I did it! DIY glue ons after farrier trims

[outerbanks77]

Glad it is working out for you. The learning curve is steep for sure!

My mare had a couple weeks off for an unrelated lameness and sarcoid removal surgery, so I ended up leaving her shoeless for awhile. Noticed she appears to have lost some sole depth, particularly on her left, which is naturally the flatter of her front feet. However, she is working well without shoes, so I am planning to leave them off for winter. I’ll probably put at least fronts on next year during show season. It’s exciting to see how many new shoe options are being developed, but very few of them are being made in her size at the moment. We went through a bunch of Versa Lights this year, but I think I’ll be using Duplos next year since they have the metal reinforcement. I’d like to use the Stealth tabs for appearance, but the Wolf-Busch tabs have been working pretty well for me, so I’m on the fence there.

[fivestrideline]

Just an update: Versas and EquiLox have been working great for us. However, mud and wet season is upon us, so I ordered a set of regular Speeds to try on the fronts. Apparently they’re supposed to have a bit more grip! I’ll be keeping Versas on the hinds for now, and I am experimenting with wedges for a cycle or two. We have some postural things I’d like to correct, and he’s NPA (or at least flat). I’d rather do it through trimming, but my farrier and I agree that it’s worth trying while he’s not working super hard.

Looking at pics, we’ve come a long way since starting this journey. I still have work to do, but his angles are much better and he’s way more comfortable! Plus no more tossing shoes every 2 days…

[Pehsness]

Mine came off but I think lasted 3 weeks so I was pleased. The mud just was too much I think and one popped off so I pulled the other one.

I was looking quickly this morning and he looks improved. More upright, less of a broken back angle. I’m going to see if he lessons ok without them and if so just carry on until frozen ground comes ans reset then. Otherwise I had such luck with the Octos I think I will do them again.

[Arzny]

I’m thinking about trying glue on composites for my mare who gets a very wide, flared, flat foot. She gets sore and especially coming into winter with snow and frozen ground, I think she needs some help. Are the composites slippery in snow? Or will she have enough traction with them?

[fivestrideline]

The wider the web, the less traction. Many models of composites come in thinner webs than the Versa’s.

I find composites to be less slippery on pavement vs metal shoes, and somewhat the same on grass/footing as a comparable model of traditional shoe. Many composites come with the ability to add studs, if that is something you need.

You’ll still need to add pads for snow if that’s a concern in your area, though some models have no center hole or are compatible with plugs. Most composites allow you to screw pads in as needed.

So to answer your question, I do not find composite MATERIAL to be any more slippery than metal - and in some cases it offers more traction. However, it is more about the shape and texture of the shoe than anything, and that varies.

[Heinz_57]

@fivestrideline

However, mud and wet season is upon us, so I ordered a set of regular Speeds to try on the fronts. Apparently they’re supposed to have a bit more grip!

My experience is that both turn into mud clogs, unfortunately, but I wish you better luck than I had!

[cayuse]

My pony was in them last winter and they were slippery. Farrier set some tiny studs in for him.

[gnu]

You can add quick studs if you need more traction. I have found them (primarily Versa octos) to have better traction than steels and aluminum. I tried the speeds w/ finger tabs for a month and found minimal to no difference in traction, but they really held mud as compared to the octos. With the drought this summer, they were a bit slick at times, but the horses in steel slipped even more. The horses (tbs) live out and compete in dressage and eventing. I think there is a speed option which has threaded inserts for typical drill/tap studs.

[fivestrideline]

Ugh everything is a mud clog, even the traditionally shod horses. Heck, even my barefoot horses have half the paddock stuck in their feet!

I believe the Speeds are supposed to have better traction in grass and footing vs the Versas (which makes sense), once you pick the paddock mud out. The plugs for the Versas work great for keeping it to a minimum, so I may be back to those after a cycle.

Have you found a glue on that performs well in the mud?

[Heinz_57]

@fivestrideline

Have you found a glue on that performs well in the mud?

I haven’t tried them all, of course, but over the years I’ve tried Ground Controls, Easycare Octos, Versas, and now Speeds, plus I’ve fiddled a bit with Eponas this year - but haven’t wanted to jump to casting (and I hate nailing) so can’t really say either way on those. I put my very first horse in one of the early composite shoes nearly 20 years ago as an experiment, so you could say I’ve always been interested in the concepts. Sorry for the ramble I’m about to go on!

I love them when it’s dry out and the horses respond well to the reduced concussion. If there is the slightest hint of moisture in the dirt and you have even remotely clay-ish soil, it packs in worse than any other shoe I’ve ever used. I recently tried Speeds with DIM under a full pad over the summer and as soon as the ground was the slightest bit wet, dirt packed itself in the relatively shallow sole space left under the pad and even wedged itself between the pad and the shoe, which was impossible to fully clean out. Before picking, the shoe literally looked like a dirt clog, the packed material created such a convex dome-shape. It added FAR too much sole pressure and was very uncomfortable for the horse, who I put in the shoes purely for the sole relief while he was healing from an abscess that caused about 40% of his sole to slough off. I was hopeful that adding DIM + pad and reducing the depth of the center hole would allow any retained dirt to be somewhat self-cleaning, but no dice. And once the packed dirt stretched the shoe and the pad, it just kept getting worse.

