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Re: [RC] [RC] hooves - Dawn CarrieThe article wasn't saying that it was ok for a horse to be a little "off" as in a little lame...what it was saying was, it was ok for a horse to not have matching feet, and that trying to force the feet/hooves to match might *cause* lameness or other issues, as you may be experiencing now.
My 100 mile horse, Bear, has front feet that do not match at all. His left front grows heel, while the right does not, and tends to grow under and grow more toe. It appears to me that he has high-low. And I'm thinking that his right front leg is a tiny bit longer than his left front. But he's 9 years old, has done 3 100s, a 75, and a lot of 50s, and seems to be doing fine. I'm thinking it might cause him more trouble to try and fix things now than to leave it alone. I deal with it by having him reshod every 5 weeks so as to not let the right front toe get too long and the feet get too out of balance. Seems to work so far. If something is causing a problem, then it definitely needs to be fixed. But if the horse is dealing with it ok, then sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone, as the horse has likely adapted to the condition.
Dawn Carrie, Texas
On 7/22/08, Kitley, Carrie E Civ USAF AFSPC 30 MDSS/SGSLF <carrie.kitley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
That's a very interesting article. If we could just convince all the ride vets of this, then we wouldn't get pulled for being a little "off"? I just spent a bundle on x-rays and diagnostic imaging and a "specialized" farrier, trying to get my girl's feet all even (she was low on one heel, but it never seemed to bother her much), and now I'm wondering if it wasn't a mistake. She's now having some minor back pain after riding this weekend, that she never suffered from before. I'm so frustrated I could scream. I sure wish our furry friends could talk! Sometimes I think I'm doing the right thing by her, and then I get more information and question what I've just done.
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