New horse was shod up front with size 3 steel. Now with shorter trim is using size 2. Horse has pulled size 3s off in pasture 2x in 2 months, Therefore smaller shoe? This is new farrier -shoes & trim look good.
Any opinions or practical wisdom.
If the horse was being kept too long, sure, that could mean a bigger shoe and problems keeping them on. It sounds like you’re happy with how he looks shorter and in the smaller shoe.
Size also isn’t consistent across brands.
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We’d need to see the setup.
A smaller shoe may mean the foot is smaller due to being tidied up, no flares. So yes, if the 3 was there because there was too much toe, that longer toe delays breakover which allows hind does to grab heels and yank the shoe.
Someone might put on a smaller shoe that still fits the foot well but just has less heel on it so the horse has less to grab (a major cause of pulled shoes)
How long has he been in the size 2? Same exact shoe?
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Some farriers are from the smaller looks better and stays on better school. Some farriers are from the shoeing “full” with a bigger shoe keeps the horse sounder school. Both can be taken to extremes. If the horse is comfortable and the shoes stay on, what more can you ask?
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It’s hard to tell without looking at the actual foot. You need to really look at the lines and angles of the foot to know what size his foot is - x rays would be ideal if they’re in the budget.
But a cautionary tale: I had a boarder whose farrier went down to a smaller size shoe when the mare repeatedly lost the shoes that were the size she’d been wearing for years. The smaller size was crushing her heels, which the owner didn’t notice until eventually the poor mare’s heel bulbs were so pinched that she had a tight cleavage between them, and a yeast infection developed in there. That’s when she finally fired her terrible farrier, and it took months for the mare to recover. But eventually the mare had the best feet on the farm. I laughed when the owner said “all these years I thought my horses had terrible feet. Now I see that I just had a terrible farrier”. 
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Sometimes horses can be in between sizes also. The farrier me have ground off some of the bigger shoes. And with different trim and pulled shoes (did the horse take some foot off at the same time as well?), maybe horse is being shod less full than before and now not quite able to make the size 3 work.
There’s also lack of uniformity on sizing among manufacturers and shoe types as well so who knows if you are comparing apples to apples without seeing everything.
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My new horse came to me in May wearing size three shoes and with horrible splayed hooves with long toes. First trim with my farrier and she pulled the toes back to something reasonable and put him in a two. His toes grew long again and she did the same thing the second time. His toes did not grow out quite so long the next cycle. Farrier was just here and his feet are now looking so much better and he’s moving great.
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Similar situation as Pico Banana- horse came to me in May also with a fresh trim & size 3s.My former farrier reset same. New farrier trimmed off more &now using 2s. Horse seems fine but will keep an eye on any variation with hoof and movement.
Thanks all -really appreciate the real life info.
I will also say that I’ve noticed some differences in sizing between brands of shoes and styles of shoes within brands - just like women’s clothes lol.
Otherwise I second what everyone else has been saying. Depends on how he was trimmed before and how the new farrier trimmed him now. Also how the farrier likes to fit it to the hoof.
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