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Discussion starter · #42 ·
Oh so you don't just do your own horses? You're a farrier?

I had the GC's for almost one year also. Just looking at them and thinking. I finally decided that if Hondo was to ever reconstruct where he could be a "barefoot rock cruncher" he would need some serious 24/365 pressure release over the entire bottom of his foot. And proper breakover.

I do not nail and do not feel I will ever be able to. Back, knees, muscle atrophy, 74 years of body abuse, etc.

So it came down to GC's being the only way I knew of where I could give Hondo what I felt he needed.

Boots just won't work here. The last time I went out with boots I was leading Hondo down a trail I was reconstructing and watched a boot roll off and him go to his knees. I said that's it buddy. No more boots for you out in the rough. And that's where we invariable wind up.
 
Discussion starter · #44 ·
The breakover on the shoe is not made in mind for a Ramey trim. It just isn't. It is a long setup shoe. Which is why I normally modify them.
Agreed. I no longer do a Ramey trim which is for only barefoot horses as I understand (talking at the toe).

I do the ELPO 15-20 degree bevel now instead of a more full roll. I actually rasp the breakover a little farther back than it should be because the place at the toe on the shoe that slopes up is a little behind the breakover. And I want those two parts to match up well.......if you know what I mean. I want the hoof to sit right in that bend or groove in the top of the shoe.

Agreed that GC was not up on breakover 14 years ago. And the shoe was made mostly I think for her personal use. They are just for sale if someone wants them.

So yeah, mine are heavily modified also. I think there are more horses that require modification than those that don't for GC's. My guess anyhow.

But there just isn't anything else out there that meets what I want and Hondo needs that I've found.
 
Here is no perfect shoe. You balance needs for everything. Have you looked at the easyshoe performance N/G? I like them quite a bit and prefer the shape for my very round footed personal horses and horses who I have managed to keep healthy feet on. I just have to manipulate the GC shoe so much to make them fit a healthy front foot that I often nearly loose the front groove of the shoe. It just isn't made right! Fits backs ok, but still is not made into the ideal front or back shape.
 
You can glue them which is not as scary as you would think... As long as you aren't in super wet areas. Some may use screws but I don't know anything about that;)
 
Discussion starter · #47 ·
The N/G's are pretty expensive and they can't be reused if glued. And they don't last half as long as GC's and wear at least twice as fast.

And they cover enough of the foot that Vettec CS would be required there also. I have been thinking about them though for the last year before deciding on GC's. Early on I did email Kristy asking if they could be glued on and she said yes.

But I am using screws. So far I have installed 12 sets using screws. There's been a learning curve for certain but it is beginning to level out. So far, I like using screws. Screws I don't think could ever work for metal shoes but the flex in the GC's make them work fine. Kristy has been using screws for 14 years.
 
I nip them off with shoe pullers. Easy shoe has a good video on removal. They are one fitting when glued. Because the clips get rasped off, maybe if someone was uber careful, you MIGHT be able to save the shoe. But I wouldn't bet on it. So no they aren't as cost effective. If you want cost effective- steel and nails is the way to go.

I have had clients remove glue on GCs by painstakingly spending time grinding it off. But it was not a game I was willing to play, I don't know how long it took them, I didn't ask. And if the material wasn't perfect... I wouldn't be willing to play the game.
 
And glue can have a fun learning curve... I went to seminar after seminar and it was only after I was apprenticing with a rehab guy that one day it finally kicked into my head. But still... Many days the glue wins. Particularly if I haven't been playing with it regularly.
 
I don't know how I feel about SCREWING the shoes on. Imo, that has the potential to do some serious damage if something where to happen and the shoe got pulled off. Regular shoes tend to just come right off without making too much of a mess of the foot, those screws though...... that bothers me.
 
Discussion starter · #53 ·
I don't know how I feel about SCREWING the shoes on. Imo, that has the potential to do some serious damage if something where to happen and the shoe got pulled off. Regular shoes tend to just come right off without making too much of a mess of the foot, those screws though...... that bothers me.
Here's Kristy Watson's experience with metal shoes coming off. And she has been installing the shoe she designed with screws for 16 years without a problem even though they were designed for nails.

