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Question: Do you think my friend's
horse might have a long toe/low heel situation due to the past shoeing
.... a couple years? And, with the protection provided to the heels by
your shoeing with frog support pads do you think that the heels will
grow out? I think conformation plays a role here in how we view
the foot, my friends horse being back at the knees and heavy on the
forehand??? Impacting how the angle looks since set back from the
chest? I'm particularly neurotic about long-toe/low-heel due to my
past experience with another horse's shoeing which caused
coon-footedness and resulting pulled suspensory.
Thanks for your explanation, Chris. It's
really hard for all of us when opposing advice comes from different
experts.
Answer: I didn't
see a long toe/low heel in your friend's horse and thought that
his shoeing under the previous farrier was good. I couldn't
find anything wrong with his shoeing. Your friend's horse
was hitting flat on all four feet when I examined his movement
over pavement across the street. The only thing that I noticed
when I shod him was that there was a lot of remedial work that
had to be done with regard to retained sole and frog that hadn't
been trimmed out in past shoeings. I believe that not trimming
and verifying that there was healthy frog material led to his
having the severe thrush problem in his left front foot. I had
to trim away nearly half of his frog on one side down to his
sensitive frog, and the center of his frog was left with a deep
soft crevice just like your other horse that will heal over time
with copper sulfate in under the pad. The silicone rubber is
currently filling the removed frog so that he isn't bearing
weight on those tissues in a "lopsided" manner.
Usually when a foot starts looking coon-footed, long and narrow
in the heels, there is some stretching of the laminae at the toe
and an atrophy of the heels due to low frog pressure. Most of
these types of feet when radiographed will show that the
distance from the outside of the dorsal (front) of the hoof wall
is greater near the ground than near the coronary band which
calls for a backing up of the toe and sliding the shoes back as
well. The nails can be driven inside the white line because the
sole has stretched out past the sensitive areas and the hoof
capsule is "lying" to the viewer as to where the bones actually
are in the foot. There are several "markers" from the outside
of the hoof capsule without taking radiographs that will help an
experienced farrier to immediately recognize this condition and
not even need radiographs to know that things on the inside of
the foot are not what they appear on the outside. We say that
the hoof capsule is "lying" -- to the untrained eye.
Here's what you look for:
-
Flat sole - no cup to it
after verifying with trimming before shoeing.
-
A longer than normal
distance from the tip of the frog to the edge of the white
line--sole stretching (and corresponding thinning of the sole
which is not visible).
-
Tip of frog where it
meets the sole (and you cannot tell where one ends and the other
begins) is not lower than the tip of edge of the front of the
foot (higher off the ground). This point where the frog and
sole are at the same height never lies and is about .45 inches
from the pedal bone. It tells you where the bone is in
relationship to the hoof capsule which is comprised of the horn,
sole, and frog.
-
The top one inch of hoof
near the coronary band is steeper in angle than the rest of the
horn at the dorsal (front) of the hoof. This upper part of the
hoof hasn't had time and the pressure needed yet to pull away
from the pedal bone. This is another area that never lies.
Project a line down this straight area at the top and it will
dissect a place farther back at the toe down below which would
then be pointing to where the edge of the shoe or trim should
be. I can slide the shoes back to this point where it looks
like I'm going to "quick" the horse, and it never hurts them
because the sole, laminae and whole front are stretched out in
front and away from sensitive areas.
-
Stretched white line.
The appearance of the white line should be about as thick as a
human fingernail. If you see more than this thickness, you are
looking at a delaminating hoof wall. The horse isn't lame
because it's not all the way up to the coronary band. But, you
are courting disaster should the horse eat something to make
them sick (founder), or they have a big ride on hard ground that
causes the rest of the healthy laminae to tear internally all
the way up to the coronary band (road founder).
Remember, you cannot get rid
of a coon foot by raising the heels. Although, I can
raise crushed heels by transferring the weight to the rest of the
foot and particularly the frog with frog support pads and impression
material. Raising the heels without support will greatly
exacerbate the crushed heel syndrome.
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