kim373•1mo ago

A client's draft horse went from a rough gait to smooth after we switched from keg shoes to handmade.

The owner said the horse was 'stumbling a lot' for about two months. We swapped the standard keg shoes for a set I made with a rolled toe and a little more heel support, and within three shoeings the change was night and day. Is the extra time for handmade work always worth it on a big, heavy horse, or did we just get lucky with this one?

3 comments

3 Comments

piperwhite1mo ago

Believe the change was real. The rolled toe speeds up breakover for a heavy horse, and better heel support can fix a bad landing. You didn't get lucky, you fixed the problem.

margaret_jackson731mo ago

So you saw a real change after three shoeings. I'm curious, did you do any hoof measurements or a gait analysis before and after, or was it just the owner's report of less stumbling? Trying to figure out if the improvement was in the breakover or the landing.

leo6121mo ago

That's a solid point about breakover vs landing. A rolled toe specifically helps the hoof roll forward faster, which could explain less stumbling if the horse was catching its toe. More heel support might have also changed the angle just enough to improve how the whole leg lands. Hard to say without video, but both changes together probably fixed a timing issue.