my horse won't keep his shoes on...help

I can't help you with why the shoes are coming off but have you thought about barefoot? If there is no physical/medical/show reaons for him to have the shoes on he would probably benefit from some time with a good barefoot farrier.

I've had my trakehner barefoot for the last 9 months and his feet are absolutey flawless. My farrier explained when I got him that because he has really huge feet and he is huge, he is getting some stretching or something happening in his front feet that is making the feet a weird shape. Not noticeably weird but weird enough that it disrupted shoes. Since he has gone barefoot his general hoof condition is 100% aaaand since my farrier showed me how to keep their feet nice and gave me a file to do it with they have gotten even better. Barefoot to me, is the way to go. All my horses are barefoot. Other than my trak I have a tb and a 26 year old standie. My tb was typically flat footed and just had the worst possible feet. After 10 months barefoot she has 5mm of concavity to her feet now and the best thoroughbred feet I have ever seen and I've had a lot to do with tbs. My old man is well, old :) he has been barefoot for 9 years and he has the most solid feet I have ever seen on such an old horse. I put it all down to being barefoot

Just a thought

Ya...i would try going barefoot but I just don't really want to risk him being really lame.
But thanks all for the idea
I will defintaly keep them in mind.

The farrier doesn't know why he has bar shoes because I switched barns and farriers and still have the same vet, but she didn't know. I talked to the last 3 or 4 people who had ridden him and they all said that he had bar shoes on when they got him. No very helpful. Haha

Have you thought about having a different farrier come out? Some farriers do shoddy jobs and others are fantastic.

This one horse at my barn threw a shoe 4 times within a month. The owner let the barn farrier (who's been doing my guys) and so far, the shoe is still on.
The farrier also trimmed/filed her shod feet differently than the previous guy.

I would get a second opinion from another farrier and see what he says.

I would also question why he has bar shoes on. Ask you vet to come out, when your farrier does, so he/she can do x-rays of her hoof so you know what's going on inside. And then shoe accordingly.

Typically bar shoes are put on a horse with navicular or ring bone, as examples. If your vet took radiographs or x-rays he should be able to tell. The causes may not be visible which is why your farrier doesn't know.

What I would do in the absence of the vet pics is to put him into regular shoes when the season is over and see what happens.

I know you might think I'm being stubborn, but seems to me you already have a foot issue. The past stuff isn't working so it's time to try something new. Get some new input -- xrays as was suggested, another farrier, a barefoot trimmer, something. You don't need to fix what aint broke, but you do need to fix what isn't working. Just because it always was that way doesn't mean it still is.

Also, if you always have shoes on her, how do you know she would be lame barefoot? I still vote for trying no shoes when you're done your circuit.

I may be oversimplifying this...but...can you call the farrier that put the bar shoes on in the first place and find out why??

Sounds to me like you have some pretty inexpert 'experts' to rely on! All the more reason to learn for yourself the pros & cons of different approaches, in order to make *informed* decisions. A couple of good places to start are www.hoofrehab.com & www.barefoothorse.com You will learn why your boy loses shoes, why he's lame without shoes, what you can do about it & what alternatives you may have....

Defintialy am going to put normal shoes on after the season (was supposed to be done yesterday but we aren't).

After what everyone has said about being barefoot, maybe next year after the season is over I will try him barefoot (just don't really want to go from bar shoes to barefoot)

To tell you the truth, I didn't even think about asking our old farrier (silly me)
But once again, thanks for all the ideas!