Bill Miller says he has a better way of keeping shoes on a horse that is prone to losing them.

The farrier from East Olympia, Wash., sent American Farriers Journal a shoe he’d modified along with a letter explaining the modification after seeing Bob Skradzio’s fish-hook barb modification.

Miller believes the barbed shoe is too short for the foot and does not cover the buttress.

Heel Support

“To me, a more reasonable method of keeping shoes on a horse that likes to shed his footwear would be to draw up ‘spoons,’” writes Miller. “It covers the foot to the ends of the buttresses, thereby giving complete support to the heel.”

Miller says the spoons have been just the ticket in some difficult cases.

“I had a cutting horse that was notorious for getting front shoes off when turned out for exercise,” Miller writes. “Spooning the shoe cured that problem.”

Spoon Styles

SPOONED SHOE. This shoe has “spoons” on its heels. The spoons help keep the shoes on a horse that is prone to losing them.

Miller’s shoe shows two different styles of spoons. One cups around the heel and is not fit very tightly on the outside, so as not to hinder natural expansion of the heel.

The second style is used on gaited horses with pads. Depending on the height of the stack, the spoon can be as high as 2 inches.

Miller doesn’t recommend putting spoons on any horses suffering from long-toe, low-heel syndrome, but says those horses…