Hello again, hope everyone's doing great. I want to show you and talk to you a bit about Glue on Shoes today. The pictures below are from a client of mine who's horse has very thin hoof walls and also straight up and down hoof wall which makes for very tricky shoeing, particularly nailing.

Nails placed close to the sensitive tissue ( close nails - hot nails ) can cause abscesses in the horses foot. As the case with this horse we decided to not risk more problems with his feet when it came to nailing and Glue on shoes were the option. My client was wanting to go on a ride over the weekend.

You'll notice the feet are quite short still and broken out on the sides.  The commentary on the shoes follows.

The shoes worked very well. The quality was top notch. This particular set of shoes came with all the necessary hardware - glue ( only need one of the two tubes ) sandpaper to clean and roughen up the hoof - the great shoes and thorough easy to understand directions.  However

1. The shoes are not easy to shape. The amazing rubber on the shoe absorbs and recoils hammer blows. It took probably three times the usual force of the hammer to shape the shoes.
2. The little fingers that get glued down to the foot also get in the way when shaping.
          Other than that the rest of the process was a not so unusual or difficult. Of course a co-operative horse is always a blessing.

Here's the procedure.     
1) Rasp the foot level . If you don't understand level contact me and i'll do my best to explain to you. Discerning true level is not easy yet it's one of the most important aspects to get correct to maintain a sound horse.
2) Shape the shoe to fit. A snug fit is better than having alot of shoe hanging out on the sides or the heels. Just test fit by placing the shoe on the foot / pulling the fingers/tabs away to slip the shoe on.
3) Sand the outside hoof wall very cleanly. A coarse grade of sandpaper is best such as 40 grit. When it comes to glue on shoes cleanliness is next to godliness so you'll see in the picture the hoof wall is virtually all sanded cleanly.
4) Before you're ready to glue whipe the shoe fingers with a cleaner such as denatured alcohol , oil from your hands will inhibit a good glue bond so make sure your hands are very clean as well - wash with soap and water before handling the shoe.
5) Also whipe the hoof wall with the denatured alcohol. It must be clean if you want the shoes to stay put.
6) So you're ready to glue now - it's best if your horse has a clean space to stand and hopefully it's well behaved and doesn't dance around while the glueing starts otherwise it will all be a stressful operation ( it somewhat is anyway )
7) Get your glue ready - it's basically a super glue type but comes with the shoes. Puncture the tip and be ready to move quickly.
8) Slide a shoe on the foot. Have the horse stand. If at all possible have someone hold the other foot up so the foot you're working on stays put. Quicly pull back the finger at the heel. Start a drip of glue from the top of the finger and let it run down the finger, Quickly press that finger onto the hoof, it will bond quickly. Move to the opposite heel finger and glue it down. Then progress rapidly in any feasable succession of glueing the fingers down. It can't really get much simpler than that . Providing the horse is co-operating.

The glue sets quickly as any super glue does but i wouldn't feel real safe riding the horse for at least a couple hours till the glue really has time to cure ( just my opinion ).  I'm a believer in overnite curing times and i don't care how fast someone tells me it's supposto cure.

Here's a picture - before - and the After following.


You can see how clean everything is after whiping down the the Denatured Alcohol. Do not shortcut this part. everything must be as clean as you can get it.



And the finished product . hammer the aluminum tabs down against the foot which helps keep the shoe on. You can see there's quite a bit of surface area to the fingers which are glued down.  If when riding a tab somehow works itself loose just roll the rubber tab/finger between your fingers and the old glue should mostly come off and then reglue the finger back down.

Considering aluminum shoes such as the "Natural Balance" shoes are somewhat costly at nearly 20 $ the cost of these rubber glue on shoes is quite reasonable . Right at around 50 $ for two, and as mentioned comes with glue - sandpaper - a sandpaper pad and i believe gloves as well makes the set very reasonable ( my opinion ).

Ok , that's about it for now. It's always a pleasure and as usual happy and safe riding and remember to always www.Care4Horses.com    

thank you :  John Silveira

ps.  I'm still available and providing consultation at no cost ( Free ) conformation analysis, shoeing issues, and any other expertise i can share.

And for those of you waiting on the DVD, stand in there - it's coming on the way.  I should be posting soon on the website the first chapter , i'll let you know right away ... 

thanks everyone - feel free to leave comments it's a benefit to everyone .   Take care