how long do your shoes last?

[mysterymoniker]

4 weeks

[Pixel]

4 weeks? . That does seem a ridiculously (and expensively) short time.

Are you in training for the Golden Horseshoe?

[Nekabu]

Do his feet grow quickly or are you doing a lot of roadwork and wearing them down? Mine go 6 weekly now but used to only go 5 weeks.

[snoringnightmare]

Do you have them re-fitted or is it brand new shoes every 4 weeks?

Glad my three are shoeless for the time being. I going to try and keep the two youngsters without for the winter at least.

[mysterymoniker]

a bit of roadwork but I suspect it is mostly all his own work - scraping his feet on the stable floor to make sparks fly, and kicking the door and so on

I thought the farrier was squaring his feet off for some reason but it's all self-inflicted. at least there's only one pair to worry about, barefoot on the back.

how did you get them to go for an extra week nekabu?

[mysterymoniker]

new shoes snoring, although even if he could put the old ones back on it's only about £5 cheaper (although it would all help)

[snoringnightmare]

What do you pay if I can be nosy? My farrier charges £10.00 for a trim, £25.00 for front set and £52.00 (I think for full set). I'm Warwickshire btw.

[mysterymoniker]

it's £30 for the front, £25 if old ones can be put back on or £60 for a full set (suffolk)

that's all we've ever had done so I don't know how much a trim would be

[bumpkin32]

Blimey £65 for a new set all round (Hampshire) and that's one of the cheapest around! I make sure they last as long as possible (sometimes 12 weeks) !

[Pixel]

I think my sister pays over £75 for a set of shoes. She usually has removes every other time but I'm not sure how much that is. It's £22 for a trim if farrier is coming here anyway, otherwise it's £25.

[mysterymoniker]

I think we get a good deal because the yard owner's daughter is married to the farrier

[Nekabu]

Mine go the extra week because the horse who needed to be shod more regularly now only has fronts and is retired and the others aren't ridden as much, so aren't wearing them down. My farrier's £65-70ish for a set; not a lot different for new shoes or refits.

[Loshad]

4 weeks is a very short time interval - does your horse have hoof problems, though on the other hand 12 weeks is rather excessive also. you should be aiming for 6-8 weeks depending on hoof growth and structure and work load, with 4-5 week intervals only for horses with hoof problems. If it's door attacks what about rubber matting by door and on lower half of door?

[mysterymoniker]

yes, am interested in rubber matting and yard owner is keen on this idea but no guarantee that he'll stay in this particular stable though, sometimes they have to shuffle them about for various reasons.

is it likely to make a big difference? if so, it might be worth me pressing for a permanent stable - I really really like the one he is in at the moment

[Nekabu]

Having rubber mats at the front instead of concrete is good for their spines too. I'd say 6 weeks was average so your boy does seem to be going through them a bit! Does he grow his hoof particularly quickly or does he wear through his shoes faster? How often do the others on the yard get shod?

[mysterymoniker]

most of the others are 6-8 weeks, although a LOT are barefoot (natives or native types)

before livery rocketed skyward I wasn't too worried about that extra £30 a month

it's wear rather than growth I think, I'd be pleased if I can push it to 5 weeks - how much do you think rubber at the front and on the door would be? is it easily movable?

[Pixel]

The floor mats you just pick up and move, they are very heavy (someone gave us one when they moved and we put it at the front of our shelter) so tend to stay where they are put. We used to hang sacks stuffed with straw on the inside of stable doors if horses were being annoying kicking the doors at feed time. You could try that if you don't want to fix anything permanent to the door.

[Nekabu]

Rubber mats can be moved but it's a pain in the bum as they're big and heavy (and need to be so or there's a chance the horse will get his foot trapped beneath one), so you would ideally want your stable to be permanent. Do you think he's wearing them down pawing at the concrete at the front of his stable or are you doing a lot of roadwork?

[mysterymoniker]

it's mainly pawing the concrete and kicking the door (door is shut for absolute bare minimum overnight and he gets as much turnout as possible) - we haven't done much roadwork at all lately, since before Christmas, so a bit disappointed that shoes didn't last any longer this time

I like the sack stuffed with straw idea, and the price of the rubber mats - they didn't seem wildly expensive when I looked yesterday although can't find the same company again today, they were based in Norfolk though

these mats seem to promise an awful lot of other benefits

[PoloPlayingMummy]

Usually we manage about 6-7 weeks unless we've done a lot of road work. Costs about £70 a go.

(Wish I had a new pair of shoes every 6 weeks )

[mysterymoniker]

I know! I don't think he even bothers to admire them properly before setting about wearing them down again

[Loshad]

Mats are fab MM - i upgraded to them this winter as i returned to full time work - much quicker and easier to muck out, less dust, using a lot less bedding, no chance of them scraping themselves on concrete and warmer - i got mine off ebay which was much cheaper than going for the specialist horse mat companies that advertise in H+H

[mysterymoniker]

I think I'll give it a go, depends how annoyed yard people will be if they have to move him to another stable again (he's been responsible for quite a bit of damage )

but he is behaving himself in his new one, he has little choice, he can't reach any other horses to bite

[frostyfingers]

I have a mad tb who used to pull his shoes off with monotonous regularity and I'd have to have the farrier back almost as soon as he'd put them on (bless him though, he doesn't charge a call out for that). Horse also didn't have very good feet and we started out at 5 weeks, and after 5 years have got to 8 weeks. He has Natural Balance shoes on which seem to stick better, and when they're new I turn him out with large over reach boots on to stop him pulling them off when he farts about in the field. Another thing is I put something called Kevin Bacon (no, not that one) dressing on which is very sticky and really encourages good growth.