Freedom’s got a lot of great qualities. But good feet are not among them. His hoof quality is not helped by too much rain, too much mud, too little rain, ground that’s too hard . . .
you name it. Back in September of 2016 I first tried glue-on Sigafoos and I’m starting to lean toward using them all the time, because his feet are just so much healthier.
Although the glue-on shoes are wickedly expensive, they have a few real benefits:
They stay on. He’s worn glue-on shoes in front all winter through various cycles of deep mud, frozen ground and snow. Unlike regular shoes, he doesn’t catch these and pull them off, either.
They stay on longer. I’m pretty sure this last set was on for 12 weeks. It was two shoeing
cycles. That means they don’t actually cost more, right?
They have a nice rubber interface. Freedom is like a little kid when he gets these shoes. He feels extra bouncy. I think the extra layer of padding helps him out. It’s like when my nephews get their special light up sneakers.
What are the cons?
They are about twice as expensive as regular shoes and pads. However, if they last twice as long and his hoof stays twice as nice? They are worth it.
The are time consuming to put on. In the post I linked to above, it shows the different steps to applying the glue on shoes. Plan on spending extra time at the barn for each step and then waiting another half hour to let the shoes “set” before turning your horse out
You need good weather. To make sure the shoes set up properly, you need a dry day. Preferably one with low humidity. Now, Freedom lives out 24/7 so if your horse has a stall you probably have more latitude.
Notice that I have not shown photos of Freedom’s back feet. Those are a work in progress.
Notice too, that I haven’t posted photos of Zelda’s feet. It makes Freedom feel ashamed when I show how nice her feet are without any shoes at all. She thinks she deserves them, so I paint her feet with Farrier’s Fix Hoof Oil. It makes them nice and shiny and it smells like Wintergreen. I think I deserve one horse with good feet.
Interesting. My older mare, Sunny, has horrible feet. I’m going to ask my farrier about these!
Just be prepared for the sticker shock. I paid $325 for two front shoes and a trim behind. In contrast, Zelda is $60 for a full trim. From what I’ve read, the cost of glue ons varies considerably depending on where you are. I’m outside of Boston.
That IS spendy. Raven has regular shoes on the front only. Several years ago, his feet were so bad they were scary. The former farrier meant well, but just couldn’t find a way to fix his feet. Instead of cutting out the bad hoof (white line had been so bad) he just bondo-ed an artificial hoofwall and told us to never let his feet get wet. In WA state? Come on, we’re the Carwash State!
Our current, farrier, Matt, is a wizard. He took a year of fairly aggressive trimming, as well as us using Ricket’s or a turpentine/iodine mix on the grotty hooves, and now you’d never know Raven’s hooves were so bad.
It must be the thoroughbred…raven is 1/2 TB and half Trakehner and his hind feet have always been worse than the fores.
We had a couple of years with perfect weather where I was able to keep Freedom barefoot and ride him in hoof boots, but it’s always been a struggle to keep his feet in good shape. My last horse was a Trakehner and his feet weren’t great either. I think I was overdue for a horse with good feet when I got Zelda.
Is letting your horse out in rainy weather an issue?
You have to make sure it’s dry when you apply the shoes and then let the glue set, but my horse lives out 24/7 and they stayed on really well, even in mud. Much better than regular shoes.