Shoe Modifications

Most horseshoes are made by machines, manufactured with incredible precision and detail. Many of them are incredibly useful and versatile, coming in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and purposes

Despite this precision, they won't fit your horse - not straight out of the box

This is where "shoe modifications" come into play. Often we use that phrase to talk about various changes farrier's can make with a horseshoe to alter it from its manufactured state to a perfect fit for a horse's specific conformation and situation.

We often think of forging as the main force in shoe modifications, but it includes *anything* you can do with a shoe - adding or removing material, displacing or gather material via forging, grinding, welding, riveting pads, drilling studs etc etc. It really is endless

It's important to know your goal in applying the modification and how these changes actually impact the limb and its mechanics. Some modifications cause greater mechanical advantages than others, some will have immediate effect while others are more subtle.

This horse needed a lengthened lateral branch which was achieved via fullering with a hard (square) stop. This fullering also widened the branch, which was used for a full fit in the lateral quarter (AFA C Fit - 1/16 flat w/ 3/16 boxing) To prevent unwanted additional ground forces due to the widened web, the inner surface of the lateral branch was also ground concave to facilitate uniform sinking in soft footing.

Check out the rest of our website at www.fingerlakesforge.net where you can learn more about how we help horses & discover resources for exceptional equine hoof care.

Best,
Matthew S. Rice CJF