The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Rubber Horseshoes?

8K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  KigerQueen 
#1 ·
I was looking for a shoe for my horse that would absorb some of the shock of landing(For future use). I didn't like metal ones for obvious reasons(They create shock instead of absorb it). So I told my friend that I was looking to get some rubber glue on shoes. I was instantly told by my friend that I would ruin my horse if I got those.

The rubber apparently wears down their hooves with every step and they can go lame overnight because of this? They also can apparently melt if the horse stands in the sun? Also the shock absorbent material causes the horse to have problems because it's bad for a horse to stand on "spongey" material for a long time?


Are they really that bad for horses?

Can the shock absorbing properties of rubber actually cause more harm?

What are your personal experiences with rubber horseshoes(Good or bad) and would you recommend them?

Thanks in advance!! [emoji1]


Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Glue on's of any kind can be tricky if you don't know how. Ground Control shoes are really great. They feel and bend like rubber but they are plastic and outlast steel shoes.

Steel shoes can cause more joint problems than plastic or rubber shoes. They do not melt in the sun. They help the horse. They are better for the horse.

They are not real good traction on wet turf without using metal stud however. All other places they have better traction than metal.

Here's ground controls site. Don't be afraid to contact the owner/inventer. She's very helpful.

Home
 
#3 ·
Complete phooey what your friend has said. How could rubber wear down the hoof, for a start, not to mention compared with steel or bare feet?? Maybe if your horse stood... on a hot tin roof in the middle of a sunny day they would indeed melt(rubber doesn't melt at all, it burns, but they're a plastic material), but no, that's not at all a realistic worry either. And shoes & most hoof boots aren't soft, spongy material either. They're more yielding than steel, but that's a GOOD thing. In many cases(such as thin soles, weak &/or high heels), it's beneficial to add a padding material anyway. Does your friend think horses were built for rigid, flat steel plates on their feet & that's good for them?? Sounds like she is VERY uneducated regarding hoof form & function.

If your horse needs artificial protection to do what you want it to(very often they do - barefoot is NOT always a good option IME), then I think in the majority of cases, hoof boots, which you only use when needed, and the horse goes bare the rest of the time, are the best option. If for some reason you need fixed shoes, then plastic shoes are generally a better option to steel IMO. I don't think nails are a huge issue at all, and glue on can be problematic in many situations.

Shock absorbtion/high frequency vibration difference between steel & plastic are indeed one factor. But I don't think they're the biggest by far, and plastic shoes can be just the same as steel rims, depending on the design **& how the horse is trimmed & shod. For eg if plastics are just a rim shoe, esp if there's a bar across the heels & reasonably rigid, I don't believe they're much different in effect to the same in steel - they peripherally load the hoof, forcing the wall to bear the entire load, without any support underneath, and especially if there's a bar, the frogs are not able to function. If they're particularly 'wide webbed'(and the feet are trimmed appropriately & frequently enough), so the outer sole is sharing the load, and there is *flexible* frog support, such as Eponas or Easyshoes for eg, then the foot can still function about as well as(better, if horse is otherwise too sensitive without) it would barefoot.
 
#10 ·
It takes a lot of effort to put on glue ons. Julius had them last summer and it was a gong show to put them on. Not a lot of farriers have experience with them. They didn't stay on any better than traditional shoes. The only reason he had them was he didn't have any wall left from pulling his shoes off.

Why does your horse need shoes? It's a lot less hassle to go barefoot.
 
#11 ·
Glue on shoes and rubber shoes are generally only meant to be therapeutic shoes used for a horse with a lameness issue. Some rubber shoes are OK for horses on paved city streets to absorb shock, but generally otherwise they're only used for laminitis, keratoma, etc
 
#12 ·
^That's not correct actually. Unless you mean by 'meant to be' that that was the original idea behind making them - I don't know that - but they are absolutely good for general use, and are one measure which can potentially *avoid* lameness issues developing from conventional shoes.
 
#13 ·
The manufacturers claiming all kinds of rubber shoes are good for general use and the shoes actually being superior in general use are two very different things...

There is virtually no case in which a properly and appropriately implemented steel or aluminum horse shoe will CAUSE issues. They're only to be applied when a horse has an issue, however minor or major it may be.
 
#15 ·
I'm not disagreeing that metal is not a good first choice for horses running on constant extremely hard surfaces. Rubber is a much better choice in that case. That said, if the only option for some reason is steel, the steel is probably better than barefoot on pavement.
 
#16 ·
I'm not disagreeing that metal is not a good first choice for horses running on constant extremely hard surfaces.
Oh, got you. I thought you were indeed disagreeing with that too, seemed to be saying you thought rubber/plastic only good for rehab type situations.

if the only option for some reason is steel, the steel is probably better than barefoot on pavement.
*IF* steel were the only choice, and in this day & age, it generally isn't - boots & plastics are available in most corners of the world. I believe in that situation, *generally speaking*, barefoot would be preferable to steel rims. Of course, barefoot would only be appropriate if feet were reasonably healthy & the horse wasn't doing so many miles daily as to wear their feet down to nubs tho. As said, there's more to it than just the shock/vibration of steel on stone/pavement, but that is absolutely still an issue. Peripherally loaded feet on hard surfaces is also a huge one. If the horse were only walking on hard ground, never trotting, if the horse had pads along with the shoes...
 
#17 ·
Hmmm...my horses go barefoot on pavement all the time. They frequently act happier trotting on pavement than they do on our dirt trails, but Arizona dirt and concrete have a lot in common...except concrete has fewer rocks poking out of its surface.



As a single data point - and my horses live in an environment where barefoot tends to work better than in many other environments - it took Bandit 6 months to get his hooves and soles good for barefoot. But in the process, he stopped twisting his left front leg 30-40 degrees, his hooves got bigger, he stopped 'slapping' his front feet down, and is now using his back a LOT more. The "I-beam up his butt" is gone.

Boots would be a good idea if I get to ride him more miles this summer, and metal shoes can help around here as well - IF done right. But "rubber" doesn't melt on southern Arizona pavement in the summer, so I doubt THAT is an issue anywhere!
 
#18 ·
Yeah bsms, even in far less than ideal environs, most horses IME are fine bare on concrete/bitumen. And yes, its hard, unyielding gravel roads... or made roads that happen to have gravel on them, that are the worst for barefoot.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#19 ·
I second investigating the Ground Control shoes. They are, in a word, awesome. I know people using them successfully on trail horses, cutting horses, reining horses, carriage horses, navicular horses, and horses with contracted heels.

And as mentioned, they wear better than metal.
 
#20 ·
i have uses 1 pair of Ground control shoes on my mare for 1 year. outlasted steel shoes and i could still get AT LEAST another 6 months out of them. now my mare has hoof issues and it help releave her hoof pain and make her pasture sound. Im going to put Duplo shoes on our gelding and use him for dressage and jumping. the grip, frog stimulation and shock absorption are all key reasons i opt for plastic shoes. they also alow for natural flexion of the hoof and the GC shoes will mold to the shape of the hoof.

to add i live in az and the ground control shoes survived 120 degree heat and constant use.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top