"Today, Tennessee Walking Horses are known throughout the industry
as the breed that shows abused and tortured horses."

~ Jim Heird, Ph.D., Do Right By The Horse, February 2010

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity,
you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Monday, January 11, 2010

NEWS - SHOW's New Shoeing Rules (And They Are Terrible)

Now SHOW has changed their shoeing rules, and it seems they have decided to go backwards in their so-called progression to help end soring. They are now allowing bands on all levels of horses (including trail division) AND they have no weight limits and are allowing tungsten shoes. Bands are a great way to help hide soring practices between the horse's hoof and the shoe, and tungsten shoes are not allowed in the sound horse venues.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email SHOW and let them know your displeasure. Their website to find their emails is www.showhio.com.

Below is the info on their new shoeing rules that I received.

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New show rules.... bands are optional in all divisions. Metal hoof bands such as used to anchor or strengthen pads and shoes are permitted so long as they are placed at least on half inch below the bottom of the coronet band


clips optional in all divisions when drawn from original steel, or poured...

shoe not to extend beyond bulb of horse's heel when a perpendicular line is drawn from the bulb to the ground..

shoe not to extend more than 1/4 " beyond the hoof at the toe

turn back will be measured from the front to the rear of the caulk

Country Pleasure
max 3/8 x 3/4" stamped steel or aluminum keg shoe
borium allowed on toe,max 1 1/2 in length and small spot on heels
poured heels allowed

Trail Pleasure
max 3/8 x 3/4 cold or hot rolled steel or aluminum shoe
max 1 1/2 turn back borium allowed on the caulks but the thickness of the shoe, caulk and borium must not exceed 7/8"

Lite shod (dropped 2 lb limit)
max 1/2 x 1" cold or hot roll steel or aluminum shoe
max 1 1/2" turnback
borium allowed on the caulks, but the thickness of shoe, caulk and borium must not exceed 1 1/8"

Plantation Pleasure
max 1/2 x 3/4" shoe open to any steel (this means tungsten)
max 1 1/2" turnback
borium allowed on the caulks of the shoe but the thickness of the shoe, caulk and borium must not exceed 1 1/8"

Park Pleasure
Max 1/2 x 1 1/2" shoe open to any steel (this means tungsten)
max 1 5/8" turnback
borium allowed on caulks but thickness on shoe caulk and borium must not exceed 1 1/8"

Acrylic can be used to repair and mend a hoof where shoe has been thrown and hoof damaged. Acrylic or any other material cannot be used for the purpose of extending the length of the natural hoof in any manner on both feet which includes the toes or heels. Acrylic can be used to fill in around the nail holes or cracks on the sides of the hoof.

No additional weight shall be allowed on or in the hoof, other than shoe, nails and band

4 comments:

TnWlkerGrl said...

I am glad they allow for bands!! And I do not sore! There are so many different organizations different shows affiliate with..it is so hard to keep changing the horses shoes, bands etc. to conform to each one. To me, this is progression for S.H.O.W.

Anonymous said...

TnWlkerGrl, as far as I understand, bands are used to hold the shoe on. I don't see any reason for this. If the shoe doesn't stay on by itself, then the horse shouldn't wear the shoe. There are plenty of TWHs in Plantation shoes at NWHA shows and their shoes stay on without bands. There is no reason why SHOW and other HIOs can't make this same change.

Plus, bands are proven to help in the process of soring. They can be tightened so tight to cause pain in the horse's cornet band, and they also can help hold on devices used between the shoe and the hoof that are putting pressure on the sole of the hoof. They can also enhance bruising to the sole that has been caused by road foundering by tightening them and putting more pressure on the bruises. How is it progression to allow a device that is continuing to be proven to be used for soring?

Can you answer this question: if it's so hard to keep changing the horse's shoes, why not just go with a lite shod shoe and not worry about bands anymore? That's one less expense to worry about, and you have less of a chance of your horses being sored by your trainer. If you use a trainer, that is.

If you do decide to use bands, then be sure you are using them properly. Be sure to take off the shoes periodically and check for bruising on the soles. You may not want to sore your horses, but you could be accidentally doing so by your bands being too tight. Be sure to give your horse's feet time to breathe and stay healthy for you so he will last over the long haul.

Lovemywalkers said...

In VA, Tungsten shoes are ILLEGAL. I want to know where you got this information from.... most of your shoeing measurements are VERY off. Your site is VERY unreliable and provides a LOT of false information. The bands are used for added support to put less stress on the nails/nail holes...to help prevent cracking of the hoof. Give it a rest please. On MOST plantation horses, if the bands are tightened to much, it causes them to pace. Something we definitely don't want our thousand dollar WALKING show horses to do. I am not saying it hasn't been done, but it has been done in a VERY limited number of horses. I am not trying to bash you, as I am against soreing myself, but please update your information if you are going to fight a battle that is this touchy. We know what we are doing a lot more so than you do. Thanks and have Merry Christmas.
P.S)Even if you don't "approve" this comment I hope you (the blog author) takes this into thought.

For the Tennessee Walking Horse said...

Lovemywalkers, I'd like to know what information is off on this blog. Please point out the false information. As for these shoeing requirements, they were taken DIRECTLY from SHOW's announcement on their website. So if you don't think they're right, then talk to SHOW directly.

How in the world can a band cause a horse to pace? Tightening a band doesn't change the biomechanics of the horse's conformation or way of going. And if it does cause them to pace, I imagine it's because it's painful.

You're pointing out exactly what I said, however. The bands are in place to put less stress on the nails and to avoid the hoof cracking, which means the shoe is too heavy if it's putting stress on the nails and the hooves are cracking. So the bands are used to keep the shoe on. And although tungsten shoes may be illegal in VA, they're not illegal to SHOW or to many of the other HIOs. Anyone who is a member can read the Walking Horse Chat and learn where to buy and how to use tungsten shoes.

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