Extending The Life Of A Shoeing

Extending the Life of a Shoeing
At the price of a horse shoeing, one must consider every reasonable angle to
extend the time between shoeing jobs. The normal period between a shoeing,
excluding extra heavy wear or mishap, is 6 to 8 weeks. A horse's foot will
grow out down and out, expanding at the quarters, back. This means that it
will grow over the shoe normally before either the six or the eight-week mark.
Once this grow over occurs, the hoof wall and shoe are no longer in contact
and the shoe will begin to work its way loose. In the photo, right, look at the
next to last nail hole. From there to about the end of the feller crease, you
can see the over riding horn. The heel buttress is still in good order but this
shoe is on its way out.
If one were to expand the shoe out, keeping it tight under the hoof wall before
this happens, it is conceivable that approximately 2 weeks can be added to a
shoeing job's life. This goes without saying, that the shoe has been put on
tight, level, and that the clinches are still in good order.
Expanding shoes on a
regular basis, one could
expect to save
approximately one
shoeing a calendar year.
A shoe can be expanded
with a shoe spreader or
even a normal set of
horseshoe pull offs. On
the right is a photo of a
Diamond horseshoe
pull-off and a Kulp
horseshoe spreader.
Several different
companies make shoe spreaders: J.C., Anvil Brand, Jim Poor, and others.
We have a preference to the Kulp shoe spreader because it can be used on
many varied sized horseshoes. Note: the tab on the left top branch is for use
on smaller sized shoes.
Moby, our demo horse,
is shown wearing a #1
size shoe.
In this photo, Ed is
demonstrating how to
use a set of pull-offs to
spread the quarters of a
horseshoe. Using pulloffs for this task limits
the areas one can use
to anchor the tool for
spreading. Note: It
can only be spread at
the heel of the shoe
and both branches
must be spread at the
same time. It will take
a lot of beans to gorilla
a shoe to expand this way. This may not be the best tool for the job. “It’ll
getter done,” but there are better mousetraps.
In this photo, Ed has
positioned a Kulp horseshoe
spreader to begin to expand
Moby's right hind shoe. This
kind of spreader can spread
one heel at a time. The
benefits are; one does not
need to apply as much
Norwegian steam to the effort
and you can select the best
point of leverage any where
against the opposite side of
the shoe. Because of this
diagonal pressure, you are less
likely to over extent the
expansion or loosen the nail
clinches. There is an
additional advantage; a pulloff is a tool designed first, to
pull shoes. The leverage on
their handles is primarily into
the nip under a lose shoe.
This same leverage is reversed
to spread a shoe. However, a spreader with its longer handles is designed to
compress the handles, adding greater leverage and is easier to work.
Please note: A mule with a donkey-type foot, will grow the quarters with less
flair and expansion. The spreading of a shoe on this type of foot is usually
unnecessary.
Thanks to Ron Downing, a great Western Washington farrier, for this
suggestion.
A good source of horseshoeing supplies and tools is Olympia Farrier Supply
www.olyfarrier.com .
Ed Haefliger
Volunteer Packer:
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Forest
Washington State Capital Forest, DNR
Member: Capital Riders Chapter BCHW