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My old mare was narrow in the back. She also had a pretty good over 
stride and would swing her rear feet out past her fronts. It looked like 
she was swinging her rear leg in then out in an arc - but that may have 
teen an illusion. She never interfered. At one ride when I checked it 
the vet said "I needed to do something about the shoeing on her rear 
feet to alter the foot flight." So I talked to the farrier at the ride, 
Biltmore.

He watched her and they told me to have my farrier put a trailer of 
about 3/4's inch on the outside of the rears and to turn it out about 45 
degrees. Hmmmmmmm... That sounded pretty radical. When I got home the 
vet was out for something routine so I asked him about it. Bill was a 
great foot guy. He had been a farrier prior to vet school. He looked at 
her move and looked at some old shoes. He said, "how old is she." I said 
12. Then he said that, her leg column is formed and the the only thing 
"corrective shoeing" would do was make her lame. If she didn't interfere 
- forget it. I forgot it.

At some speeds she would wear the inside of the rear shoe more than the 
outside but I attribute that to how she landed (and she also was a 
slider wearing out rear shoes quite a bit faster than the fronts) when 
she "wide tracked" to avoid the front feet.

She only took a lame step in a ride one time and that was after falling 
into a washout on the trail and twisting something. The vet said if it 
were 80 miles in a 100 she would be fine to go on, but it was only 30 so 
I pulled.

You got to play the cards you are dealt or as my Ganddaddy would say, 
"if it ain't broke you can sure change that by fixing it."

Happy Thanksgiving all,
Truman



rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> > when they were NOT balanced is when you take them off you see three 
> > things:One side of the shoe is thinner than the otherThe inside of 
> > the shoe on the thin side is darkThe hoof wall on that side of the 
> > hoof will tend to be concave.
> >     
>
> You just described Kaboot's rear feet...but I never saw anyone who could
> fix it. My husband does the same thing to his boots and they're both very
> bowlegged. >g<  Kaboot's stance is wide in the back. He is also
> bowlegged. The faster he goes the wider he spreads so what might be
> hitting level at a walk won't even be close at his big trot. His hooves
> wanted to swoop inward on the inside and turn under on the outside. They
> were just trying to get under the center of his body. I let him go
> barefoot for a year or 2 recently and the outside wall was practically to
> the point of turning under ( just like Bill's oldest boots!)
>
> After a 100 the outside wall of Kaboot's shoes would be paper thin. No
> hint of a nail groove. How do you blame a farrier for that? And even if
> it is the horse's fault...is there something a farrier can do that would
> be a help to the horse or do you consider that just a part of the horse?
>
> Angie
>
>   


--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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