The Beauty of Equithane

Equithane-a beautiful thing. I am repeating the title, yes, but dammit the stuff is great! By equithane I am referring to equithane superfast. Superfast is a urethane based adhesive that sets hard in about 30 seconds. It allows you to customize or rebuild the hoof to how you want it, and is truly a bloody handy addition to any farrier's tool kit.

Let's go through a few of equithane's superfasts uses, so you know what is possible for your horses hoof care. Number one-don't you hate it when your horse pulls a shoe? Don't you hate it when this event is accompanied with a large dislodgement of the horses hoof which is ripped away with the thrown shoe? In some cases there is so much hoof torn away, especially in weak, shelly footed horses, that nailing the shoe back on can be next to impossible without risking pricking the horse. In comes our friend equithane. Just apply it to the diminished hoof, wiping it around, filling the deficiency and building up the side of the hoof in artificial wonder. Allow it to cure and harden and viola! You now have foot to nail to.


Now with problem feet, whether inherited or acquired, you can rebuild the hoof to the ideal. A clubfoot can have additional toe and side mass to improve balance and give something more substantial to nail to. And look like a normal foot for the aesthetically minded.

Many problem-footed horses have especially thin walls and are sensitive to nails, so equithane can be used to glue the shoe to the foot. Simply trim up the foot, apply it to the foot and to the shoe, apply pressure and hold until set. It is good to also layer the side walls with equithane, so you can drive nails into that, as it will help hold the shoe so much better. There you will have a shoe on the foot with no nails actually penetrating the hoof, but where as the horse may have performed abysmally before, it will now be pain-free and be better able to reach it's full potential.

Also, when a horse’s hoof is imbalanced, and there is just no more you can safely take off to achieve balance, equithane can be used to fill the deficiencies and safely achieve a level and balanced hoof.

Now when using Equithane, dry the hoof with a heat gun, then rasp the foot, leaving it fairly rough. Some use the smooth side of the rasp and sandpaper to really get the hoof surface smooth, but I found that the equithane did not stay on very long like this. I find it far more effective to prepare the hoof surface rough, even rasping light grooves into the hoof. This gives the equithane far more surface area of the hoof to bond to, and it stays on remarkably longer like this. Now Equithane will harden in 30 secs, but will take a few minutes to reach maximum strength. Also don’t fill any infections in the foot with equithane, as this will seal the infection and the lack of oxygen will only help it to thrive. Sterilizing the infection for several days before the application of equithane will fix the problem.

There are also other hoof-filling acrylics like bond-n-flex and equilox, and these work great. Anyway, I'm off to sleep once again. As this reaches you, hope things are as beautiful for you as equithane is to me. Too corny? I thought it tied in nicely...

My horse can barely walk on one foot all of a sudden! Call the Vet! -this story ends having parted with a few hundred dollars-

I've had a few horses lately that have been lame as buggery in one foot, and it seems to have just happened over night. The owners have understandably panicked because the horse can barely walk on the one foot and have called the vet over immediately. The vet then puts the hoof testers on it, offers a few theories(sometimes the right one) and tells the owner to call the farrier. After a hefty vet bill, the farrier is called. I can already tell over the phone with 95% certainty what the problem will be by the symptoms. A horse that is acutely lame on one foot, has a throbbing pulse and it all came on relatively quickly is most often our old friend the abscess. So I go over there and confirm the theory and all the owner has to do is hot poultice the foot a few nights with animalintex and preferably some venous turps with it. The abscess will work it's way out pretty damn quickly. For close clients the farrier will probably charge nothing and if he does charge it may be a call out fee anywhere from $20 to $50. Bugger all compared to the vet bill ay?

I can totally understand how the owner gets panicked mind you. A horse afflicted with an abscess looks very severe and can look as bad as a broken coffin bone. You are by far best poulticing the foot immediately, as this will begin to draw the abscess out immediately, calling your farrier and have him check it out. Even if it is something as serious as a broken coffin bone, your farrier will be best able to diagnose it and then it may be effectively treated. A broken coffin bone will take not only the hoof testers but usually light taps with the nailing-up hammer to identify. Again your farrier is best on the scene first because he will immediately begin preparing a rigid bar shoe to help protect the coffin bone and the vet will then be needed to take x-rays.

Most often though we are looking at an easily treatable abscess.

