?

[LauraKY]

Get a polo farrier. Those guys know how to keep a shoe on!

[ThoroughbredFancy]

We had a school horse that had to wear bell boots front and rear because he was just plain clumsy with his shoes and he had to be shod on all four at the time. So if the horse HAS to be shod then I'd bank the bedding around the edges of the stall (that helped a friend's horse who used to get them caught in the stall). If the BO won't bank the stall due to bedding supply issues, buy your own. Even the just the wood shavings from Tractor Supply will do for banking purposes and put whatever normal bedding you use in the center.

[Drive NJ]

Our big DraftX boy came to us barefoot, but when we started putting him to more work than he was doing before, his feet were getting sore

We tried with front shoes but he usually had at least one of them off within a week. Even with 2 clips on each front shoe. (He is front shod only) I think its a game with him. You know - - - Hmmm, what can I do to get this thing off???

But he has a little white line issue and shoes really do help him so we had to find a way. Farrier tried grinding back the back of the heel so there was nothing there for him to catch ANYTHING on, but its enough length to support the feet.

It seems to have worked for us. He has only lost one shoe in the last year and that was towards the end of a shoeing.

Best of luck

[Drive NJ]

sorry post got is-directed

[huntseatcutie]

My friend's horse does the EXACT same thing, she has decided to put him in bell boots and make sure he only gets turned out on reasonably muddy days. Hope this helped (:

[goeslikestink]

Hmmm all good thoughts... horse has a 12 x 12 stall, and he's not super big himself, so he has plenty of room... I've actually seen laying down in his paddock with a couple of his feet resting on the bottom rung of the fence (he'll stretch his legs out and find it, so I think he really does just rest his feet on things sometimes).

He got it caught in between the threshhold of the stall and the door itself. Outer corner of hind shoe was bent at a 90 degree angle.

I board him and there's no openings in the paddocks with the run-ins for 24/7 field board, so he comes in his stall at night. Not sure that BO would bank a stall for him, but that's a good thought.

I'll talk to farrier about anything that could be done on his end.

Thanks guys!

how big is his turnout paddock - as tom says bank the sides and make usre his bed is deep and not just a fluffy bit in the middle over a mat

[belleshire]

Try going natural! Unless you absolutely have to have shoes on a horse, why would you? I have 2 draft sport horses. Shire and friesian cross. They do not wear shoes, they are extremely happy and healthy. Find a Natural hoof farrier and enjoy the switch. Your horse will love you. By they way, I don't need a bit either. Why put metal in and on your horse? The indians didn't.