Re: RC: Squaring toes of hind hooves

[Jerry Kopp <jkopp@ohio.net>]

Corky,

        My horse has had the same problems.  My previous farrier would not
square the toes on the hind - something about interferring with the natural
foot fall - however, the natural footfall was forging and pulling front
shoes with increasing frequency.  New farrier has been out now three times (
5 week intervals).  First thing he did was square the hind toes, made an
immediate difference - no more forging.  But horse then had slight
interference problems, never interferred before.  Visit #2, new farrier
lowered inside wall - no more interference.  However, for all two years that
I have been conditioning - horse turned 6 this spring, he would do what you
have described.  We would be trotting along and all of a sudden I could feel
him lose his footing in the back, felt like his back end went out from
underneath.  Would happen a few times per ride of 11 - 14 miles.  I was told
initially - he needs to get fit and it will go away.  He's fit now and it
didn't go away.  Then tried dressage to held him use his body better -
certainly helped with transitions and bending, but was still slipping
behind.  Had discussed this with new farrier from first visit - he
recommended Borium.  I resisted the first two times wanted to see what
trimming and squaring the toes would do.  Still slipped.  Finally last week
visit # 3 I let farrier put a little Borium on the hind toes of the shoes.
WELL!!!  We did 14 miles and I couldn't believe the difference.  Not only
did he not slip but he strided out with much more power.  As my farrier had
predicted, now that he could feel more secure his strides improved.  Not
only the trot but canter felt better.  You might want to discuss this with
your farrier - it certainly helped our slipping problem.

Roxanne
NE Ohio 


At 08:14 PM 7/28/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Corky Unclecorkysgirl@aol.com
>Can anybody tell me if it is damaging to square the toes 
>on my horse's hind feet? (She wears shoes in the back, too)
>
>If she goes for 25 miles, at least twice in that time,
>I feel her hind end collapsing while at a trot. (It feels 
>like she's losing her hind end.) She'll collapse 3 times in 
>a row, with each stride, then back to a normal trot.
>
>The reason my blacksmith started squaring the toes was 
>because she was starting to forge, and this stopped the forging.  She never
used to lose her hind end last year,
>just forged after 20 miles or so, I think because of 
>laziness.  She's 8 years old, and very fit, but a lazy
>girl.
>Thanks for any advise on this,
>Corky
>
>
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