GETTING THE RIGHT FIT: How to pick the right size shoe

Happy Hoofwear™ shoes can and should be fitted using the same criteria that you use for fitting a steel pair of shoes. The American Farrier’s Association produces a booklet titled “Farrier Certification Program”. It is a written guideline for trimming feet, fitting shoes, nailing, and clinching. We suggest that farriers follow these guidelines when using Happy Hoofwear™ shoes. For a copy of these guidelines, contact the AFA at 1-877-268-4505, or visit its website at www.NoFootNoHorse.org. The following series of photographs are designed to share with you what our Farrier consultants suggest you do to ensure you get the best fit for the horse you are shoeing.

Happy Hoofwear™ shoes are a front pattern shoe (*anticipated availability for hind pattern shoes is August 2011) and are offered in a number of sizes. These pictures provide a visual reference for fitting the Extended shoe. At the end of this Guideline, you’ll find information regarding the weight, dimensions (length/wide) and thickness of our shoes for your easy reference.

This foot has already been trimmed, just as you normally would trim when using a steel shoe. (For purposes of these photographs, this shoe has been attached to the foot by two nails. In the field, simply hold the shoe in place to determine fit.) This is a Happy Hoofwear™ Extended style shoe in size 00. This shoe fits well for width of heel, but as shown in the next photograph, it is too short for good support.

These are different views of the same shoe showing a good fit in the quarters and width of the heel, but it is too short for good support.

Below is the same foot and the same shoe. If you needed to back up this foot, you could dress the foot up and then check for shoe fit again. Alternately, you could nip off the toe clip, set the shoe where desired and if there was adequate heel coverage, and nail it in place before dressing the foot up. This allows you to use the shoe as a template. As you can see by this photograph, we have no toe to remove. Therefore, we need to use a larger shoe. This shoe is too short.

Below is the same trimmed foot with a Happy Hoofwear™ Extended style shoe in size 0. 

Nip off the excess width at the heels. If the shoe is slightly long, nip off the excess length. Dress up the shoe with a rasp, but be sure to leave enough width through the quarters and heels to allow for hoof expansion and for growth. For a different method of removal of the nipper marks left by trimming the shoe to shape refer to these photos below

The shoe fits correctly; the nail holes have been filled with wood putty, and a hoof dressing applied.

Ready to ride!

Alternate Trim Method

These pictures show an alternate way to remove the excess width and/or length of shoe. Hold the shoe in place on the trimmed foot and trace around the hoof.

Now simply nip off the excess following the line. As shown earlier, dress up the nipper marks with a rasp before or after nailing. (Or, if you prefer, you can dress up the sides of the shoe as shown in the following photos.) The “R” you see in the center of the bar of the shoes we marked on this shoe as our way of indicating this shoe is for the right foot. One of our Farrier consultants said he does this and marks both hoof and ground surfaces of the right and left shoes. This simple step can help make it easier not to mix up which shoe goes on which foot. The “0” on the right heel is also our Farrier Consultant’s mark. It indicates the shoe size. While Happy Hoofwear™ shoes are marked as to size in the middle of the bar; it never hurts to have your own internal check system for added insurance that you have the correct size.

Using a grinder to finish shaping the shoe and to neaten up the edges of the shoe is another option. Remember that Happy Hoofwear™ shoes are made of polyurethane and so this process requires a light touch or you could inadvertently melt or burn the shoe. To avoid doing either, simply keep the shoe in continuous motion as you buff, and use a light pressure against the grinding wheel. It does not take long to dress up a shoe using this method.

Look at the inside heel and quarter. (The left side of the shoe in this photograph where the arrow is pointing.) This shoe has been dressed very close to the edge of the crease. For structural support you must leave a minimum of 1/8 inch of shoe to the outside of the crease. If you cut all the way into the crease, the quarter will be weakened sufficiently to allow distortion of the shoe through that area. The type and degree of distortion depends on the conformation and motion of the horse. For a solution look at the following photographs.

Thank you for reading the summary on Getting the Right Fit. Our Farrier Consultants and the Happy Hoofwear™ team want you to have a successful shoeing experience with our shoes. If you have any questions on finding the right size, please contact us.   To make it as farrier friendly as we could, below is a chart with the weight, length and thickness for each size.

If you’d like an actual printout of the sizes, you can go to our website at www.happyhoofwear.com.