Horse with huuuge overstep clipping front feet

[TwiSedai]

The barn I’m at, we have a horse that has a huge walk. The farrier has done the best he can, but she clips her front feet with her hinds in turnout, even with bell boots. This basically means that probably every few weeks she comes in with ouchy bruised heels or a brewing abscess around the heel.

Wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and if you found anything that helps. They’ve tried a few different kinds of bell boots, not really any help. We were thinking about maybe trying some kind of hoof boots that would be okay for turn out and could go over shoes, but wanting to hear any other options, or recommendations (or advice to NOT do that!)

[dotneko]

Needs to breakover more quickly? Square the hinds and be sure the angles are correct up front.Roll the fronts?

[Simkie]

I’ve got a little horse with a massive overstep, too. Like it’s just obscene.

When I was talking with my farrier about shoeing her and expressed concern about her ability to stay in shoes because of that, he said that of course she was taking a huge step behind, because she was tender in front, and if we could get her comfortable in front, the insane overstep would lessen.

It was kind of a mind = blown moment for me because whoa I’d never really had it explained like that? But as we got her happier in front she did start looking a lot more normal.

So it might be worth a really hard look at just how happy this horse is in front?

I’ve also had a (different) farrier add a lateral trailer to the hind shoe for another horse I had with this same sort of issue. It worked well enough too, but I was always a little uneasy with changing the flight path like that. (Although it never really seemed to cause a problem.)

[GraceLikeRain]

A huge overstep shouldn’t mean interferences. The front feet aren’t getting off the ground quickly enough would be my guess. Either there is some tenderness going on or the toe is too long. I’d get x rays and see. I’ve got a good 9” overstep when she’s trucking. Depending on the farrier I can have major interference at walk/trot and constant shoe pulling or absolutely nothing and so many layers in between. For us, I had to do glue ons for about six months to really get nice heels to fully address the issue and the feet weren’t “bad” before by any stretch.

[blue_heron]

Agree with this. My young horse got a lot better with the hind end and landing normally behind when we started pulling back the breakover and added some pads on the front feet.

[Elliot12]

I double bell boot the fronts. Size that touches the ground (heel) with a touch smaller on top. Worked pretty good for big WB who can gallop, buck, rear in turnout and clip his heels. Of course, I have extras on hand.

[Pico_Banana]

ShoeSecures! They were the only thing that kept shoes on my mare with a crazy overreach.

[McGurk]

Talk with your farrier. I have TWO horses with big overstep that are/were chronic shoe pullers.

One lives in bell boots. The other, I was able to convince the farrier to shorten her toe in front and not leave the long trailers on the front shoes. He was trying to encourage more heel growth before shortening the toe and it was a disaster. In one memorable occasion, she pulled one front shoe the morning after being shod, and the other front a week later. While not being ridden.

Really enlist your farrier as a thinking partner as to how to solve the horse’s problem, rather than telling them how to shoe. (!) It helps if you’re there when the farrier is there. It is not reasonable to expect the farrier to remember issues you’ve discussed at a previous shoeing if you’re not there to continue the discussion. Once under the horse, in the absence of other information, they are going to shoe the horse the same way they did previously.

[LazyA1]

Can you just pull her hind shoes?

I have one that did this when he came. Had scars on his front heels from grabbing them with his hind toes. Pulling the hind shoes cured this. He goes fine without them. However, I will say that my farrier is a superb trimmer and knows how to grow heels correctly.

[GigiBecker]

Centaur bell boots worked for me in front. My farrier really worked with me to provide support for the heel but minimize excess. He at something like 10 stopped overstepping so much. @LazyA1, that’s great you could pull the hind shoes. I like to say no one prefers to pay for shoes and likely horses are shod all around for a reason (like their work level).

[Atlas_Shrugged]

I have one of these- my farrier shaped the back shoes with trailers and made it so the back feet land a bit outside where the front feet land and it worked