April 2006

Shoe Clues

Your horse’s old shoes may give you clues about the development of his lameness.

What do your horse’s shoes tell you about his hooves and soundness?

Don’t toss away your horse’s old shoes, label them by foot—right hind, left front etc.—and save them for future use. We’re not talking about keeping them for “spares,” we’re talking about their value in lameness detective work.

Before a horse becomes obviously lame, he’ll make adaptations in his weight bearing and movement. These changes compensate for levels of discomfort that aren’t easily seen, but they usually show up on the horse’s shoes as different wear-mark patterns.

If the feet have been correctly balanced (see sidebar), the shoe should show wear at the toe directly in line with the tip of the frog, and should wear evenly on the inside and outside. If…