My farrier decided to try glue ons and also using nails. Last week was the first reset using both and my horse’s hooves are starting to crumble around the nails. He only occasionally threw a shoe beforehand but is somewhat difficult to shoe so I think farrier is trying to avoid future issues.
Any thoughts?
My horse was in Eponas that the farrier both glued on and used nails. The copper coated nails. Did that for about 14 months without issues.
Stopped bc farrier who was doing them got less and less reliable about showing up. New farrier felt horse would be OK in steel with an ultimate goal of barefoot.
Not sure on what you meant with how your horse is difficult to shoe, but I had a horse that absolutely hated the nails going into his hoof.
Was a saint for everything else (trimming, applying hot shoe, hammering the hoof itself - I tried this in case it was the actual hammer that bothered him, but nope). It was only when the nail was actually going into his hoof that he would scramble and slam his hoof down. Farrier tried different nails etc, and no difference. He read something about coating the nails in vaseline, and bingo. 100% worked. After struggling for 2 years shoeing my poor guy (poor pony and poor farrier) all it took was the nails to be dipped in Vaseline before hammering into the hoof. No issues afterwards ever. Just a thought in case its the same issue with your guy. Something I would never even think of and he is the first horse I have ever dealt with that could not stand nails going into his hoof (and I’ve worked at many, many different barns and handled hundreds of horses).
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the horse does not like farrier pulling & stretching his leg. He pulls leg back from farrier a few times before giving in. Farrier (of course) does not appreciate this. I can and do pick out his feet daily but its obviously not the same nor for the length of time. But I am wondering about the crumbling around nails and if the glue would have anything to do with it.
Does he lose the shoes with glue only? How frequently is that happening? What type of shoe is he applying?
My horse is in glue ons and I am lucky enough to have a stellar farrier but the prep and application can take quite a bit of finesse to get a really strong bond.
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Hind or front legs? IME there is often an underlying issue (hocks are common) when they are reluctant to give the leg to the farrier but are okay for picking out.
Per my farrier gluing to the walls (not the soles) can cause the walls to get funky over a prolonged period of time (1 yr+). I’ve not had that happen with my horse so it’s certainly not an always happens kind of thing. Nailing + glue seems excessive if the horse has only lost the occasional shoe (to me that’s 1-3 a year). Do you have any pics of his hooves to share?
