Haven says horses may be candidates for alternative hoofwear for a number of reasons. A professional farrier for 35 years, she appreciates how the industry has changed over the years and the wide range of materials and options now available.

Many farriers of my generation found these early attempts disappointing, declaring that they were worse than useless because they were difficult to work with and would destroy the hoof wall.To learn more, we turned to Lana Haven of Ocala, Florida, who specializes in therapeutic, pathological, natural balance and performance shoeing, and trimming. Over the years, many enterprising people spent considerable time and money trying to come up with synthetic shoes, only to fail because of the lack of a good product and a small market. “Go find a horse that the shoes will fit on,” Wade is supposed to have responded. Wade was asked about the best way to fit a Fruin shoe on a horse with an odd-shaped foot. I heard a story about the late Gary Wade, a member of the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame, who was the Disney farrier. The Fruin shoe was notorious for being very difficult to reshape. lasted until 1955, when it was acquired by the Disney Corp., to make shoes exclusively for its theme park horses. started making shoes coated in rubber for street horse work in an attempt to absorb some of the concussion. Metal shoes solved obvious durability problems these earlier versions had, but also created the issue of concussion, particularly on hard surfaces.Ĭenturies later, in 1910, The Fruin Drop Forge Co. Some of the first horsemen used sandals made of rice straw or leather to protect their horse’s feet. Contrary to popular belief, the concept of non-metal horseshoes is not a recent phenomenon.

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