Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Babys got new pair of shoes Its time to reset our boys and it always is quite the production and I’m always amazed at the size of everything drafty which brings me to thinking about how draft horses often get a bad wrap due to the size of their shoes. A number of light horse people consider the way a draft horse is shod as cruel and outrageous because of the size of shoes our guys take. I get a number of people who come to fairs asking about the large feet that our horses have and the shoes that are used. Our horses don’t wear “large” shoes, they wear shoes that are correctly sized for their foot. Remember we are talking about 2000lbs of horse here and they would be cripple in no time if they had small petite feet. Draft horse breeders actually breed for large wide heels, and I’m glad it’s that way, I want my horses to be sound with good feet. There has been much controversy on the topic since you will commonly see what might be considered an oversized foot and it is assumed that this is a scotch bottom. INCORRECT! A scotch bottom shoe is a type of shoe (a type of horseshoe with an outer edge that is sloped down and outward from the hoof, at an angle to match the hoof) nothing more or less which can be used as designed or abused. Like with any breed you will see people take things to extreme and others that will do what’s best for their horse long term. This is nothing new in the world of competition and its seen world wide in every sport out there. From my vantage point the scotch bottom shoe is an excellent shoe and was way ahead of its time. Take a look at a new style of shoe called a “natural balance shoe”. It is amazingly similar to the shape of a scotch bottom and is extremely close in resemblance to what is considered a draft parade shoe.Natural Balance Shoe
Draft Parade Shoe
Draft Scotch Bottom Shoe
The goal in using this type of shoe is to better support the horse and to correctly balance a horse regardless of if it is a draft or light horse. Current research (late 1990’s) proved again that it’s most beneficial for a horse to have a somewhat squared off toe which goes against what farriers have been taught for the last 50 years. Interesting that draft horse farriers have been using this type of a foot/shoe on their horses for the last 100 years. Horses back then needed to be sound to pull the delivery/freight wagons. This squared off toe shape didn’t happen by mistake but was arrived at by trial and error and should be considered a tried and true method to caring for horse’s feet. While I’m sure that there is a place for what is considered the normal rounded horse shoe, it isn’t on a draft horse used for carriage, parade or show ring work. Using our drafts in this manner requires a very supportive shoe that will help maintain a balanced food and prolong soundness by distributing the weight evenly across a wide base which is exactly what a scotch bottom shoe will do. Just thought I’d share with you that interesting tidbit.
2 Comments:
At this point I just wish I could FIND someone to shoe my drafts!! My current farrier is excellent, but he doesn't like to shoe the big girls, although he trims them with no problem and he was quite instrumental in fixing a major problem we were having with Aimee's hindfeet- caused by a bad farrier. Very frustrating. Do they make you wear the rubber shoes on the roads up there? They've just started that here... can't have drafts on the roads without rubber shoes... light horses are ok but not drafts... what's with that???
Shea that’s horrible. You mean to tell me that you can’t even use the roads at all with drafts - like driving or riding for pleasure or training down the street? There is only one community in Michigan that I personally know of that requires the rubber shoes but that’s for carriage horses working in the down town area not for your average Joe riding or driving their horse. I would think that the locals would prefer a horse be barefoot opposed to even the rubber shoes. What’s up with that! I would not be happy at all with my community if they restricted me in such a way. Sounds to me like some very misinformed people are in your local government.
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