Re-shoeing

I've always wondered if you could reuse old horse shoes on the same horse. Only one way to find out.

Back in early May, my buddy Devlin put these shoes on Chief. We wanted to try pads under the shoes because he can get a little tender footed. Devlin did a good job and the shoe/pad combo worked great. About eight weeks later, I pulled them off. That's about all the longer you want to run shoes without trimming the hooves, and I wanted to go barefoot for the 4th of July parade. Now that I'm needing to re-shoe Chief for some summer riding, I turned to these old shoes and wondered if we couldn't just put them back on. I see no reason why not.

The horses have been doing good, hanging out at the VO Ranch on the Clear Creek.

Before we did anything with their feet, I shot them with fly spray.

Mom's feet were a mess. Looked like a duck-billed platypus. 

Her hooves actually trimmed up pretty nice. I'm thankful for that.

Chief's were in great shape, for not being formally trimmed since May.

Before we got too far down the road, we cleaned the old shoes up. The pad was riveted onto the shoe, which was one reason I wanted to reuse them. Looks good to me.

Everything cleaned up pretty good for my standards. I like to take the sidewalls of the hoof down as far to the sole as I can, so there is a good mating surface between the hoof and the shoe. Everything sized up real nice. Chief has easy hooves, simple 00 size with no shaping needed.

Horse shoe nails are interesting. They are tapered on the side that has traction marks on the head. Those marks go to the inside of the hoof, which ensures that the nail veers to the outside of the hoof when nailed. 

Nailing on a shoe is never easy for me or Chief. But, we always seem to manage, thanks be to God. When running pads, you want to fill up that void between the pad and the sole with some special shoe glue. This keeps bacteria from forming in the confined environment and also keeps rocks and dirt out of there, which can make it worse than if there were no pads on at all. Looks good to me. The only drawback I can see is that the new nails stick up higher than the worn shoes. Shouldn't be a problem.

Chief seems happy.

Good stuff. With some riding coming up, we'll have prime opportunity to see how these old shoes hold up. I've gotten away with more than I should on this horse. He really is an easy keeper. So, my rudimentary shoeing skills seem to get by just fine. Let's ride.