DIY hoof care and glue on shoes

[KathyShack]

Question for people who do their barefoot trims themselves: have you tried glue on shoes?

I’ve been doing my first horses feet for almost 2 years and recently got my second horse, a mustang with great barefoot feet as well. I have a long-term goal (2-3 years in the future) to do endurance rides and am interested in glue on shoes. I’m not opposed to boots, but have had such a headache with them coming off, twisting, and rubbing, with no local tack stores and having to go back and forth shipping or reselling ones that didn’t work, plus having to swap sizing between trims. By the time money is spent on all that I wonder if I could just do glue ons a couple times a year, if needed for rockier trails. My boys don’t need anything on local trails. I’m interested in learning more about glue ons before I’m actually doing endurance rides so I can experiment and figure out what works. Please share any experiences, good or bad.

[Festivity]

I’ve been trimming mine for longer than I care to admit. Last summer I learned how to do the easy care glue-ons for first the pony that decided laminitis in all four feet was the cool thing to do and then for my husband’s mare who was diagnosed with thin soles. The super glue version worked for the pony but would not stay on the mare for more than 12 hours no matter what prep I did. I’ve switched to using the fast adhere glue for the mare and that is working well. She usually keeps them on for 4-5 weeks. I haven’t had any problems getting them off and no wall damage so far. It’s not as hard as I feared when I first started.

I’d suggest trying put them on while you’re training to see how it goes, how they feel, and how long they last before you do a competition.

[ParadoxFarm]

My husband does my horses’ shoes, and we used glue-on (more than one brand) for one horse. They didn’t last nearly as long as nailed-on shoes. I like the concept, but they don’t seem to last.

[RedHorses]

Check out the big thread in horse care about DIY glue on shoes. Lots of info there on tools and such. You’ll be able to get an idea of what the cost would be.

I considered it for my senior, but figured I could get another set of boots that would last years for what one pair of glue ons would cost for 4 weeks of use. The reset cost would be less than the initial layout, true, but the hoof boots would still be in use without extra cost. That said, I do have my senior’s boots figured out already.

[KathyShack]

thank you all for the feedback. I will check out the DIY thread as well for info. I recently read about Equine Fusion boots and I might try those, but still hesitant to go down the boot road again.

[StormyDay]

I trim my own and did glue ons myself for 2 years. My horse no longer needs them (yay). It’s not hard to do but it does take a lot of time.