//--- forwarded letter
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> ------------------------------
>
> From: Sue Cunningham <MDPYSSC@fs1.scg.man.ac.uk>
> Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 08:58:18 GMT
> Subject: [endurance] horses: uneven leg length
>
> Recently I've had a lot of problems with my 5yr old
gelding, with over
> long toes causing stress to his joints on his left fore.
I'd always
> trusted my farrier knew what he was doing. Guess you
always learn the
> hard way. Anyway, after a couple of sets of remedial
shoeing at the
> vet clinc, a new farrier was supposed to come yesterday,
so we'd been
> taking a critical look at Ari's feet and legs. When we
finally got him
> to stand square, we noticed that his left knee is slightly
higher than
> his right.
>
> Unfortunatly the new farrier didn't show, so we never got
the chance
> to ask him about it. So what do you think? Its only
slight, and
> has never been commented on by any vet or farrier, not
even when he
> was in for remedial shoeing. He is sound, and his action
doesn't seem
> uneven. I assume it must put extra stress on him - is
there anything
> that a farrier could do to help this? His feet don't seem
uneven, they
> do look like a pair, and we can't really determine where
in the leg
> the difference is.
>
> Sue
> sue.cunningham@mcc.ac.uk (work)
> sue@snaffle.demon.co.uk (home)
>
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>
> End of endurance-digest V1 #259
> *******************************
I've had all of my horses evaluated by a farrier and
horseman by the name of Moses Gonzalez. He is located in
California (USA) and has worked on a method of shoeing
called "Proper Balanced Movement". This involves the
placement of pads to correct motion and muscle development
problems cause by either improper shoeing or uneven growth
patterns in the horses' body. You are about 90% of the way
there by discovering the leg length differences. Now how to
correct this? Place a plastic pad under the horses' shorter
leg to see if this causes the knees to line up better. Try
different thicknesses in the pad.
Also you will have to look for other problems such as a
shoulder too forward of the other. Also leg length and hoof
imbalance may cause overdevelopment in one shoulder versus
the other. You may need to change the angle that the hoof
strikes the ground by the use of a wedge pad. By bringing
the overdeveloped shoulder forward with a wedge pad you can
improve the balance of the horse's upper body movement.
I've had to use wedges and lifts in many of my horses. They
aren't perfect, as we may think! Sometimes I've had one leg
lifted or wedged. Sometimes a diagnoal will need help as
well. Stand the horse on a hard, level surface. Square up
all the legs, then walk all around the animal. If you are
short you will have to get up on box or stool to look down
it's spine from behind the horse. Look for one shoulder side
being larger than the other. This is the shoulder too far
forward problem.
Also look for crooked hips, the points of the shoulder from
the side should line up, the muscles in the chest should be
even, the points of the rear should line up when looked at
from the side. Get an outline of the horse and make your
notes on that for reference. Then try different size wedge
pads and different thickneses to see what happens. Make your
notes and let the farrier know what you want to do.
This is a very basic explanation of what we do for leg
length adjustments and may get you on your way.
Kerry Ridgeway has learned some of this method for
evaluations, you may have heard of him since he does travel
extensively.
Good luck and let us know what you have done to correct
your horse's problems.
Ray Santana
UC Davis Medical Center
Network Operations
raymond.santana@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu