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Re: [RC] Stifle problem - Don HustonLucy wrote: During the ride, I noticed that she was "knuckling over" in the back more than I was comfortable with.Me too but it's a long story. 5 years ago I bought my horse from the racetrack. He had long toes, no heels and moved fine. My farrier (and I agreed at the time) said we must have angles of 55 front and 55+ rear and grow some heel and he will move better. After a year the angles were right but the heel wasn't growing so the foot was short (under 3") and the horse was tender (not enough sole) so he put on eggbars. We did 7 50's the second year and my horse starts "knuckling over" in the rear after 30 miles. I think it's cause he's tired or lazy or saddle sore (his back was sore sometimes) or whatever so we slow down after lunch but it continues to happen most rides. We finished 19 out of 85 in Nov at a Ridgecrest 65 miler but I thought his feet hurt. I put easyboots on the front for padding and we try one more 50 in Jan but he is now off in the front so we pull. From being fine with terrible angles my horse is now lame with perfect angles. I pull the shoes, study up, start barefoot trimming myself and start training with Old Macs. It's been 3 years now and the change in my horse is amazing. After about 18 months I quit trying to change angles and started averaging the fronts (55 RF, 50 LF = 52+ so I would trim heel on RF to 53 and trim toe on LF to 52) same for averaging the rears whatever they were. I also quit carving the sole, trimmed just a little off the sides of the frog, nipped the horn off at the waterline (looks white) and rounded it up with the rasp so the horse walks on the sole .. blasphemy . . and frog. Every once in a while I will find a loose chunk of white, dry sole and pull it off with the knife and find nice solid concave sole underneath. Stop right there, no forceful cutting! Now after 3 years I take the nippers and follow the whiteline (which is dark brown from dirt jammed in it) and nip the horn up at 45 to the sole, rasp it smooth (called a mustang roll) maybe trim a little frog and check the angles. All 4 hooves will be 52 and 4+" looonnngg with 1" of heel, solid thick horn and sole, no cracks, thrush, incredible improvement and no angle adjustment needed. Averaging the angles lets the horse determine what works for them and that's where I leave it. During these 3 years we completed 5-25's to restart then 14-50's (has never "knuckled over" again and never a sore back) and now when we get home my horse immediately runs around playing with his buddies like he did when I first bought him instead of walking around looking stiff or just not quite right. The point here is that the only thing different is hooves. Same rider, saddle, pad, headstall, ride speed (back half), food, etc. If your horse seems off or performing poorly it could be their feet. Don't get locked in on some preset "correct" angle or length (that toe is too long) horse poop! Ask your farrier what angles and length he's using and then slowly make some changes. I suggest you make a change then keep using it for 4-5 shoeings to get a good feel for improvement or not. Don Huston =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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