| tips
and tricks for working with plastics |
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| Plastic
hoof shoes can be applied very quickly and easily with standard
farrier tools. They do not require any trips to the anvil
and do not need any of the tools required to bend iron.
That will save time and will be less stressful for your
horse. |
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| How
to find the right size |
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Measure the widest part of the hoof from
wall to wall, AFTER trimming and add about
2 mm on each side. Example: hoof width 120 mm + 4 mm = 124
mm
The shoe size you would order is 125.
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| Preparing
the hoof |
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When
trimming the hoof only excess sole and frog material
should be removed, as the frog, the carrying wall
and the sole are used as a further supporting part
of the hoof and shoeing.
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The
frog should only be cut back far enough to allow the
bar to rest on the frog.
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The
outer wall of the supporting edge should form a right
angle to the shoeing.
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| Selecting
the correct size |
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- Measure
the widest part of the hoof from wall to wall, AFTER
trimming and add 2mm on each side. Example: hoof width
120mm+4mm = 124mm. The shoe size you need to use is
125. It is indispensable to let the shoe jut out, as
otherwise the hoof wall will soon grow over the edge
of the shoe.
- Shape
the shoe with a rasp AFTER shoeing.
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NOTE:
To
understand what happens underneath our horses’
feet, we need to be aware of the forces, horse and shoe
are exposed to. At a working trot of about 210 meters/min
(equals 12.6 km/h), a hoof has to cushion three times
the body weight every time it touches ground. To elucidate,
at trot a 350 kg horse puts about one ton of pressure
on its hooves and shoes with every step.
Due to these forces conventional iron shoes need to
be shaped and prepared to fit the hoof perfectly before
being nailed on, or else the hoof will be forced into
the shape of the iron shoe. Plastics on the other hand
may be shaped with rasp or nipper after being nailed
on to the hoof, as the material will always give in
and adjust to the hoof.
When changing to plastics, after wearing steel shoes
without barefoot periods, the horse might be uncomfortable
for the first few days. Steel shoes artificially keep
the hoof capsule together, whereas the flexible plastic
material allows the hoof capsule to work and stretch
out as nature intended. This may lead to cracks in the
carrying wall if the hoof is not properly rounded and
shortened. Mostly you will find that your horses shoe
size increases after the first shoeing period.
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| Nail
holes & Fitting |
- Six
nails per hoof are sufficient.
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To
place the nail holes correct, simply hold the shoe
to the hoof, the white line will be easily recognized
through the transparent material.
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To
prevent nails from coming loose, it is very important
to countersink them very deep into the material.
The horse must not walk on the nail heads!
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Nails
should not be applied beyond the tip of the frog/behind
the widest part of the hoof. This will prevent the
nails from being twisted off by the hoof mechanism.
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The nails should come out of the wall at approximately
¼ to 1/3 of wall height.
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Recommended
nails are REG or E nails, with thin shaft and very
wide head to prevent nails from pulling through
the plastic material.
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NOTE:
If plastics do not stay on the hoof probably, most of the
times the problem can be found in the nails. In the flexible
plastic hoof shoe nails do not sit as secured as in iron
shoes. The strain is not distributed as equally as in stiff,
inflexible iron shoes. Plastics have very good grip on the
ground and gravity has a much stronger impact on nails and
walls, for instance when turning around on tar. Plastics
also get much easier sucked into mud and deep ground and
therefore pull stronger on the nails and hoof wall. If the
farrier did not work conscientious the nails can get loose
in the flexible plastic and work in the hoof wall until
the shoe starts twisting and the walls or nails break off
or out. |
| Clinching
& Finishing
|
-
Because
the nails are countersunk the lower jaw of the clincher
will not reach the nail head therefore might draw
out the nail during clinching, thus jeopardizing the
correct position of the shoe. Use a small and hard
tool to close the gap between clincher and nail.
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The
nails must be clinched very strong. Preferably the
“Nagelniet” (Tip of nail) should not be
placed in a rivet bed or rasped to thin, to give as
much support as possible.
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Adjust
the plastic hoof shoe to the hoof using a rasp. Keep
in mind to leave at least 2mm material at the widest
part of the hoof.
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| General |
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a) The horse will produce
a rolled toe into the plastic material within a few days.
b) In general plastics look terrible used after the first
ride and make you wonder if they will last another day.
But pressure and heat compress the material and stop the
abrasion soon.
c) Durability depends on
many factors; e.g. the horse's specific motion, its weight
and physique, the demand of work as well as shape, treat
and composition of the specific product itself.
d) Plastics can be used for
several shoeing periods, depending on the wear, amount
of nail holes and nail sizes used.
e) Some horses might be used
to "ice-skating", which means they slide on
tar or asphalt to distribute the recoil of the steel shoes
over a longer distance. plastic shoes do slide neither
does the bare hoof. Some horses need a few days to get
used to the new (natural) way of walking and while trying
to slide, wear off the first pair of plastic shoes faster.
f) Plastics do not conceal
bad hoof conditions like unbalanced feet, unequal load
bearing or weak hoof walls but make you work on the causes
of those problems instead. Please consult your farrier!!
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| downloads |
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- tips
& tricks EquiTracks pdf document
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- HQ
Issue 23 "Time for a change"
Part III
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- "Get
more efficient when applying Polysteel shoes"
by Richard Evans
AMERICAN FARRIERS JOURNAL, April 2003
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