While concave shoes have been popular for decades in the United Kingdom, they’re only now starting to catch on among American shoers.

This English style multi-purpose shoe is used effectively where a horse needs to feel confident that he’s got a good grip of the ground. Traction is very important for the majority of horses and enables them to perform to the best of their ability.

With concave shoes, traction comes from the profile of the concave section and the depth of fullering that stretches along the full length of the shoes. Shoes that are made from a fully fullered concave profile are lighter and offer farriers the choice of a thicker or wider shoe with less weight. Your actual shoe selection will depend on foot conformation and the particular discipline in which the horse is used.

Concave shoes are used extensively in Europe for events such as barrel racing, cutting, 3-day eventing, cross country, endurance, dressage, jumping, equitation and other situations. Thanks to improved traction and the lightness of the shoe that the concave profiled section provides, a number of top riders have seen increased performance on horses fitted with concave shoes.

Designed by four-time World Championship Blacksmith Billy Crothers of Wales, a line of machine-made steel concave shoes that closely resemble hand-forged shoes are made from rolled concave steel sections with a punch and turn manufacturing process.

Crothers says the technique provides a greater selection of concave steel size in relation to the section of material being used…