RE: hoof angles to correct shoulder differences

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My first mare had exactly the same problem. Her right shoulder though was
slightly lower than the left. Plus, her right front was slightly club footed.
I bought her as a two yr. old. My first horse since childhood. (I bought
those soft, big, eye's & beautiful face) Of course, I didn't know then that
I would want to do endurance. Over the years - - - I tried EVERYTHING.
Wedges, pads, angles up, angles down, differernt saddle pads, saddles, etc.
The longer the distances got, the worse the problems became. As we kept
trying different "corrective measures", she began to have problems in the
shoulders.

I ended up with a Marciante custom made saddle - which both she & I loved, & a
Sportack wool/foam pad. That worked, but over distance - she was still put
under additional strain. Sadly, these were not her only problems. She was
impossible to rate, & couldn't mentally deal with competition. I finally took
her to a Arab race horse trainer. They had her re-shod, & over a period of a
few shoeings - took her right back to what was the most NATURAL angle position
- for her. In other words, one foot high, & one foot low. They did keep the
toes rolled, & used racing plates.

I've often wondered if all the uncomfortable things she must have endured over
the years contributed to her mental decline?

My 0.02 (been there - painfully) - is to get the best fitting saddle you can,
and use caution with any "corrective" measures.

Connie Hoge
pvtevt@msn.com

Laney, You wrote:
>know have looked at him and identified the problem as uneven shoulders, the
>left being set further back than the right. The explanation for why the
saddle pad shifts (see my other post)is that his left shoulder has to travel
>further forward and back to equal the more straight up and down >movement for
>the more forward set right shoulder. This causes him to hollow his left
>side which pushes everything to the right rear.
>One farrier suggested putting a lift on his left front hoof to bring
>it more forward. I'm wondering if the same thing could be accomplished >by
>raising the angle of the left hoof (i.e., more heel) and lowering that of
the right (i.e., less heel).

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