Bare Feet and Sore Backs

[Cheryl Newbanks <horsetrails@inficad.com>]

Raymond wrote:
>Most Field Trial horses are shod 'front only',but my farrier says 
>this is likely to lead to a problem elsewhere in the horse,over time.The 
>horse will carry himself in such away as to compensate,and develop 
>stiffnes/muscle shortening in the back,while not really showing any 
>symptoms in the rear heels which are the cause of the problem.Sort of 

This is probably what was wrong with my horse Blue when I started with him.
 He was barefoot behind all his life, it effected his gait so much so that
he was literally like riding a cow in all gaits!  I didn't notice how
really bad he was though until I put shoes on him behind the first time and
was amazed at how much those shoes behind improved his gait.  He was also
heavy on the forehand, pulling himself along instead of engaging his rear
end.  Maybe his back heels hurt him, I am sure something did though because
the improvement was remarkable with just one shoeing and he just kept
getting better all the time.  Now I have a nicely gaited horse.  Of course
that could be due to the fact that he is in great shape now too, but I
think the shoeing behind was the pivotal point where he started improving.
   
                                 Cheryl Newbanks 
                ~~ ^ ^       Just In Time Ranch
~~~\   _  ~~/ /\ /       Buckeye, AZ
       ( )__     ) ' '        horsetrails@inficad.com
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