horse wearing aluminum shoes

Question
hello sir. lets suppose i am a trainer and one of my horses are ready to race tomorrow. my horse was exercised for a week wearing steel shoes. to make my horse perform well, i would obviously remove the steel and replace it with aluminum shoes. if the race is scheduled tomorrrow afternoon around 1:30pm, when should i shoe my horse with an aluminum. i mean, tomorrow early in the morning or today night? will the horse get used to the new shoe within couple of hours?

Answer
It depends on how much foot has to be cut down. If it is a drastic cut from maybe letting the feet grow for 5-6 weeks or more, then I would give the horse at least 3 days to acclimate to them. Ideally, I would really like them to have at least one work out with the new shoes.

If the foot has not grown for more than 3 to four weeks then I would shoe the horse on the same day of the race. You really need to make that judgement yourself. The reason I like to shoe on the same day is because if the horse is quicked (nail driven into the sensitive laminae) or sored from a rough farrier, then it usually gets worse the next day as the hoof becomes more inflamed. If the quick is severe then I obviously would scratch the horse. An inconsiderate farrier may not file the nails down at the foot or use nail pullers to remove nails carefully as to not pry the shoe off with a harsh jerking motion. A shoe absolutely should not be "jerked" off on race day as this may cause a sprain or trauma to the foot. It should never be jerked off at any time, but most farriers are in a hurry and refuse to take special care of your horse.