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The Dropped Sole - Raised Foot Surface - Shoe

This horse could not stand on the left foot and was

the first to make me think outside of the forge.

    There are a number of horses that I have come to care for, which have the same apparent foot condition. These are chronic laminitis or foundered horses, with a dropped sole, and where the hoof wall, as it grows out, does not grow straight down, but flares out at the ground level or higher up the hoof wall. The problem for some is that when you trim the horse you don’t trim the ground surface, but from up above you take back the flares until the foot looks conical in shape the way a foot is meant to look. Before the foot is on the ground you know that the sole, and not the hoof wall will be touching the ground. This, if it hasn’t already, will lame the horse, on this foot, as the Circumflex Artery of the Distal Phalanx (coffin bone) is compromised every time the foot touches the ground or remains on the ground. When owners ask if shoes will help, the thought is that, the same thing will occur, only now the solar surface of the foot is now pressing against the shoe, as the hoof wall is still not in contact, giving the same result.

 

This foot was trimmed from the front surface only (a couple of days prior), and not at all from the bottom. You can see by this photo that the hoof wall is not touching the ground, and yet very little hoof was removed. The shoe on the right foot was applied by the previous Farrier and could not be removed or reset till the left foot was comfortable.

While working on this horse, the thought occurred to me, what we need is a shoe, that will bypass the soul and contact the hoof wall. So I took a keg shoe that was the correct size for the foot, and in my shop, proceeded to fabricate such a shoe as this.

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The first step was to determine the material necessary to accomplish the task. And for this case I chose 3/8" square rod to perimeter fit the nail holes and not over hang the perimeter of the shoe. This 3/8” was also the amount necessary to give enough lift to the hoof wall, so as the sole would not make contact with the shoe.

The second step in this project was to make a jig to bend the 3/8 rod to the right shape

So I chose two shoes, one was the same size as the shoe I was to fit the rod to as a horizontal guide or bed.  The next shoe that fits on top was the size to fit inside of the nail holes.

These I tack welded at the heels, and then I welded a brace to the base shoe, in order to facilitate vise mounting the jig. On the right I welded a material retainer. This is where the 3/8" rod material is purchased mechanically to start the bend.

 

The short end of the rod is inserted to the jig and the straight rod is pulled to curve around the jig to the other heel.

Removing the formed 3/8" rod from the jig and placed onto the shoe to be used. You can see that the inside of the formed rod is at the perimeter of the nails yet the perimeters of the rod and shoe matches.

 

Next step is to grind a bevel on the outside mating corners, in which to lay the weld bead.

Tack welding the shoe and the rod together starting at the toe and working around to each heel enables you to get the rod and shoe to be perimeter equal.

Next a curved piece is fitted inside at the heel to give a nice wider area for the heel to rest on.  

 

With the finished product beside a shoe,

we can see that the 'Drop Sole Shoe' is a little thicker,

and about 55% heavier.

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Preparing The Foot 

 

It is hard to rasp a level hoof area to place the shoe on because of the protruding sole, so I take the edge of the rasp and get the hoof as prepared as I can, and then through repeated burns get the shoe to fit nicely, to the foot.

 

The finished work as can be seen, enables the horse to walk out just fine with no lameness.

 

 

 Here we can see in the cutaway that the raised surface of the shoe is in contact with the hoof wall and has room for the dropped sole to droop down into the area that has a relief, which would be akin to relieving sole pressure.

 

 This photo is of another horse that I got called out to a week later. The owner, a Veterinarian, said that the horse was lying down for a week and if I couldn't do anything to help it, he would have to be put down. This horse was severely drugged, so that we could get it up on all fours for the shoeing, and at that it was reluctant to stand on three legs, still exhibiting very much pain. It took a very long time to get the front shoes on, and we decided to give the horse a break, while we trimmed the other horse, and when the other horse was trimmed we could not catch the first horse, because he was having too much fun with his "not sore feet". Kicking, bucking, and running was what we saw, and he was talking much as well.

 

I would like input from other Farriers, as with any new procedure,

you need corroborating studies, to validate the findings.

 

I have had this shoe type on many horses short term, and only one horse long term. That horse ended up with many other problems, some of which were owner related. Thusly the shoeing practice ended.

These horses go from dead lame to a new, youthful, vibrant horse, in a matter of minutes. The first horse with this shoe (the Palomino, top photo) first, stepped out expecting pain, and as would be normal, his head almost dipped to the ground. The second step, his head dropped again (but less), expecting pain again. Each step after that his head dropped less and less, realizing that the major pain wasn't there, and that the only pain that remained was the residual pain from being in pain for so long. This first horse was the owner's favorite horse and had not been ridden for a couple of years.

This shoe made it possible for the horse and owner to enjoy the trails again.

 

Further findings:

Built as a egg bar shoe or a heart bar shoe is also a good choice, and maybe the best choice

One Final Note:

I have applied only one DS shoe to some horses,

and to others, applied the DS shoe to both front feet.

 

You might say

"That's all well and fine, But I don't have a welder Or The Time!"