Why are scotch bottom shoes called that? The squared toe, the way they make a hoof flare? Are they good or bad for a horse? What is their purpose? Thanks again. Great site.

Here's an passage from the Rural Heritage book, Draft Horses, An Owner's Manual, on that subject:

Scotch Bottoms
Show shoes, or so-called Scotch bottoms (a term we find insulting to the people of Scotland), are weighted and shaped to enhance the horse’s gait or movement. Bevels may be added to enhance the hoof’s size. Because of attempts to increase hoof size and change the gait in the show draft, shoeing the show horse may cause problems. An increase in the weight of the shoe creates an exaggerated gait that puts stress on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. The increased weight of the shoe also increases the force of the hoof hitting the ground, creating concussion injuries.
The original beveled shoe (Scotch bottom) complemented the Clydesdale’s foot. The shoe was full and had a slightly square toe and a well-defined toe clip. It had a gentle slope to the outer edge of the shoe to follow the natural slope of the hoof wall. These shoes came either with or without heel caulks.
Our current style of shoeing show drafts consists of an oversize shoe on an overgrown hoof. Flares of the hoof are exaggerated and promoted, resulting in tearing of the hoof laminae. This trend results in a greater incidence of navicular fractures and degenerative joint problems. The hoof of the show draft is no longer natural in form or function, often leading to early retirement of the horse.
We discourage oversize show shoes, designed to exaggerate the size of the horse’s hoof, as they result in improper hoof balance.
Going Against Fashion
Many heavy horses today are kept to be looked at, and fashion plays a greater role than it should in the way they are shod. A regional draft horse show is a good place to check out what’s popular in shoeing in your area. Once a fashion becomes accepted it may quickly become the norm. The fashion we have seen develop is for overgrown feet with built-up outside heels and exaggerated square toes on the forefeet. This fashion has been encouraged to the point of crippling horses.
To stand in the way of fashion takes a brave person, but the hooves of show horses can be brought back to a normal shape and balance. Debilitating fashion trends may be addressed by suggesting classes for Best Shod and an award for Best Shod in Show, to be judged by a knowledgeable draft horse farrier and not the horse owners.
~ Michael J. Wildenstein, CJF
Draft Horses, An Owner's Manual

I believe they are designed to make the horse pick it's feet up higher. I doubt they're good for the horse long-term, changing the hoof shape and natural gait.

I might be incorrect on this, but the Suffolk Punch used to award the best hoof award. Best way to judge a horse is bare foot. You can't be fooled by putty and paint then. Also it bugs me to watch hitch classes because they are checked up so they are tossing their heads trying to get relief. If they are good naturaly they don't need it. I may have ruffled a few feathers.

Wes, do you check up your mules that high? Or put on scotch bottoms to work in the hay fields? In snow if they go down they have to have that ability to stick their neck down and out to get back up.

Should have added; you never know what you have until it's bare foot and sweating for a week. I have not bought any horse except my stallion sight unseen. when they have shoes on you are buying sight unseen.

I run barefoot on everyone here Don.

Have to agree with you on the shoeing and over checks. I don't even know where mine are.

A horse that sticks his chin in the air and trots real fast does me no good.

Everything in moderation. There are plenty of non show draft horses with horrible feet and poorly shod.

I agree Dris. I personally don't mind a horse that can stick his head up and trot out as long as he can come down and be a chore teammate later. Some horses are way over shod for the show ring.

The scotch show was first used in the fields as a way to give more area to the foot to avoid sinking in deep in the mud. The toe was shortened to break over allowing the horse to lift the foot out of the soft earth easier. As with anything, the shoes can get bigger, padded, and weighted to ridiculous levels.

I hear all the time about how you can't work a modern hitch horse. Personally I am pretty happy working what many would consider a horse that is too modern, too much leg, and so forth. You can get too narrow and hot but in my opinion you can get too short, squat, and boxy. Moderation is the key.

Also true Dris.

Shoeing fads have been around for many years. Form very seldom fits function in the long run. A Scotch shoe, when properly sized for a foot and put on right can work fine for the short haul. Most of those horses don't wear shoes year around.

My grandfather raised a mare that the hoof wall was so thin that you couldn't have shod her. She eventually went to kill. No argument there Dris.

KM, I had never read that the scotch shoe was used for that. The interesting comment about working; my wife was asked to vidieo my neihbor feeding cows with his team. They led them out a person with each horse hooked the lines together at the pole. Sled was already loaded with square bales. Damn horses wouldn't walk, they trotted while me and another guy broke twine and kicked off hay. Not show horses; just didn't know how to do the job. To me it was disgusting.

I love heads up horses that cannot wait to cover ground. We keep the toe clipped back. We only use shoes (scotch) for sale or show. Barefoot for farm work.

Depends on the job.

Spend all day going through gates and feeding cows by yourself then you appreciate a team that has a steady walk and level heads. It's about impossible to do with a death grip on the lines.

Thank you everyone for your input and responses. Like most issues there are many views. I now have a iittle more insight on what a scotch bottom shoe is.

Let me clarify something here; these horses are very well trained and will walk when I say walk. They will stand while I rethread twine underneath a baler. However, when I growl get up they get with it!!

Dris, I always heard never yell at kids, horses or dogs. But I do have this German Short hair Lab cross pup. He has heard stuff that I wouldn't have said in front of my mother.

Best horsemen around here would have been going tighten up and the going easy, easy and when everything was right it was ok or a kiss or get up. These would have been hard pulls, otherwise it didn't matter.

I think we've had this discussion several times already. Anything that improves the horse naturally, like proper fitting shoes and good harness , should be sought after, anything that forces the horse into an unnatural posture or causes unnecessary strain on parts of the body and feet should be avoided. Unfortunately that is not always how people handle their horses. It is proven that heads FORCED high can cause back problems and oversized feet can cause problems inside the hoof. The scotch bottom shoe as such is not the problem, its distortion in conjunction with putty is.

Technically, a "Scotch Bottom" is a shoe with a bevel to the edge (an angle designed to follow the NATURAL angle of the hoof). It doesn't refer to the size of the shoe or the die (shape). But nowadays the term has gotten all mixed-up with the show practice of overshoeing and flaring.

The longer I mess with horses (and that hasn't been all that long compared to many of you.) I am convinced that very few can do it all. From super quiet feed team, to jacked up fire breathing hitch horse, to pulling horse, to parade and wagon ride team. It is just too diverse of skill set for a single animal to do all of the above to a high level. That said with time and training most can get the work done.

Nothing I like better than to see a good team at what ever job do it well.

Klaus; Amen that was what I was trying to say!

Dris,the difference to me is not hitch type vs farm chunk. Mine are used a lot like yours, and know what the job takes.
I have worked some that were only used for show with snug over check. Different story.
The good athletic type that some call hitchy is actually a good using horse I have come to find out . Working with this type of horse (be it Shire, Percheron, Belgian) these last few years has been an eye opener.
Having shod horses for quite a while, as well as really using them, I can't help but think the scotch bottom shoe would stress the heck out of everything.

Exactly right, KM, while there are many horses, which are quite versatile, one can nevertheless not expect them to do things that their conformation and disposition do not favor. People bred different kinds of horses for different purposes. That of course means that a horse owner has to tailor his requirements to the horse he/she has or gets a horse that is suitable for what needs to be done.

Agree Wes. It is way over used. Athletic horse isn't bad. Some get used and trained poorly. Over checks, over shod, drugs, etc has replaced good sound horsemanship. Well built horse can do anything but answer the phone. We just have to ease up on show folks. We need them. Hell we need everyone to have heavy horses. To each his own, we have bigger problems then how folks use their horses. I for one am glad folks still need and want them.

That's a view point I hadn't considered. Being down in my little hole in Wyoming, I'm not around many show horses and forget how big that segment of the draft industry is.