Shoing options

[buck22]

Getting ready to put shoes back on for driving this year, I have a few options to consider and am not sure what to do.

Last year I put shoes on my horse for the first time hoping to give him some more confidence in less-than-ideal footing. Did fronts only. I suggested borium to the farrier, he suggested drilltek, I trust him so we went with that.

The difference was night and day, horse was MUCH improved in the confidence department with the extra grip. We went out on the roads and he was very confident and happy. I was thrilled that the drilltek was so hard wearing we only had to do resets for the rest of the year, the shoes stayed basically brand new. No maintenance, no fuss. Happy all around.

This year I’d like to shoe all 4.

I was fortunate last year to take some lessons with someone I really respect. When she asked how my horse was shod, I told her drilltek, I’m over the moon with it, and she said its terrible for their joints, has too much grip - use studs or borium instead so you have some slip.

I saw my farrier the other day, he asked if we’re doing drilltek again, I told him what the instructor said, he said borium is too slippy on pavement its a bad idea… and the old “who should I listen to? the professional horse trainer or the professional shoer?”. Ugh.

I’d go back to the drilltek in a heartbeat but I hope to haul my horse to her for lessons this year and I am loathe to show up having blatantly disregarded her advice. And, I can’t imagine she’s off base with her reasoning, the drilltek does grip like nothing else, surely its not wonderful for my horse’s joints.

I’m not really interested in borium, I used to shoe my riding horse every winter in boriums and they did slip on pavement… so now I’m thinking studs.

The upside with studs is that I can remove them, drilltek the horse wears 24/7. On our sandy footing its not really been an issue, but like I said I do want to shoe his hinds this year and as my horse is prone to kick out when playing in pasture, I want as little weaponry on his feet as possible. If I were to continue with drilltek, I would not have it applied on the hinds. With studs, I have the option of using them when and where I want.

The downside to studs is that I know virtually nothing about them, especially for driving. I do know they are a bit of a hassle. Are they going to be just as slippy on pavement as borium?

Can someone please enlighten me?

If you use studs, which kinds? what size? what do you use for plugging while they’re not installed? do you do the hinds? do you do just toes or or heels or all 4?

I know nothing

Thank you!!!

[Drive_NJ]

First - your decision depends on how much you ACTUALLY drive on pavement

then you do not want to be TOO aggressive - that is what will eventually cause joint issues

But my old Hackney was shod with grip for more than 11 years and was never lamed or affected negatively by it
It was safer to have the grip that chance slipping on roads - which we drove frequently at the time

IF you go with studs - you really only need the tiny pound in rounds with a chip of grip ( not sure what it is composed of)
screw in studs are too much for pavement and horse will be on high heels

For either drilltek or borium what you really want is a wash over the heels NOT a single beaded spot. It will grip but not dig in and lock the foot. The wash allows some sideways movement that keeps a more natural step

talk with your farrier again. Trainers are often just repeating tales they have “heard” but not “experienced”
(no denigrating the trainer here)

[goodhors]

I will agree with the Trainer, you have too much grip with the Drill Tek. Drill Tek and Borium are trade names for Tungsten Carbide crystals in a binder product that holds them in place. Drill Tek has much larger crystals, which do wear longer, are grippier, than smaller crystal Borium.

What Drive NJ said is true, needing to think how much grip you need for surfaces you will be driving over.

That hard grip of Drill Tek crystal STOPS the hoof on pavement when horse sets his foot down. MOTION of his stride, weight of momentum is transferred from anchored hoof, upward into the leg column. This is true whether he wears big lumps of Drill Tek or washed Drill Tek on the shoes, because those crystals grab hard on firm surfaces.

Borium works similarly, but does not grab so hard, smaller crystals don’t have the grab on firm surfaces when “washed” onto the shoe. You do have good footing if wash is done right, since the tungsten crystals self-sharpen with use to keep horse gripping.

I would choose Borium over Drill Tek because with the slightly less grip, horse hoof is not stopped so HARD each step. Not transferring impact, momentum, on up the leg so much. A bit of built-in slip, easier on horse in long term use.

