Studding a shoe with trailers??

[Heinz_57]

Just curious about something I saw recently and wanted to hear opinions.

My farrier recently posted a picture on FB along the lines of ‘tis the season’, with a picture of a full set of shoes with (heel) stud holes. The hind shoes had trailers (extended the heel of the shoe rearward beyond the normal length) AND stud holes.

Now, I tried to search and couldn’t come up with much of anything, but wouldn’t this combination produce a significantly increased amount of torque on the joints and ligaments? Like, asking-for-a-major-injury amounts?

Incidentally, my horse does also have trailers on the hinds (prescribed by a lameness specialist) for suspensory support. I had no intention of putting studs on him this year due to that, because 1) if the footing is that bad, I wouldn’t run him anyway, and 2) it seems like a Very Very Dangerous Idea.

Am I totally wrong? It’d be like wearing a snowshoe with cleats.

[EventerAJ]

My old horse used to wear mild trailers on the lateral branch behind. The stud hole was placed in the same location relative to his heel, as if it were a regular branch shoe. The trailers helped a little bit, but he didn’t wear them forever. I never noticed any negative effects, and we used studs weekly for jumping (grass arena on hills) at prelim level. Usually just grass tips and little road studs, rarely anything big, but horses needed something to grip into hard/slick grass. On deep, soft ground I could maybe see some risk with trailers and studs; but 90% of my studding is for firm turf in the summer, and I don’t think the trailers + studs would cause too much damage in that case.

Same horse did end up with a mild hind suspensory strain, after being out of the trailers for over a year. Don’t think it was related to the shoes.

[PNWjumper]

Where were the stud holes placed?

My horse who does the big stuff wears hind shoes with trailers. As EventerAJ noted, the stud holes go in the same place they would without the trailers. Across 10 or so years of jumping my guy in this set-up, it hasn’t caused any problems.

[Heinz_57]

Just behind the crease in the “normal” area you’d see heel studs, @PNWjumper. I suppose it could be a non-issue if the horse doesn’t have a lot of rotation of the hind feet while in the ground phase, for that conformation it might not cause a lot of extra torsion. Or with small road studs where the foot can still move a bit, on good footing.

Probably still not something I’ll elect to do on my own horse, given the issues we’re managing.

[flyingchange]

Yeah, I agree with you Heins 57. I don’t think I’d be OK with that setup.

[PNWjumper]

FWIW, my guy travels super close behind and twists a lot as he goes. Took me a few years to figure out that he was a lot happier with a bigger stud in the outside hole and a little stud in the inside hole. Even with that twisting he hasn’t shown any issues. My vet (who’s very good with feet) and my farrier are both totally comfortable with how we have things. I don’t know what issues you’re managing, so my willingness to go in that set up could totally change under different circumstances.

[Heinz_57]

@PNWjumper

I don’t know what issues you’re managing, so my willingness to go in that set up could totally change under different circumstances.

He’s an old guy, hocks are partially fused and he’s got some sort of old suspensory issues (likely from his track days, vet’s best guess) that have led to sclerosis. He’s also got some minor side bone up front, thinner than ideal soles (wears pads) and we injected both coffin joints in Feb. I realize he’s on borrowed time, and I’m only hoping to run BN, maybe Novice this year. He’s a sure-footed critter and he gets worked 6 days a week on a pretty good slope so at that low level, studs really shouldn’t be necessary anyway.