Spikes and studs on glue-on shoes

Individual grip for all equestrian disciplines

Horses' hooves are small wonders of nature. They are perfectly equipped to help the horse through all kinds of terrain in its natural environment. But in extreme conditions, even the most perfect barefoot hoof can lose its grip. Exactly the same can happen with a metal or glue-on shoe or a hoof boot - especially when ground conditions are challenging (e.g. wet grass, icy ground etc.) and the horses are moving at high speed and/or on tight turns.

Therefore, many hoof protection variants can be equipped with additional "helpers" to give the horses better grip. For horseshoes this is common practice, but for plastic glue-ons (Bekleben) these modifications are still rather unknown. So in this article we want to show possibilities of how your Goodsmith Bekleb can be upgraded with spikes and studs to provide better grip on slippery ground.

Spikes: the small helpers

Horseshoes are often equipped as standard at the heel ends with small welded-on pins as anti-slip protection. For horses that move a lot on hard ground (e.g. carriage horses on asphalt), additional "pin welding grips" are often attached to horseshoes at the toe so that the toe is not excessively worn.

The same principle can also be implemented with glued plastic plates: there are special spikes (tungsten carbide pins) that can be anchored in the base plate. To do this, small holes are pre-drilled into the base plate (this works easily, for example, with a wood drill or auto body drill). The spikes are then screwed into the holes with a special attachment for the cordless drill. The pins then remain in the base plate (just like the welded-on pins on metal shoes). This gives the horses more grip even in the paddock/turnout, e.g. on icy surfaces or on bare paddock grids. However, in a group husbandry situation it must be considered that the small metal pins of course carry a higher risk of injury, for instance if a horse with spikes kicks out with its hind hooves. The use must therefore always be carefully weighed individually!

Spikes can be used both in the bar area of the base plate and in the toe area. At the toe, they offer particularly heavy horses a very good additional protection against wear, so the plates usually last longer or can be reused more often. With endurance horses too, which cover many kilometres on abrasive ground, the small pins can significantly increase the service life of the glue-ons. However, here too one must consider how much the horse moves on which ground and whether the additional grip is desired or could rather lead to undesired braking (and thus possibly to additional strain on the joints).

The number of spikes used per plate is also individual. In most cases, two pieces at each heel end (i.e. four pieces per plate) make sense. With small horses there can be fewer and in some cases even six to eight pieces (distributed over the entire base plate) can make sense.

Studs: even more grip for difficult terrain

Especially in show jumping or on hunts, the need for even more grip for the horses sometimes arises. For these cases studs can be used.

Studs are significantly larger than the small spikes and therefore also entail a higher risk of injury. In addition, they sometimes change the statics on the hoof, at least when the horse is moving on hard ground. Therefore studs do not remain permanently on the hoof, but are only screwed in when needed (e.g. for riding) and are removed again after use.

For this to work, threads are milled into metal horseshoes, into which the studs can then be screwed in and out. With plastic glue-ons this works similarly: first a hole is drilled through the plate, into which a metal claw nut is inserted. The same studs as for metal shoes can then be screwed into these nuts.

The claw nuts required for this are available at any conventional hardware store and are also referred to as "claw drive-in nuts". The size depends on the studs used and the plate size. In any case, you should make sure that the nuts are made of stainless steel, otherwise they may start to rust during the shoeing period.

hot-air gun, so that the TPU of the base plate can be deformed all around and the claw nut can be pressed deeper into the plate. This way the nut bonds even better with the plate and everything stays securely in place, even during fast manoeuvres with studs.

Notes on using studs on the Bekleb

Because the Bekleb with studs is exposed to higher ground adhesion forces, the tab necks are also highly stressed. For many horses it is therefore sensible, when using studs, to also use side clips. These should be attached at the level of the studs in order to better absorb or distribute the lateral shear forces.

When screwing in the studs, you must also take care that washers are always used. These distribute the resulting pressure over a larger area and thus prevent localised pressure on the hoof.

To the products:

• Spikes
• Studs (soon available in our shop)

Author: Nathalie Kurz