It took me almost a year to get my head around screws in the hoof. But the thing is she recommends the exit be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.

That'd be way too low for nails.

I experimented with a smaller screw, a #4 with a #1 head on the front six screws on one hind hoof. When I went to remove it a few days ago the tiny head had worn off the phillips head. I had a real dickens of a time getting that shoe off. Even though the screws were #4 rather than #6 I can vouch how secure they were. And I've pulled metal shoes also. only 8, but I have a feel for how secure they are.

Here's Kristy:

Oh shoot. Can't add. You'll have to go to the link below. Anyhow, her horse tore a suspensory ligament when a hind shoe came off. Otherwise the Ground Control shoe would likely not exist.
About Us
 
Discussion starter · #54 ·
If you want cost effective- steel and nails is the way to go.
Cost effectiveness is very important to me however performance trumps. The shoe must be flexible and allow the heel to elevate independently.

It will preferably be shock absorbing although at the normal walk we do that is not of great importance.

It must be capable of adding Vettec CS or similar for both thrush protection and full time loading of the entire bottom of the foot.

I've already discussed my inabilities in nailing.

I downloaded all of the glue on installation and removal videos and watched them multiple times over the last year.

Hondo has no barn, no indoors. No sanitary area to work in at all. The more I read about gluing and the curve that many experienced, and considering that I would have at most two horses to shoe, I just kept shaking my head that it was likely not a good match for me.

Easycare's shoes do not come in wide. Hondo takes a wide glove. Easycare does not make a shoe that would fit him anyway.

Polysteel is a nice shoe in that the width of the heels is adjustable and it has a natural breakover built in. But it is nail on.

If you look at the print out on sizing the GC's there is a dotted line between the edge of the shoe and the nail groove that is designated as the ideal foot size. For the "ideal" shaped foot of that size the outer portion would be trimmed off. But it was left for the not so ideal foot.

Hondo has the wide foot and needs that extra width. But it does require modification of the nail groove.

So now you can get the gist of my final decision after much pondering to go with the GC's. They fit or can be made to fit. No nails. And no steep glue on learning curve with shoes falling off because I was not sanitary enough or the humidity was too high on the installation day. I've got boots strung all over this 28,000 acre ranch and I'm tired tired tired of it.


The GC's are staying on. I'm happy.
 
I routinely chop the toes of the GC shoe itself off to accommodate odd feet and I also will set them back if need be with no issues. I think Hondo did the right thing from what I can see. However like someone else said above, I usually will dress the wall back unless I feel its too thin to dress. Because of the materiel of this shoe, it is very malleable and can be altered for a variety of different applications. Filling with Vettec also gives you alot more wiggle room since the foot is well supported. I dislike that they do not offer rounder and larger shoes but it is what it is. I trim more round feet than oval and I also trim many big horses who would benefit that they just barely or cant fit even with alterations. We have also cut one down to fit a donkey before also. Nailed right through the tread pattern. I have two different sizes on a gelding with navicular pain right now. the larger shoe fit the width but was too long so I chopped the toe off to better fit and put breakover where it needed to be. Works fine. I sometimes even rasp breakover during the shoe cycle to keep it back if it gets too far ahead.
 
I have the new Glue shu on Smilie, along with vett tech pour in sole support ( the blue stuff stuff over the back part of her foot
I am very happy with the results thus far, and they have stayed on very well. I had to get her sole relief, after they have been loaded for over a year, primarily, as the walls shut down growing. I am riding her again, lightly, after almost two years-just walking and jogging down the road. She is very happy to be moving out again.
I almost put her down last year, ready to give up

Glushu - glue on horse shoes.
 
Discussion starter · #57 ·
Thanks Tinity. I did already have the wall of the toe dressed down to the white line. That was 1/4 inch. Plus, 1/4 inch overhand, plus 1/4 inch the breakover is set back on the shoe itself = 3/4 inches which put the final break over set at 1 1/4 inches in front of the frog apex.

I know I could have taken it back into the laminar wedge but Gene stops at the white line so I did too. Kigerqueen posted a picture a while back of an x-ray of a Friesian in the UK with GC's on that had the toe sticking out. I probably would not have done that without seeing that picture.

Kigerqueen, I tried to find it. You still got it?
 
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