September 15, 2024
8:30 AM - 1:30 PM Eastern

Clinic

This clinic is intended to educate and familiarize the attendee with how to gain all the benefits of a barefoot hoof while still achieving the protection, installation ease, and low cost of traditional nail-on steel horseshoes. The importance of providing the horse with as much natural hoof mechanism flexibility as possible will be accomplished through highlighting five critical factors driving healthy hooves (Hoof Mechanism, Blood Circulation, Hoof Growth/Quality/Shape, Shock Absorption, and Biomechanics). The unfavorable impacts on hoof and horse soundness that is caused by one-piece shoes and their constraining effect on hoof flexibility will be compared against the favorable developments occurring from un-constraining the hoof using a split-shoe approach to hoof care. Extensive academic and long-term field trial data will be referenced. Points of commonality with traditional one-piece shoe installation technique and use of common tools will be reviewed. At the same time, important differences in how to think about hoof growth and movement when using split shoes (compared to one-piece shoes) will be highlighted. A Twin Shoes case study involving a typical horse with existing soreness, lameness, or hoof capsule distortion issues will be reviewed. The horse’s pathology history, past treatment programs, split-shoe usage starting point, improvement timeline, and current status will be covered. It will be demonstrated that split-shoe usage on horses with long-term, chronic pathologies that are unresponsive to a variety of traditional treatment programs/packages can return to full work, often within a short period time. It will be shown that the noticeable and sustainable improvements in underlying conditions can happen as soon as Day 1 (foot tenderness) or over the course of the first one to three shoeing cycles (other hoof capsule distortions or lameness issues). The clinic will cover common pathologies and specific therapeutic situations where the splitshoe approach can be successfully used (hoof capsule distortions, ligament and tendon damage, joint osteoarthritis, and mutli-structural discomfort). The use of split-shoes in transitioning to/from barefoot as well as during lay-up/rehab time periods will also be covered. The clinic will conclude with a live horse demonstration of the proper application of Twin Shoes with a focus on the recommended trimming, fitting, and nailing approaches when using split shoes. There will be additional Q&A time after demonstration.

Setting: In-Person
Far Winds Farm, Ruckersville, VA

Eric Nielsen
(phone: (262) 203-5111)

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September 15, 2024

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