Saw a horse with a really odd shoe setup at the county fair in Salem

I was walking through the draft horse barn at the Oregon State Fair last weekend and spotted a Belgian with these wide, flat shoes that looked almost like plates. The owner said his farrier in Eugene made them custom to help with a persistent sole bruise, using a special bar across the heel. It got me wondering about different corrective approaches for heavy breeds. Has anyone worked with a setup like that before?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_seth2mo ago

Yeah, saw something similar on a Percheron at our local show. His farrier used a wide web shoe with a full leather pad and a pour-in filler to protect the sole, looked like the horse was wearing little platforms lol. That bar across the heel your guy mentioned is a heart bar, puts pressure on the frog to take weight off the sore spot.

jamesrivera2mo ago

So that heart bar shoe, does it actually help the horse walk better right away, or is it one of those things where they're sore for a bit until the foot adjusts? Always wondered how the frog taking more pressure feels to them.

skylerp201mo ago

Different horses react totally different to that heart bar. A buddy of mine had an older rescue mare with a deep crack and she was moving sound almost immediately after the shoe went on. The key is the farrier's placement though. Get it too far forward and you're just mashing the front of the frog which feels like stepping on a stone. Too far back and it's useless. Also depends on the horse's own hoof shape and what caused the soreness in the first place. A laminitic horse might not tolerate frog pressure at all no matter how careful the trim.