Mule Shoe Guides

Description

Mule Shoe Guides are the first items into “hole”. Mule shoes are short, lengths of tubing with a diagonal cut across the end.  They are then fitted to the bottom end of a tubing string. This facilitates stabbing into a packer or packers. The outside should be barrel shaped to aid entry into the packer bore. A chamfered area on the inside bottom edge prevents hold-ups when running, and aids wireline re-entry.

When the tubing string is stepped down in diameter below the packer, some form of centralizer should be fitted to, or near the shoe.  This minimizes problems associated with hitting rock ledges or washouts in the well bore as the casing is lowered into the well. This is especially true in deviated wells. 

When selecting the type of guide to be used, consideration must be given to the types of equipment that may have to pass through the guide during the life of the well.