An abscess is an invasion of bacteria into the sensitive structures of the hoof, and swelling results to the point of pain. Bacteria can invade via bruising, a close nail, laminae separating during laminitis and several other less likely causes. Different types of bacteria can be involved, one type being a bacteria that actually causes gas, as well as swelling, to build up and put extra pressure on the sensitive structures inside the foot, causing extreme pain. But the humble poultice is our friend in this battle, and will quickly help the swelling to drain from the foot through the path of least resistance. This, I believe, is a much better procedure than attempting to manually drain the abscess by paring the foot away with a knife. When you pare away a hole into the sole of the foot, the exposure of the sensitive tissues beneath can cause more pain to the horse than the actual abscess. When an abscess is drained via a poultice, it does so causing minimal damage, and the horse is instantly relieved of pain. Thus when you perform the invasive procedure of paring away sole yourself to drain an abscess, you can end up causing longer lasting and harder to heal pain than the original abscess.

So just a quick blog for tonight. Short and sweet. Or maybe dull and boring. Bugger I’m yawning so that can’t be good. Either way, if your horse comes on acutely lame in one foot quickly, poultice immediately and call your farrier out. You can quickly get your vet if need be so don’t stress. You’ll save yourself your hard-earned, get your horse properly attended to and happy quicker by calling the farrier first. Thank you.

Preparing The Hoof vs. The Ultimate Shoe

Welcome again folks. Yesterday I covered the differences between shoeing 'short' and shoeing 'long'. That is short and long in reference to the size of the shoe used, not whether the horse is trimmed short or long. That, in a way, is what I'll be writing on today.

Okay so let's look at how the farrier prepares the foot, and the differences that can occur. First off let me illustrate one difference. Some farrier's believe that the application of the shoe is the most important part of shoeing a horse. How it is shaped, what type of shoe is used,etc. While other farrier's believe that the preparing of the foot, that is the trimming and balancing of the hoof pre-shoe is the most important. Those who are behind the importance of shoe application argue the following points. The shoe needs to be shaped correctly so as not to injure the horse, the type of shoe must be appropriate to the horse's use, the size of the shoe must be correct so as to support the leg without risking pulling of the shoe. Alright all valid points. Now let my bias reign. The preparation of the foot is the first step and by far the most important. First off balancing the horses hoof is very, very important to the horses welfare. By correctly balancing the hoof you minimize all sorts of damage to tendons, bones and the hoof capsule itself. The toe and heel must be taken back to as sound horn, or foot, as possible with hoof-compromising flares rasped off. A shoe nailed onto a foot not correctly taken back to straight horn will only make the hoof condition worse and worse.

Now let me just quickly explain what it is when I refer to 'straight or sound horn/foot'. Now the horn or 'foot'(I should say horn of the foot-what would constitute the nail on your fingers) is made up of millions and millions of microscopic tubes called tubules. As a foot becomes overgrown and unbalanced, the tubules begin to bend. Now this bending becomes a major weakness in the hoof. We can base it on this model-say you have a bunch of straws all bundled together. When the straws in the bundle are straight and you apply pressure to both the top and bottom, the bundle is fairly resistant to these forces and will remain straight. Now bend the straws slightly in the middle and then reapply pressure to the bundle. It just collapses in a compromised mess. The same thing applies to the hoof. As soon as you notice irregularities in the hoof such as flares, which are bent tubules, you will notice the situation will only get worse and worse, faster and faster. You can really see this on collapsed heels. On some horse, the heels are fine until they get to a certain length where the stress is too great on them and they start to bend. If you look closely you will actually see the spot where all the tubules, which you can see as faint lines, will go from straight to bent. The heels will quickly deteriorate from here and often cause abscessing if left.

So the foot should be taken as much as possible back to straight horn. Let's use reason here though, you can only take the foot back so far in one shoeing, but it is usually a bit further than most go.

In this explanation of straight and bent(compromised) horn, you can see another reason correct preparation of the foot is vital-for all the effort into applying a correct shoe is all for naught if it is not mated to a correct hoof. Lets delve further into another part of foot preparation here-the importance of frog pressure. When the foot is taken back to where it should be, the frog will be in good contact with the ground and will be weight-bearing, thus alleviating some weight-bearing from the wall, thus providing the hoof with additional support. Too much foot left on the horse compromises this frog support, putting more pressure on the wall of the hoof and only aggravating irregularities. Also the frog acts as a pump under pressure, and actually helps maintain healthy circulation in the hoof. If the frog does not have adequate pressure with the ground, this function is minimized, the hoof suffers as a result and the frog withers as it atrophies away.

