Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Farrier Question - High Heels

Don't worry about growing toe!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's at the length that is optimum for
the horse. The heels however are a different story. Since the hoof angle is
greater than the pastern angle I would be safe to assume, without actually being
able to look at the horse, that the heels are in fact longer than the horse's
physiology finds optimum. Therefore I would hack them off until the hoof angle
matches pastern angle. Don't worry about doing this all at once since you'll more
than likely save the horse from future suspensory ligament injuries. High heels
increase tension on the suspensory ligaments and superficial digital flexor
tendon and, Decrease tension on the deep flexor tendon. The suspensories and
superficial flexor tendons are weaker than the deep flexor tendons and are
therefore more prone to injury due to a hoof trimmed leaving the heels too long.
Drop the heels as far down as dictated by the layers of exfoliating sole
material!!!!

Rob

RDCARRIE@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Got a question for the farriers, and those of you with a lot more experience
> than I have (I also have a call in to my farrier, but would like some input
> to discuss with him.)
> We just bought a horse whose front feet are quite odd.  She's a 12 yr old
> Paso Fino, and the horses on the farm where we got her have had little or no
> hoof care in months (by admission of the owner...she said the gelding we just
> bought had not had his feet done since January...and I believe it from
> looking at his feet when we got him).  Long story - her longtime trainer who
> did every thing left abruptly, she was detached from the horse operation,
> etc., and is now overwhelmed...she still has 35 or 36 horses...sigh.
>
> Anyhow, back to this mare.  Her front pasterns appear to be angled pretty
> normal, as near as I can tell.  However, her front hooves are very "boxy",
> for lack of a better word, and have *very* high heels.  The front of the hoof
> is practically vertical.  I'm not exaggerating...she's practically walking on
> her tippy toes.  The ground on the farm she came from is very hard, so she
> probably just kept wearing off any growth of toe as the heels were allowed to
> grow long - just a guess.  Looks to me like those heels sure need to come
> down so that she can grow some toe and so that the hoof angle can be brought
> to match the pastern angle.  However, from what I recall, as the heels are
> lowered, that's going to put strain on the tendons, ligaments, etc. in the
> leg, pastern, etc.  So, seems like we're going to need to do this gradually.
> My question is, how often should I have my farrier out to take a bit more off
> the heel?  Also, should we just let her roam in the pasture (it's about 1
> acre, and flat) while we're getting her hoof angles adjusted, or is it ok (or
> desireable?) to do some light riding?  She's sound for light riding in her
> current condition (we rode her to try her out back in Feb. - her feet looked
> the same then).  She's not going to be a distance horse...we just bought her
> because she's so darned much fun to ride.  <G>  But we want to get her feet
> in shape before we do much (or any??) riding with her...don't want to risk an
> injury.
>
> Oh - to keep this endurance related, the Paso gelding we bought is going to
> be my husband's LD horse.  Yes, he knows he won't be "top tenning", but he
> doesn't care - he's always wanted a Paso, and just wants to go to rides with
> me and have fun doing the LD while I'm doing the 50.  Actually, I think he's
> just trying to get out of crewing...  <G>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Dawn in East Texas
>
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--
Rob Kalb
Rob's Equine Hoof Care
Phelan CA



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 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
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