Anyone know the reasons for shoe problems in SA?

Why does it happen in this country so often compared to anywhere else?
Is it our tracks that are causing this problem?
Is it the quality of the shoes or nails we are using?
Can it be the quality of workmanship?
Are horses at a disadvantage if they get their shoes re-fitted at the start?(even 1% can be the difference between winning and coming 2nd)
Surprised the industry hasn't looked into this problem and tried to find out why it's so prevalent here and what can be done to solve it.

I’ve noticed this twice recently in the UK racing.


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....not the shoes or nails....they are imported....have not been at the coalface in stables watching farriers work....so don't know what the skills level is like....maybe our horse population have weaker hooves....they certainly have weaker lungs and according to Bomber Nel Smaller mouths
....genetic adaptation from inbreeding and dietary changes is making weaker horses....not enough blood soluble calcium in feeds as feed producers are adding precipitated products like Calcium carbonate instead of natural occurring calcium compounds....

Mac wrote: I’ve noticed this twice recently in the UK racing.
It has happened Mac but remember they have 5 meetings a day and you have noticed it what maybe twice in the last few months?I can remember it happening once in HK and the commentators seemed really surprised.I think here you probably got a 80% chance that some sort of shoe problem happens every meeting.We need to find out why we are probably the world leaders in re shoeing horses at the start.


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South African Kikuyu grass is very tough compared to European grass.Ask any golfer!

Because they were all purchased from Tekkie Town

Farawaysaint wrote: South African Kikuyu grass is very tough compared to European grass.Ask any golfer!

And the excuse for when it happens on the poly?

bayern wrote:

Farawaysaint wrote: South African Kikuyu grass is very tough compared to European grass.Ask any golfer!

And the excuse for when it happens on the poly?

I'm illustrating a point not an excuse.

Happens all day in UK also

whoah wrote: Happens all day in UK also

Are you serious?Five meetings today and I can't recall one shoe being re-fitted at the start.Next one you notice please update this post.

Nowadays we battle with hoof growth. Our horses are shod throughout their Racing lives and because of the stresses of Racing hoof angles must be as near perfect as possible. We find a lot less growth on the heel than on the toe. Also, Alumites somehow result in less growth than with steel shoes. What then happens is that we are always looking for heel support when shoeing.

So we "overshoe" slightly and more often than not, we have a slight protrusion behind the heel. This can result in the back foot just clipping that slight protrusion and therefore, pulling the shoe.

This is more predominant on the Poly than on the Turf. This happens more often whilst cantering down to the start . What we do at all Greyville meetings (because they canter down on the Poly), is to fit rubber over reach boots on all of our runners for the canter down. They are pulled off at the start.

This came about after 2 of our first 8 runners at Greyville pulled shoes on way to start, last year. This was a shock to us and something we take very personally, an embarrassment as such.

Many other factors play a role too.

A horse that is very keen on way to start, resulting in a jock pulling the horse's head sideways, or a horse being fractious as it breaks into the canter down. It's more predominant on Poly because it is not the usual surface for a horse etc

In general, though, it should be a very rare occurrence in any yard, for a horse to pull a shoe. The signs are normally there when hoof angles are not right or when a horse is forging at home. Horses must be shod, not according to a schedule for billing or to a computer driven printout, but when due. There are horses that are shod about 14 or even 15 times a year, simply because they have faster growth. When you " stretch" the shoeing of those horses, to a "schedule" or beyond, you are looking for trouble.

As Muhti will tell you, the old school always taught us - NO FOOT, NO HORSE.

....I was still very young and around the stables when my grandfather was making the change from feeding horse race rations(loose crushed oats, rolled barley,chopped fresh alfa alfa grated carrots, molasses and other goodies) to "Cubes" or what is now known as Epol....he however experimented and kept his better older horses on the old feed and even some of the new 2 and 3 year olds on the traditional feed....what was noticeable after some months is that horses on " cubes" did not have to be "clipped" or have hooves cut back as much as those on traditional hand mixed rations....in fact he kept only a few that had feet problems away from cubes altogether....
later when my father was training he started using feed supplements to promote hoof strength ....one of the products actually drastically accelerated hoof growth but compromised hoof strength.... :S