Hi, someone has thé solution for a horse that keeps pulling front shoes? I mean AT least once every 10 days i have to call the farrier to put his shoes back on. Hé s shod every 5 weeks and i put bell boots on Always. Tia
What is the footing like in turnout? Could it be part of the issue? I had to take my horse’s shoes off because there was no way for them to stay on in the mud this winter. Every time they were replaced, and additional holes were added, I worried that we were running out secure parts of hoof wall to use. He worse scoot boots for a couple months, then glue ons.
Hé pulls in turnout and also riding, hé pulled away three Times in thé last 10 days
Usually this is a hoof angle and shoe placement issue - it can be a farrier issue if the pro has been working on the horse for a while, especially if multiple of their clients pull shoes like this. It can be a horse issue if the farrier is working to improve the foot or the horse is growing. It really depends.
One of mine used to toss hind shoes constantly with the slightest wetness in turnout. His fronts stay on fine, and so he’s been bare behind for ages. My 4YO is a major hoof work-in-progress, and is now barefoot because he just kept yanking shoes off. He’s a big mover with 3-4 hooves of over track at the walk so we just gave up and I bought him hoof boots 
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Losing shoes that much would have me eyeing the farrier unless this is the ONLY horse they have that’s doing it or maybe the horse is a big mover. If the horse can go barefoot, great, but otherwise I’d be looking at glue-ons and/or double bell boots (even bells on all 4). With glues, they’re less likely to compromise the hoof wall when they pull a shoe.
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I’d look at the farrier work and get x rays done. I had one that dropped shoes multiple times a cycle. Trim looked great but x rays showed how much the hind toe could come back. Haven’t lost a shoe in 8 months straight.
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I did x rays and thé angles are good in front but not in thé back feet
My guy had horrendous feet when I got him and would pull a shoe a week. My farrier has done a total 180 on them, but switching him from steel to aluminum did seem to help as well.
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Mine has aluminium, maybe putting clenches? Would it help?
Clips can help, but they pose a serious risk if the horse doesn’t rip the shoe off in one go and steps on the clip. I’ve seen some serious, long term damage done that way, so for a chronic shoe puller (vs one that slides the shoe back) I would be hesitant to use clips. YMMV
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So the best thing would be what? Barefoot? Because i cannot call the farrier once a week
Best thing would be to fix the feet - you say the hind angles are off? That can cause them to move differently and maybe interfere. However, practically it may mean going barefoot in the meantime if that’s what it takes. Or, try something like glue ons or a different breakover - have you talked with your farrier about what they think is happening? You can flat out tell them “hey I can’t afford to keep calling you every week, why do you think this is happening? Is there anything we can do?”.
Also, it’s frustrating to deal with this, you have my sympathy. My solution has been to take the horses barefoot, but that’s because I tried everything (including switching farriers).
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What everyone else said about making sure the trim/angles are correct, but also glue ons. Easy care makes a lot of good options, and the bonus is you can glue them back on yourself if they come off (they won’t).
I have not tried this, but have you ever seen razor shoes? I’ve been intrigued by them as the published materials say they can be set tighter and not so far back as other shoes.
The other thing I’ve considered trying is flip flop shoes. That seems to me that they would reduce the risk of coming off even if the shoe gets stepped on.
—by the owner of a chronic shoe puller, who is three weeks into the first shoeing in several months (fingers crossed!)
Tell us about the bell boots you have on the horse. Are they the correct size for him? Not just coverage and how they hang at rest, but could they possibly ride up or flip up while he’s moving around?
What do they look like right after he pulls a shoe? Are they intact, or are they damaged? I spent years with this problem, tried many brands, and finally discovered that Davis XXL did the job for my horse. And wouldn’t you know, Davis has closed up shop and I have just one set left in reserve.
Here is the last, and hopefully, final pulled shoe. As you see by the nail positions, it took a lot of hoof wall along with it.
I think this horse is a Reiner - sliding plates behind may be a requirement for training. I’ve seen some reiners bare in front with sliders behind though
I tried this approach with my mare. In terms of movement, she went GREAT barefoot. BUT - her front feet went in the opposite direction of what’s supposed to happen. Frogs and heels both contracted. So she is back in shoes with a frog support pad to encourage healthy frog growth.
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I’ve had a few horses over the years who were front shoe pullers. The worst was a young gelding I had who would, like yours, pull a front shoe once every week or two.
Farrier was fantastic, but even he was at a loss. We eventually did x-rays with no result other than “he looks great”. But he was not the brightest bulb, and was a boy, and would go absolutely nuts in turnout leaping and hopping around, and that was usually when a front shoe would go.
On a side note, bell boots do nothing to save shoes, and they’re not meant to…they’re for protecting the heel bulb.
I finally put him in shoe secures (www.shoesecure.com). They were a life saver. A bit of a pain to take on and off every day (I always removed them to ride and jump), but no more pulled shoes in turnout.
My other PITA horse was my TB who did the big jumper classes. He would “kick” a front shoe off when the footing was a little wet (frequent here in the NW, especially in the big grass rings like Tbird). He pretty much only pulled shoes when we were jumping, so I tried to get creative with boots. We tried a million different types of boots and bell boots and quarter bell boots, getting to the point of trying to tape quarter bell boots in place with loads of Tessa tape and bell boots over the top of them. A groom at a show laughed at me when he saw what I was doing at one point and sent me to https://www.equusport.com/product/leather-quarter-bell-boots/ They’re boots made for gaited horses (I think…I can’t remember the whole back story, but I did find a less expensive - and less pretty - version in a non-H/J catalog). He never went into a class without these boots from that point on.
But I agree with everyone that making sure the horse is balanced appropriately is the first step. In my case, both were balanced and still shoe pullers. So if balance isn’t an issue, the links above are great!
My horse was pulling front shoes EVERY shoeing cycle. Finally, I reached my breaking point and started putting keratex hoof hardener on like it was my job. every day for months. I started him on California Trace supplement. I started to double bell boot him. A bigger bell boot that reaches all the way over his heel and then a smaller one on top to keep it smooshed down. I like the lightweight rubber pull ons for top and these for bottom: https://www.doversaddlery.com/equifit-bellboot/p/X1-04054/
Same farrier as I always had and same pasture situation. So the only thing that changed was the above. This change occurred in August of 2020 and since then, he has only lost a shoe 3 times which in 3 1/2 years isn’t too bad.
Good add.
@sara78 - What does your horses diet consist of? Hoof health ultimately starts from the inside out; diet is far more critical to hoof health than any liquid your brush on the hooves. If there is a diet deficiency that could be contributing.
