Horseshoe made of resilient material, horseshoeing system and method

An improved horseshoe utilized with a rigid shoe structure including inside and outside branches, the rigid shoe structure being applied to a horse's hoof utilizing nails in a horseshoe nailing pattern commonly utilized by horseshoers having a first row of nails in the inside branch and a second row of nails in the outside branch, said improved horseshoe comprising:

• a shoe body made of resilient nonmetallic material and having a plurality of openings extending therethrough between a face intended to be ground engageable and an opposite face, said openings each including an enlarged bore at said face and a smaller bore at said opposite face, said bores each having a depth and meeting at a position in said shoe body, said openings being spaced from one another so that at least the first row of nails is located between adjacent ones of said openings;
• bushings made of relatively rigid, nonmetallic material and each including a tubular portion and an annular shoulder at one end of said tubular portion, said bushings each at least partially embedded in said resilient nonmetallic material of said shoe body with different ones of said tubular portions of said bushings lining a portion of different ones of said smaller bores of said openings and with said annular shoulders at least partially embedded in said resilient nonmetallic material adjacent to different ones of said positions in said shoe body;
• and
• connectors having heads of a size so that each said head of each said connector is completely receivable in different ones of said enlarged bores of said openings a distance below said face of said shoe body, said annular shoulders of said bushings providing a positive stop for said heads of said connectors when applying said shoe body to the rigid shoe structure, said shoe body adjacent to said smaller bores of said openings being pinched between said annular shoulders and the rigid shoe structure when said connectors are applied.

A horseshoeing system comprising:

• a rigid shoe portion having inside and outside branches with each branch having a plurality of apertures for receiving horseshoe nails therethrough;
• a resilient material shoe portion having a plurality of openings therethrough each of said openings including an enlarged bore at a face of said resilient material shoe portion and a smaller bore at an opposite face thereof, said bores each having a depth and meeting at a position in said resilient material shoe portion;
• bushings made of relatively rigid, nonmetallic material and each including a tubular portion and an annular shoulder at one end of said tubular portion, said bushings each at least partially embedded in said resilient material shoe portion with different ones of said tubular portions of said bushings lining a portion of different ones of said smaller bores of said openings and with said annular shoulders at least partially embedded in said resilient material adjacent to different ones of said positions in said resilient material shoe portion;
• connectors having heads of a size so that each said head of each said connector is completely receivable in different ones of said enlarged bores of said openings a distance below said face of said resilient material shoe portion, said annular shoulders of said bushings providing a positive stop for said heads of said connectors when applying said resilient material shoe portion to said rigid shoe portion, said resilient material shoe portion adjacent to said smaller bores of said openings being pinched between said annular shoulders and said rigid shoe portion when said connectors are applied;
• and
• said openings being positioned through said resilient material shoe portion so that said apertures in said outside branch of said rigid shoe portion are positioned between adjacent ones of said openings when said shoe portions are connected, and so that said apertures in said inside branch of said rigid shoe portion are positioned between adjacent ones of said openings when said shoe portions are connected.