We have gone to the Drive-In, Pin Studs, for our horses who will be out on the roads. Shoe has to be drilled, then small stud is put into the hole. Stud is made with a Morris Taper, so horse walking on the stud is always driving it up into the shoe to stay tight. These Pin Studs are also made of Tungsten Carbide, so they are self-sharpening as the horse moves around in daily life. They stick out of shoe about 1/8 inch, just go into the ground on dirt. They don’t rip or tear up a horse if someone gets kicked by the stud-wearing horse. Might leave a couple small holes, or you may not even notice any holes. Shoes usually have 4-5 studs put on, depending on size of horse.

We use the pin studs, made by Mustad, on all our road horses. Have used them since they became available, probably about 15-20 years now. They provide plenty of grip, but have that built-in, fractional slip factor, so they don’t bother horse joints, body, in long term use on roads. As a Driver or observer of horse with Pin Studs, you will probably never see or notice the slip factor on horse, it is LITTLE. But that fractional slip is real helpful to the horse over time, in preventing problems. Hard stopping of leg each stride is hard on the horse long term. Some horses will show problems sooner, others just endure with their stoic nature.

Not sure what you pay the Farrier, but the fact that shoes lasted an entire summer with Drill Tek, should not be your deciding factor. Cost of new shoes should only be slightly more than a reset, since you are paying Farrier for his skill in trimming hooves, reshaping shoe to fit that new trim. Old shoes with old nail holes often don’t stay tight. Pin studs CAN be drilled out, put in new shoes if you want to pay Farrier for the time to do it. I think they run about $1 a stud, could be more since I have not checked recently. Also would depend what your Farrier carries on his truck, since he needs a Drill Press to drill shoes to put studs into. Haven’t seen good stud holes using a hand drill, they are not often straight down as needed to seat the studs properly.

By a wash, Drive NJ and I are saying the Farrier will puddle the binding metal onto the shoe, which lets the crystals be half exposed, yet held onto shoe metal securely. Welding torch softens binder stuff, so it flows onto steel, makes bigger fingerprint sized dots or a bigger splotch across width of toes to have Borium in place. Same can be done with the Drill Tek, but crystals are lots bigger, so they stick out more to grab harder. Local Amish tend to make caulks of their Drill Tek, very crude application, but shoes DO NOT wear out, so they are happy.

[DJohn]

Edit: just read goodhors’ post… covered it!

[buck22]

Thank you all so much! I can always depend on you guys for great advice.

I think a wash over the heels is what my farrier did. It looks as you describe, a puddle of material with the drilltek crystals sprinkled around. I still have the shoes, I’ll take some pictures and share them.

We don’t do that much road driving, perhaps 10% of our total driving time of the entire season is spent on pavement. During a single drive, our terrain varies from deep sand, to dry hard pack earth, to mucky out-skirts of a swamp, to sandy turf, to grassy turf. We cover a lot of very different terrain.

Its actually been slippy grass, mucky footing, and soft sand that have given my horse reason to pause - be less than confident - especially if we’re negotiating a grade. Since putting the drilltek shoes on, he’s been bolder and more confident. More “yes ma’am!” rather than “hmm, whats this?”. Thats what I wanted to solve and the shoes with drilltek did it in spades.

The incredible traction on road was a huge bonus during one outing with ridden horses, one plain shod, one bare. Both spooked badly and scrambled on the pavement. The scrambling, feeling like they would go down, made their tensions even higher and there was a bit of madness resulting. My guy spooked badly too, but never scrambled, remained coherent enough for me to keep control of him and keep him working with me despite a lot of chaos. I was VERY grateful for the drilltek that day.

The fact that one set of shoes lasted and entire year was a happy bonus, not my deciding factor of course. I just wanted to share how overwhelmingly happy I was with the experience. :lol:

Knowing now that my time on pavement is fairly minimal, does that change anyone’s opinion?

thank you so much!!!

[DJohn]

I would say, “Go with what works” and what your farrier suggests. Farriers KNOW hooves, and they know horses.

[buck22]

I know, I’m inclined to just follow my farrier’s advice, but like I said, I really respect the trainer, and, well, whats the point of having a mentor if you don’t follow their advice? :lol:

Such a quandary, two people I trust have conflicting views and I don’t yet feel confident in my limited knowledge to make a decision.

I’m going to ask the farrier if he can do the wash with borium crystals as suggested. I think that would be ideal. My experience with boriums on ridden horses were little tacked on nubs, two at the toe, one at each heel. On ice they were fantastic, but on pavement all of our horses did slide.