Different Types of Studs for use with horseshoes.

After our first blog post about cleaning and preparing stud holes for horseshoes, I have taken some pictures of different types of studs and the tapper that you use for cleaning the stud holes so that you can get an idea of the different types of studs available.

This first picture is of a ‘tapper’. These are used to re-thread the thread in the stud holes.  This is a traditional one and you can see where the dirt can come out on the areas that are grooved out. You can also get tappers that have a solid plastic circular top,  which helps when the horse puts his hoof down and you can’t hold the horse’s leg up any longer if he/she is moving about and not relaxed.

You can use different types of studs and people have different ideas. I personally have two stud holes in each shoe, so that the hoof isn’t unbalanced from left to right. Lucinda Green MBE and Russel Guire from Centaur Biomechanics are looking into the effect studs have on the horse and its limbs at the time of writing this blog and I look forward to the results of this study.

Here are some different types of studs.

The studs above are all road studs.  These are smaller studs and can be used on the front shoes of the horse.  I have always been told to use small studs in front shoes as when you fall off you are more likely to be in contact with the front feet of the horse and therefore, this stops you having too much injury.  Also, keeping the studs small in front means that the horse will not injure itself when they jump a fence and fold up their front feet.

You can also use a stud girth to prevent any scraps on the underneath of the horse, by his girth. Once a horse injures himself in this area, he or she tends, not to pick up their feet so well whilst jumping.

The picture above has soft ground studs in the top of the picture, the more pointed studs in the middle are hard ground studs and the studs in the bottom of the picture are medium/soft ground studs.  I found the most I have used have been the road studs in the front shoes and the studs in the bottom of this picture in the hind shoes.

The studs in the picture above are for use on extremely soft ground and they are squarer in shape and give firm grip in soft ground conditions. The picture below will show the size better against the size of the adjustable spanner.  This type of spanner is brilliant when you are trying to put studs in between classes or disciplines when eventing.

Different studs are used on different horses and some horses never need to use studs.  Some are able to go cross country or show jump on grass, with just a nail in their shoes with a tungsten grip on it. It’s horses for courses really, each is different and it takes time to find out what is needed.

Below are the new rescue studs that are on the market.  If you find that the thread in the stud hole has broken, these studs have been developed to work.  A farrier developed them so that they can be put in with a spanner and will stay in the stud hole.  They have been used by a friend that said they worked really well.

I hope that this has been able to give you an idea of the different types of studs available and there are different ones on the market from the studs above.  Like I have said above it is a personal thing to both the horse, rider and owner and can change with the different types of ground that the horses have to work over.

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