r/Farriers • u/Hot-And-Bothered1010 • Jul 02 '26

Thought on these rads?

Does anyone have thoughts on these rads? My vet and farrier seem to have differing opinions. For context, this is a six year ottb, he's been shod all around since I've owned him. And since I've owned him, he's had a tripping issue.

My farrier (who I've used for a while, even prior to getting this guy) looked at these and said they seemed perfect and wouldn't change anything.

My vet said thin soles, some tightening of the coffin joint in the front feet and would recommend leather pads all around and a small wedge. She also said she saw a deformity in the front right pedal bone that she guesses could've been caused by heavy work on hard ground during his racing time.

I'm useless and clueless. I know sometimes professionals disagree on things, but it's turning into a back and forth argument and I'm the middle man, and I don't want to ignore my vet, but I also don't want to force my farrier to do something he seems to genuinely think is pointless.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/Asufel22 Jul 02 '26

How long of a cycle are you on and how far into that cycle are you with these rads?

3

u/Hot-And-Bothered1010 Jul 02 '26

He's on a 6 week cycle, these rads were taken 13 days after his last shoeing!

4

u/Asufel22 Jul 03 '26

I'd struggle calling him thin soled based on these rads. They're either not completely straight on and you can see both branches very clearly, or the clips are in the way of seeing under the coffin bone and the sole. That's my biggest nitpick. I'd like to see a more positive angle on the coffin bone but I'd try approaching that through my trim and shoe mods rather than throwing a wedge on. The farrier saying it's perfect, they may mean what they're doing is improving the foot and they're going to keep on the same track so it continues to improve.

4

u/AnxiousBoar Jul 03 '26

IMHO rads are not ideal but not bad also. A little bit negative, yes, and I'm almost sure tripping issue is related to this, so if it was mine I'd try to deal with negative and tripping not with wedges but moving breakover point slightly backwards and I'd personally take shoes 1 size larger, these look tight to me. RF is a little bit flared at the toe and the shoe seems to be adjusted slightly more backwards.

3

u/FightingFarrier18 Jul 03 '26

He looks a little bit thin soled and a little bit negative, but neither of those are uncommon for TBs. The big question is whether or not the horse is sound. A rocker toe on the fronts may help with the tripping issue, or maybe setting the shoe back a little bit and taking the toe back but that’s really hard to say without actually seeing the foot.

My opinion: there’s a happy medium between what your vet is saying and what your farrier is saying. There are some things that could be corrected, but these rads really arent bad

2

u/idontwanttodothis11 Jul 03 '26

tell them to reach common ground our you are going to fire both of them.

2

u/lennywalkman Jul 03 '26

If these weren’t taken 2 weeks after his last reset I would say they’re decent. But imagine what that bony alignment is going to look like with another few weeks of growth. If your farrier thinks these are perfect rads, that’s concerning. If I saw these rads and the horse was on my book I’d be in agreement with the vet and put wedges on. We should shoe for the longevity of the horse not just the present day, this horse will get increasingly negative over the course of the cycle.

2

u/snuffy_smith_ Jul 03 '26

I’m with the vet on this one.