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[RC] Forging and Mystery Lameness - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Bonnie Snodgrass chicamuxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== First, for the person with the mystery lameness that turned out to be a ligament tear at the navicular bone. Did the vets at the clinic suggest using shock wave therapy? It is particularly indicated for injuries where the attachement of a ligament to the bone has been injured. It speeds healing and recovery time. You might want to inquire about it and read up on it a bit. Forging. Boy do I know forging!!! I too have a horse that forges. She is long legged and short backed. I've talked to so many farriers about her forging. Only one was able to shoe her so she didn't forge and he lives in another state and charges $300 for shoeing. He a vet/farrier/equine podiatrist. Needless to say I only used him once. But here's what I've learned. 1. A barefoot horse wears their feet naturally and as soon as you put shoes on the shoes prevent wear. So the shoes need to be set on the feet in such a way as to immulate what those feet would look like after some wear has occurred. 2. Set the front shoes back off the toes so the front toes are squared off some. One of the easiest ways to do this is use a natural balance shoe as the squared off toe is built into the shoe. 3. Keep the front feet at a lower angle than the back feet. This seems to be the norm for horses anyway and the lower the front hoof angle(shorter heel) the sooner the foot will lift off the ground and you want that front foot to get out of the way. I am not advocating radically changing the angles of your horses feet. But remember that barefoot your horse wore those feet off some and possibly had a lower heel naturally from wear. With shoes those heels won't wear down. It took me a few minutes to understand why a lower heel speeds up break over. It has to do with tension on the tendons down the back of the leg. The lower the heel the more tension on the tendons sooner so the foot lifts off the ground soon. Higer heel means more slack in the tendons and the foot can stay on the ground longer and further back under the horses body before it lifts off the ground. We actually tried raising the heels at one point with my mare and worsened the forging to the point of pulling shoes. Big mistake! 4. Extend the heels of the hind shoes, not a huge amount but they can stick out behind a 1/2" or 3/4" without harming anything. This keeps the hind foot on the ground longer. 5. Does squaring the hind toe help any? Good question. The thing is squareing the hind toes causes the foot to break over faster so it comes forward sooner and may exasperate the striking of the front soles. It seems that most horses naturally have rather pointed hind toes naturally. My farrier is going to experiement with this change the next time my mare is shod to see if NOT squaring the hind toes improves things. Food for thought. Bonnie Snodgrass ===========================================================REAL endurance is sleeping in the tack compartment of your trailer w/the door open, and your horse snorts/snots on your forehead every 30 min! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ===========================================================
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