Removing a Sprung Shoe

[GraceLikeRain]

Teach me your tips and tricks! After having the farrier deal with a stepped clip two weeks ago, I came out this morning to two bent nails and a clanking second shoe. Mare’s schedule is getting moved to five weeks but I’d like to be better prepared if/when I have a next time.

The commonly recommended “use a rasp to take off the clinch heads” was comically ineffective for me this morning. I would have been out there all day. With some swearing I used needle nose pliers to bend the clinches straight and then tapped them back so I could grab and pull out. On any other horse I would have gotten kicked or clomped with how long I was under there pulling on her poor leg. She was a saint and rewarded with all of the cookies for ground tying through it all. I won’t ask her to do that again and will be better prepared.

What nail clinch nippers do you use?
Best brands for non professional but reliable tools?
Has anyone tried an all in one tool?
Any other tips and tricks for a lay person removing a shoe once in a blue moon?

[millerra]

Nail puller from the bottom side. don’t even need to file the clinches… Once I bought that, I no longer curse my farrier when I have to pull a shoe. don’t have a brand name; bought it at fleet farm - any farm store w/ horse supplies “should” carry them. it doesn’t have to be fancy if you only use it in a blue moon.

[GraceLikeRain]

@millerra

Nail puller from the bottom side

Maybe it is my farriers style of shoeing or my own ignorance but the clinch are large enough I feel like I would have pulled a hole twice as big as the original nail hole yanking it backwards without straightening. Granted, she does as much when she pulls her own shoe off but I’d like to avoid damaging more wall than needed?

[Huntin_Pony]

Ask your farrier to show you how to remove the shoe.

My preferred tool is a crease nail puller. Have not had a problem doing damage to the hoof wall.

A very useful skill!

[millerra]

Oh - difference in farriers. Mine rasps hers down so they are thinner as a finisher They straighten when you pull the nail out. My tbs also get really thin nails… Surprisingly, the shoes stay on quite well even so.

[beowulf]

Ask your farrier if they can let you practice the next time he is here, too.

I found watching videos online helpful. Usually a farrier will use a flat head nipper, start with one side of the quarters, then the other for a clean pull.

But nail pullers are handy, too.

[endlessclimb]

Nail puller, or nippers.

Nail puller is self explanatory

Nippers, slide them under the caudal part of the shoe, and wrench towards the toe. Then, take the nippers back out and smack the shoe back onto the foot. The nail heads will now be sticking out enough to grab and remove with the nippers.

Note: Do not do this with nice nippers, as they will get dulled.

[endlessclimb]

I also managed to remove a shoe with a pair of channel locks at the last show I was at, when my mare sprung one and was standing on the clip. Knowing how to wrench the caudal part of the shoe up and off the foot allows you to use a multitude of tools to remove the shoe in an emergency, as I had to.

My tools were not in my horse trailer because I had cleaned it out in preparation to sell it. I normally keep a set of junk nippers for this exact purpose in there.

[endlessclimb]

Final thing, sorry - remember when removing the nails to use the shoe as your brace/leverage. Don’t sit there screwing around trying to pull them straight out. They will look like a C when you’ve done it correctly.

Either roll the tool to the side, or to the front, or to the back - depends on the nail and how the shoe is sprung.

[GraceLikeRain]

@beowulf

Ask your farrier if they can let you practice the next time he is here, too.

I’ve asked and even offered to pay for his time. I got a noncommittal response. It’s a large barn and he’s efficient with a packed schedule so I get it, but it also makes it hard to become more self sufficient. I may ask about his willingness to do a mini demo where multiple boarders pay for the experience to make it better worth his time or see if I go last and bring lunch if that frees up his schedule to let me muddle through learning.

@endlessclimb

Final thing, sorry - remember when removing the nails to use the shoe as your brace/leverage. Don’t sit there screwing around trying to pull them straight out. The will look like a C when you’ve done it correctly

Where were you at 7 am?! Granted the shoe was so loose I managed it eventually but good gosh that is a duh no brainer that totally didn’t occur to me considering how many pulled C nails I’ve seen in my life. Thank you!!

[ndirish07]

Well this is timely since I just had the Saturday to end all Saturdays at the barn. Got a text my rehabbing a soft tissue injury horse was “really really lame.” I was already almost there but you better believe I raced there thinking he’d seriously hurt himself in the stall. Oh no-- he just managed to get his shoe slid back with all nails intact and stand on the clip. While in bell boots… I repeat… in his stall. It wasn’t twisted. Horse is realllllllly talented.