I haven’t found the magic combo that really works for me in my particular brand of mud, yet (YMMV). I fiddle here and there when I come across a new idea, but frankly I get weary of continually investing in expensive “test” supplies that end up in the garbage My experience across the board of composites is that any “traction” pattern stamped on the shoe immediately gets filled with dirt (same as the way the nail crease does on a traditional metal shoe, or an unplugged stud hole) and becomes pretty ineffective.

I have not tried the 3D’s because I never had good luck with superglue adhesion/retention, personally. I would like to try out the new Race and Race Light, eventually. The lower profile and narrower web seems like it might have less issues with mud retention.

[fivestrideline]

I just put Speeds on the fronts of my guy and will add Versas with plugs to the hinds tomorrow. At least then I can compare plugs vs not! Even the barefoot horses have clogs of mud to pry out with a crowbar, and everyone slips a bit. Part of winter here unfortunately. Sounds like you and I have the same ground conditions - luckily my horse doesn’t seem to mind the packed sole.

Also, I went a cycle (3.5 weeks) with Versas up front, no pad or DIM or anything, and bare behind. I definitely got a TON of heel growth on his fronts (just a ton of growth everywhere, but notable heel height). The hinds showed significantly less heel growth vs when they were shod but the toe length continued on pace.

I’m taking that as a sign that for this horse, I get significantly better/more foot growth in good directions with composite shoes instead of bare feet. It may be that we’d get the same results with steels and frog pads, but I don’t know.

I want to try the new Roller shoes next, with the 3D frog support. They have cuffs for glueing and a lower profile which I like. I’m not sure if the aluminum vs all composite will change things on this horse, but I like the concept of them.

[EventerAJ]

Thanks to this topic, I took the leap. I bought Speeds, Superfast, a dispensing gun, tips, and plastic wrap. I watched many Youtube tutorials and read all the FAQ on the Easycare site. On 11/22, After a trim, I glued composite shoes on my bad-footed, flat soled horse.

Everyone who says it’s a learning curve is 110% right. Despite watching and learning everything I could (plus I’ve watched farriers glue shoes for 20yrs), I still made a mess. I prepped both feet as well as I could with a rasp, as I know prep/roughing the wall is the single most important step in the process.

I tried one method-- to wrap the foot in plastic first, then poke holes through it into the glue holes, and dispense the glue into the tabs with the plastic keeping it all together neatly. Not neat at all. I did a crap job of it. did the other foot the traditional way, glue in the holes and THEN wrap with plastic. It had better coverage, but I still don’t feel like I dispensed it evenly.

I touched it up the best I could. Ended up using 3 tips, got glue ALL over my hands (learning curve) and will be using gloves next time! Prior to starting, my personal expectation was about 10 days. After the mess I made, I am hoping they stay on long enough to make it through a hunter pace tomorrow (11/24)! So far, so good. In a perfect world, I’d love 6 weeks. But 10 days will be a miracle!

It may not look pretty, and I know I will do better next time, but my little horse is very happy with the speeds. He is so much more comfortable, especially on pavement, and moving better in general. He has a weak hoof wall, tendency to underslung heels, and grows “out” rather than up. Hoping the glue on composites will keep his hoof gathered up and improve growth/shape.

Luckily I am in FL with sandy soil and no mud. Plus, it’s dry season so even though he lives outside his feet won’t be wet. So far nothing is packing in or under the speeds, sand and debris just falls right out.

Some questions for those who’ve been doing this for a while:

• What effects do you notice on the hoof wall quality from the glue? When I’ve had farriers use Equilox for traditional glue-on metal shoes, the equilox does significant damage to the hoof wall. It peels off, it peels off wall with it, wall crumbles in chunks underneath, etc. While I’ve felt glue was only used when necessary, it definitely had trade-offs and setbacks of its own when my farriers patched/glued with Equilox. (I’m using urethane, not acrylic… is urethane better/kinder on the hoof wall?)

-I’ve watched many videos on how to remove the shoes…what is your method? Do you peel the big grip tabs down with nippers? Or just cut them off and weld new tabs on? (any tips on THAT?) What is the residual glue like on the shoe, and the foot? How to you clean/prepare it for another cycle?

I’m sharing a photo of my “work,” please know I’m not very proud of it and strive to do better!

[fivestrideline]

Welcome to the adventure! There definitely is a learning curve. I’m still figuring things out every time I do a set! But my horse is so much more comfortable with these vs bare or traditional shoes. And being able to reset myself if I lose one is a huge relief. Your first set is WAY prettier than mine!

