Ridecamp: [RC] [RC] Trimming your own horse's feet

K S Swigart Wrote:

There are several aspects of these statements that are
slightly less than accurate.  The first being that there
is no equine slaughter house in El Monte, California nor
was there in 1994.  It has been illegal to slaughter
horses in California (for money) for decades.  Nor is
it now illegal to sell horses for slaughter in the
state of California, it is merely illegal to knowingly
sell them for slaughter for human consumption.

There is, I believe, a rendering plant in El Monte, and
 this may be where the frozen feet are coming from.

First off I didn't specify an "EQUINE SLAUGHTER HOUSE" secondly I knew
they came from El Monte from some facility that handled equine
carcasses. As well, my interpretation of the laws concerning the
slaughter of horses for human consumption are not the issue. Maybe if I
was an attorney and this was a BBS discussing legal issues it would be.
But it's not.

I can say that the shoeing history of a horse is not need to determine
the effects that shoeing had on the skeletal system of the leg. When the
leg was received by the school the shoe was still nailed to the hoof and
the hoof therefore untrimmed. All hoof measurements were still intact.
The hoof was then measured seven ways to Sunday, and then the size and
fit of the shoe that was nailed to the hoof, (Same one that was nailed
to it when the leg parted company with the rest of the horse) was added
to the equation. This set of measurements, Upon dissection of the leg,
Graphically corresponded to, and were determined to be the contributing
factor of changes that took place it the coffin bone, navicular bone,
short pastern bone, long pastern bone, sessamoid bones, distal aspect of
the cannon bone, as well as a variety of tendon and ligament
abnormalities. That were causing chronic pain in the horse's limb to the
extent that it more than likely led to it's death BEFORE it reached an
old age. If I'm correct I think the age of the animal was also recorded.

Kat Wrote:
I can probably find out what conclusions (if any)
were drawn from the study (if there was such a study)
at Cal Poly, but I can pretty much guarantee you
(unless the study was done on horses of their own
about whom they had detailed history of the hoof care
they had received during their lives and the training
of the people who provided the care) that nobody
could make a valid correlation between the condition
of a dead horse's legs and the training that its
farrier had received.

The study, It could have also been a thesis being worked on by a Dr. or
group of Drs. Was definitely being conducted by somebody in the
physiology dept. at the W K Kellogg Arabian Horse Center. I didn't deal
with them daily so therefore can't remember their names. Not to mention
it was also 8 years ago. However I do remember the findings because I
took notes in class. I sat through lectures given by the persons
involved on more than one occasion during the course of the class. The
detailed history of the hoof care a horse received during it's life is
recorded by the structures within the leg. Thus reflecting the level of
competency of which the practitioner providing the care was functioning
at.

Rob




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