When the hoof is properly prepared the fitting of the shoe correctly is a breeze and becomes the easiest part of the equation. You may sometimes think that a farrier charges a lot for a trim where as a competitor is significantly cheaper. But lets take this a step further and ask whether this farrier truly recognises the value of laying the correct foundation. Most often those who charge accordingly do the job accordingly. Generalisation I know, but a strong point to consider. Truly the preparing of the foot literally lays the foundation, and once you have a strong foundation everything is easy.

Considering the Farrier-A Better Relationship And A Better Job

G’day folks.

First and foremost thank you for joining while I lend my hand at attempting this internet ‘blog’ business to impart my experience to a tricky topic-farriery. Being a farrier who loves my job with a passion and an open mind, I find this an excellent outlet for talking on my favourite subject, and hopefully helping you find the information you’ve been seeking.
Now for my first blog I thought it ideal to talk on the dynamics between owner and farrier, and the confusions that can ensue from the new farrier doing things differently to the previous and the sometimes unbridled bagging between farriers. A lot of you have probably been through the experience of one farrier shoeing a horse a certain way and completely having convinced you it is correct, and then another farrier will come along and say the horse should be shod the complete opposite way, and is just as convincing. Alright difficult position yeah? Lets look at a few common differences in shoeing jobs, why they are done and why both sides of the fence can be right and wrong at the same time.

Firstly, some jobs are scrutinized as being to short. Now in the ideal shoeing the heels of the shoe will come a little over the buttresses of the hoof(pic right), providing good support while not being easily pulled off. From my experience, horses working in heavy sand, especially competition horses, are prone to pulling shoes even when shod in this ideal way. But when you shoe the horse just 'short' of the buttresses it greatly reduces the instances of horses pulling shoes. I especially notice this when working at racehorse stables training in heavy sand. Shoe them ideal or god-forbid 'long' and you will have a good few tack-ons every week. Shoe them short and you have zero lost most weeks. So where as one farrier may bag shoeing short, you must stand back and look at the circumstances. What conditions is the horse working in? Is the horse a frequent shoe puller and frustrating the owner who just wants to keep riding? Or is it just lazy workmanship? In any case shoeing short has it's time and place.

Then you have the polar opposite of shoeing short-the farrier who shoes them 'long' or what is called 'hanging-out'. This does make the horse more susceptible to pulling shoes, and you will be fairly guarnteed to lose them in heavy going terrain on most horses. But there is the advantage of support. Now more length in the heels is more support and this is great for some horses, especially those with long sloping pasterns. See in theory, the ideal place to have the heels of your shoe end is under the line of force of the limb. It is a straight line down the leg that continues through the centre of rotation of the pastern joint to the ground. For example run your hands down the cannon bone where it is widest until you reach the fetlock joint. This is the approximate centre of rotation and a line directly down from this theoretically the heels of your shoe should end.

Now this is the theory behind support-that the shoe should end under the line of force of the leg. Okay it's technical mumbo-jumbo but the fact is-you and the horse can alter the way he holds his pastern. So if his pastern joint is held lower, your measurement of the force-line changes, and the same if it is held higher. For example, look at the angle of your horse's pastern. Now apply pressure to his shoulder, shifting his weight to the opposite leg more. Notice how you've altered the pastern angle so easily? In fact the pastern angle will be different on each foot! And numerous factors can effect how a horse holds himself at a given time. Injury-old or recent, uneven ground, uneven skeletal structure, back pain, any pain, etc. See how hard it is to take an objective measurement? Most of the time, your farrier is the bloke who has the most experience with shoeing, the angles and possible changes that can take place. Thus he is most often the one to trust. But then of course another farrier will come along when the horse is under a different set of circumstances and will evaluate the horse differently, bagging the previous farrier. But either could be right or wrong. Your getting a headache already? The best remedy in this situation is to do your research and keep an open-mind. An open mind will always be your greatest tool, especially when it comes to horses.

Okay well the time is dragging on, and I've only just scratched the surface on what I was hoping to cover. However I will continue tommorrow with farrier's trimming toes and heels to different levels and the bagging that ensues. And cover the correct way to do it. Anyway thankyou for your time folks, I wish you the best of luck with your horses and I wish myself the best of luck with tommorrow's work.