Definitely wear gloves. I usually use my gloved hand to smear glue around and feather out the edges. You’ll use fewer tips once you have a routine down!

@EventerAJ

Some questions for those who’ve been doing this for a while:

• What effects do you notice on the hoof wall quality from the glue? When I’ve had farriers use Equilox for traditional glue-on metal shoes, the equilox does significant damage to the hoof wall. It peels off, it peels off wall with it, wall crumbles in chunks underneath, etc. While I’ve felt glue was only used when necessary, it definitely had trade-offs and setbacks of its own when my farriers patched/glued with Equilox. (I’m using urethane, not acrylic… is urethane better/kinder on the hoof wall?)

-I’ve watched many videos on how to remove the shoes…what is your method? Do you peel the big grip tabs down with nippers? Or just cut them off and weld new tabs on? (any tips on THAT?) What is the residual glue like on the shoe, and the foot? How to you clean/prepare it for another cycle?

As far as EquiLox - I’ve only noticed wall damage if I peel glue off the wall vs the shoe off the glue. Even then, it’s minimal. Granted, I’ve not been doing this forever so maybe long term? Also, I don’t do super long cycles because my horses grow hoof like it’s their only job. I have thought about trying a different glue that comes in black (I want to dye the shoes black for showing) but so far equilox is working for us.

For removal - still figuring that out. Generally, I peel the cuff down off the glue. Usually I have to get a hoof pick wedged under there to loosen a bit and then go at it with dull nippers. FWIW this is significantly easier with a hoof stand. If you loosen the heel side of the cuff and peel from there, I find I only need to remove one side (the outside), and then flip the shoe off the hoof and peel off the other cuff up from the bottom. Hard to describe. Also, the cuffs can really take a beating before being unable to reuse them.

Welding looks like too much work for me, I just reuse shoes by drilling out the glue from the holes and peeling most of the attached glue off the cuff. Not all of it has to come off at least with equilox, it seems to bind to itself pretty well. I also tend to switch between sets, taking one home to clean up and resetting a new or previously cleaned shoe.

To prep the foot, I just take my grinder to the walls and grind off the residual glue. A sander works too but I haven’t got a Hoof Buffy yet.
Then I trim the foot as needed, sand the cuff area of the wall to get any dirt or remaining glue off, wire brush the whole foot, then place and glue the shoe. I’ve not needed to really score the walls or do anything more than sand the dirt off and rough up the very outer bit of wall.

Good luck! I found that my first couple of sets didn’t last very long, but once I got my prep right they’re very reliable. My current mission is to make them prettier, but I’m not competing right now and the horse wears hot pink bell boots so you really can’t see them anyway

[EventerAJ]

Thank you so much!! I’ve watched the videos, but reading the removal process all spelled out helps me understand it even more. I used urethane SuperFast, so I’m not sure if it bonds to itself as well as Equilox. Will find out…hopefully not for a few weeks! Thankfully his shoes stayed on perfectly for the hunter pace yesterday, despite trotting through some mucky areas and swampy trails.

The learning continues!

[Pehsness]

Ugh, tell me what to do.

It’s clear he needs the shoes. I was hoping to get away without them this winter but we’re trying to work for realz, and he just won’t move out barefoot.

So put the Octos back on and deal with mud and snow clogs etc, or just invest in 4 boots. He does better in the shoes, and I think benefits from them 24/7, but lives out with a run in. Mud shortens the life of the shoes staying on. It will be a lot of work. Boots will let us (hopefully) work well with less work, but not AS good.

I need to make a decision.

[Simkie]

You might consider casts. They’re kind of slippery but don’t pack mud or snow. Most horses get a couple few weeks out of an application. My little filly has done just fab in them.

[fivestrideline]

@Pehsness

So put the Octos back on and deal with mud and snow clogs etc, or just invest in 4 boots. He does better in the shoes, and I think benefits from them 24/7,

Two things:

My horse does astronomically better in the shoes vs boots. Boots are better than bare, but shoes are lightyears better than boots.

Anything with a cuff has way better retention vs tabs. I think a combination of the glue type and the cuff having less flex and more surface area.

The Versa grip glue with plugs installed solve the mud pack issue for me!

[Pehsness]

Maybe that’s the answer… the cuffs. I was just trying to avoid the expense of the applicator and gun etc… I have so much STUFF from years of experimenting with these things.

Do the cuffs really stay on better in wet conditions? Are they just the octos with cuffs instead of tabs?

[fivestrideline]

The Versas are the same bottom as the Octos, with cuffs.

I have gotten 5 weeks out of Versas and Equilox on 24/7 turnout in absolute muck AND hard dead dry ground. Anecdotally, people seem to struggle with the Octos in non-ideal environments.

[Pehsness]

All right, I’ll try! I needed new shoes anyway so I’ll give it a go. Fingers crossed.

Thanks!