How did I do it? Well for me, 99% sure the Holy Spirit filled me because I decided I was not getting another vet bill (horse had surgery and every other modality known to man). But I took the rasp, cutting/rough side down and filed in a downward motion. Got most-ish of the clenches off. Then made an impromptu pedestal with a mounting block. Bribed horse to put his foot on it. And with the rage and passion of the ancestors, I used the nippers/shoe puller (I don’t know which one it is officially), and grabbed the outside of the shoe and pulled towards the toe. Then I filled down one edge of the wall that was rough with the rasp.

Then my second horse from stomping flies, sprung two nails. I used the hoof pick and straightened those bad boys out and nailed them back in, then used the clench thingie and stuck those back on them.

Oh then horse #1 when I was soaking his foot preventatively who usually ices/soaks like a champ, stepped back on the feed pan, tipping the water, He freaked, pulled back and broke his halter-- did the safety straps on the cross ties break no, but again, a halter is cheaper than a vet bill so there’s that. Only positive vibes here. Then I basically clung to him like a koala on a tree because he’s NOT allowed to go for a runabout the farm due to his injury. At that point, I decided we’re going down together.

Almost just left the barn and went home and had a drink. Why do we have horses?

[HeartsDesireEventing]

I have an old pair of nippers I keep in my trailer. I think I picked them up years ago at the feed/farm store - not sure they actually have a brand.

Typically if I have a sprung shoe the clinches are also raised a bit, so I’ll cut the clinches off if I can get to them, and then use the nippers from the bottom to pull the nails (no, these are not the perfect tool for this, but I can get a hold of the nails well enough for the once in a while I have to pull a shoe). Note this is easier to do if the clinches are already loose! If the nails on the other side of the shoe are still tight it can be a bit interesting to get under those to cut them.

[theresak]

I asked my farrier for some tips as my older hose liked to twist hind shoes in the summer a lot. She said it’s all about leverage and a pair of crease pullers. As @endlessclimb mentioned, brace the side of the nail pullers against the surface of the shoe for leverage when pulling out the nails - I never file clinches and can usually get the nail pulled out without any damage doing this.

One of the tips is to watch the farrier pull shoes and where they start, what points they use for leverage, etc.

[punchy]

The last time I had a sprung shoe, the other side was on so tight I had no chance. So I employed the method of shoe pulling where you turn the horse out and let them pull it off themselves. He did a great, clean job and left it in an obvious spot for me to find to boot. But my farrier uses thin nails and no clips, so…

[avjudge]

@HeartsDesireEventing

Typically if I have a sprung shoe the clinches are also raised a bit, so I’ll cut the clinches off if I can get to them

Last cycle my husband’s horse wore his hind shoes enough that one side lost the heads to the nails and that side of that shoe was just flopping. Because of the flopping the clinches on the other side were loosened/raised, as you mention. Possibly the nippers could have taken them off but we didn’t think of that (duh!). We just straightened the clinches a bit by putting a screwdriver up into the curve and hitting it with a hammer. Then we were able to pull the nails out easily by pulling the shoe off with the nippers.

[Displaced_Yankee]

This is what I do, learned from my farrier. I did this for a friends horse once and her farrier was so pleased when he came back to re set the shoe.

I do nip the clinched nail ends (hoof exterior) for a cleaner pull.

My farrier had an older set of nippers that he sold me. They aren’t super sharp, but they serve the purpose of pulling a shoe as needed. They live in the horse trailer…where they are always where my horse is.

I’ve also pulled a shoe with a set of wire cutters and a regular hammer once…it wasn’t perfect…but it was better than letting her stand on the clip all night…

[LCDR]

Buy a crease nail puller. When I asked my farrier to teach me as an owner who may want to pull a loose shoe maybe twice a year, he went to his truck, rummaged around in a drawer, gave me a crease nail puller to keep, and showed me how to use it. He said that he does not use them often because they wear out quickly, but for an occasional user they are a go-to tool to keep in the barn. Like any tool, there are varying opinions of the proper way to use them, but here is one way.

Jim Blurton nail pullers

[PNWjumper]

I agree with the majority. Get a crease nail puller. Pull each nail out by the head. Easy. Done.

I pull shoes myself when they get loose on my herd of 7. I also put shoes back on (if I have the shoe). So I bought my own set of tools.

I’m semi-functional (at best), and never could get down the way that farriers pull shoes (rasp nails, rip shoe off).

But pulling each nail out is super simple, and even if the nail has a big clinch, it does not rip through in a bigger hole like you might think it would.

[IPEsq]

If shoe and nails are too worn for crease nail puller then probably I’m not getting the clinches off either. If sprung, get a Hoofjack or a spare person to hold the foot and then use pullers and torque and pry the thing off. Say small prayer you don’t take too much foot with you if one side is still tight.

[LuvMyTB]

This is the best thing I’ve read all day! Hilarious!