Could anyone direct me to some good overviews of glue-on shoes? I have always been able to keep a horse barefoot, but my fella is newly determined to develop toe cracks, it seems, and trimmer is recommending glue-on shoes. The horse is 24, and has never worn shoes. He gets plenty of biotin, and his living situation hasn’t changed, but the toe cracks keep coming back. I would rather not, and am hoping that more frequent trimming will do the trick, but I’ll do whatever is most comfortable for him.
Boots?
Who needs the overview - you or the trimmer? I would hope that the trimmer knows how to apply them?
There are a lot of glue on options out there, so it’s hard to know what information to give you. It can be as “simple” as using acrylic to hold regular shoes in place, or more complicated/specific - like Sigafoos or Polyflex shoes. But if your trimmer doesn’t know how to apply them, you may not want to have them practice on your horse as they are expensive.
My farrier has used acrylic and aluminum shoes on my horse in the past, sometimes in combination with a few nails, when she had some specific problems. Now back in fully nailed shoes. The acrylic is a nice option but it’s temperamental - it needs an ideal application environment to work well. They hold very well if applied properly, but if the foot isn’t entirely dry, for example, they may literally fall off in two days. Which can make it frustrating in cold or wet weather.
Do you know what kind of glue on shoe your trimmer uses?
Assuming the trim is correct, a couple of cycles of any shoe (nail or glue) might fix the toe crack if you can get ahead of it. But if the toes is too long it might not help.
As I understand the reason for cracks is one of two or a combination of the two. 1. The diet is off. An issue with iron, copper and zinc being out of wack or higher sugars in the diet. A subset of the “high” sugars could be that your horse is becoming metabolic and these are the first signs that his diet may need a bit more attention than the past. 2. A poorly balanced trim can cause cracks.
I would assess those 2 things prior to putting shoes on the horse. The horse may end up needing them anyway, but the situation isn’t likely to improve if the above items aren’t where they need to be.
You are of course right; horse is on a low-sugar diet and on Prascend. His toes are fine but trimming (or owner doing proactive weekly maintenance to address flares at his quarters) could be more frequent.
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Is there a reason you can’t use regular shoes on this horse? In my experience, glue-ons are expensive and a PITA to deal with. I wouldn’t go that route if I didn’t have to.
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IME, toe cracks are from these things:
- long toes
- wld or seedy toe
Meaning, your trimmer should be identifying the cause, not simply saying shoes (of any sort) are needed
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I have used Sigafoos on my TB. He has crappy feet and the damage he does to his hoof wall when he pulls a shoe off can be substantial. The glue-ons have been a godsend. They are expensive, but they stay on longer, so for my horse they have been a plus.
As per my farrier, a quality glue on shoe is about $100/foot due to the extensive preparation. Are you sure your horse needs glue on shoes?
This right here…
OP have you changed your HCP recently?
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What is a HCP (other than health care proxy, in my professional world. While it is true that horse care could cause one to lose one’s mind, I don’t think I need to invoke my health care proxy quite yet.)?
Thank you all for your input! JdV, very helpful links; just what I was looking for. I will speak further with trimmer about why glue-ons vs. anything else (trimmer also does regular shoes).
Hoof Care Professional 
