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This is as I first saw the
right front foot of this horse. If you are to look closely at the
hairline and the bottom of the foot (just where it meets the shoe) you
might notice that the foot curves inward and then outward. This is due
to poor fitting shoes and not enough support. You might be able to
notice that the foot is wider at the hairline than it is at the middle
of the foot. This tells me that the shoe is being used in a manner that
is drawing in or shrinking the size of the foot. This one factor will
make it quite difficult and painful to walk. |
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If you are to look at this picture
you will appear to see a toed-out horse, but, a closer look at the overall
structure of the front of the horse reveals a horse that does not have the leg
and foot problems that are first evident. What I see is what I call an
"hour glass" horse. I use that term sine the legs of the horse are
much like the feet themselves. They are wider at the top and the bottom (the
distance between them) than in the middle. It has been my experience that this
is a condition that is man-made and can also be corrected by mankind. Also the
knees are not facing to the front as they should. They are turning outward and
this is an indication to me that the feet are not trimmed correctly. Once a
closer examination is made of the feet it should prove that out by showing that
the length of one side of the foot (the inside) is shorter than the other (the
outside). |
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A
quick look at this picture and you should realize that my feelings are starting
to come to be the truth. The right front foot is at a steeper angle than the
left front, also the left front foot is starting to become
"underslung". This will extend the toe out farther and draw the heel
of the foot under itself, all of this will change the "break over"
point of the foot and place additional stress to the supportive tendons and
ligaments of the left front leg. This too is a point that has to be addressed
and started to repair quickly. |
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A
closer look at the feet shows that the shoes are not supporting the leg
correctly and that excessive toe has been left in the past to try to make a
longer show foot available. The point that I brought up before about the feet
being two different angles can be seen quite clearly here by looking at the
hairline of each foot and then comparing them. You can also notice a slight
curve at the heel of the right front foot (the one closest) this tells us that
there is also a "underslung" heel starting to happen on this foot as
well. Another important point to notice at this point is at approximately half
way down the front of the foot you will see where the toe of the foot has
somewhat of a fold. That fold is from stress and pressure that has been created
from the toe wall being left excessively thick and creating pressure at that
point of the foot when the horse attempts to allow the foot to break over at the
toe. The longer that the toe gets, while at the same time being out of alignment
with the entire foot structure the greater the amount of stress is placed on
that particular part of the foot. |
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This is the right front foot as I
first saw it. Close examination of the foot shows us that there is a bulge or
"flaring" of the foot to the outer edge of the toe area. This again is
a stress or pressure point. I have discovered that feet tend to grow to pressure
points, be they natural or created. This one is created and if you look closely
you will notice that the area where the bulge is has grown over the shoe. That
is something that only happens when the foot is growing and operating
incorrectly. Another point is the hairline, it is not even, this leads us to
perceive that the foot is not trimmed correctly for if the hairline is not
helping to support the weight of the horse evenly. It is supporting the weight
in a way that throws the internal parts of the foot out of their proper position
and leads to a painful condition due to the misalignment of the joints and bones
that are affected by this happening. |
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The
next point that I go to and check is the back of the horse, I do this to see if
there is any pain in the area and what I can do to help eliminate as much as
possible. I have found that if the back is aligned properly and all of the
joints and bones that are affected by the movement of the legs and the back
together that most back soreness can be eliminated. This is done by making sure
that the rear feet are trimmed correct for the horse that is being worked upon
and that they are flat and balanced from front to back an from side to side at
the same time. That one small adjustment in my farrier technique made for many
more happier horses. In addition to looking and checking the back along the
spine for tenderness I also check the spine from back to front for straightness
and alignment from withers to tail. |
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Once
that I have checked the back for tenderness and related problems I then start to
remove the front shoes. It is quite noticeable that the indentation of the foot
that is just below the hairline, there is also the underslung heel problem and
in addition there is quite a problem that has been created that is known as
contracted heels. All of these problems will be addressed as we progress and
reshoe this foot. The next picture will show the cut that was made of this foot
to balance it to it more natural position. You will notice that a thicker cut
was made at the toe area than any other area. The sides were somewhat the same. |
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After the trim was accomplished the
foot is already starting to correct itself from the inside out. The hairline is
starting to become more straight and the foot is able to support the limb with
little to no pain. |
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We have also dressed down the
excess wall tissue at the toe to reduce the stress and allow the foot to start
to work as it was intended. In removing the excess wall from the toe area we
have not removed too much of it that would reduce the strength and durability of
the foot.
The next two pictures show where and
the amount of foot that was trimmed from the other front foot (the left front).
Looking at it you will notice that no outer heel was removed and more of the
inner toe area of the front of the foot was removed. |
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These
two pictures are of the same shoe. The first one is what the shoe looked like
when I removed it from the foot. Points to notice are that the right hand side
of the shoe and how straight it is. How close and tight the nail holes are, how
sharply the heel turn in and that one heel is longer than the other. To explain
those points; 1). The right hand side of the shoe was positioned in a manner
that was drawing the inside of the foot under itself, thus creating two problems
for that part of the foot. The first was a sheared heel, somewhat like a
contracted heel (which the horse does have) but it was drawing that particular
heel inward at a faster rate than the other one. The second problem was it made
the inside heel of the shoe hit the ground first, thus making it appear that the
horse was toeing out. It also made for a three point landing of the foot, rather
than a one point landing. 2). The tightness and closed nature of the nail holes
makes it rather restrictive as to where you are able to place the nails in the
wall of the foot of the horse. There is less control as to where the nails are
placed and a greater possibility of quicking the horse as you attached the shoe
to the foot. |
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This second picture of the same
horseshoe will shoe how I have allowed for the foot to start to correct itself
as the horse uses itself daily.
I have balanced out the shape of the horseshoe for two reasons. First it will
allow the inside of the foot that is drawing in at a faster rate to be able to
start to pull itself back outward through the use of proper support. The second
reason that the shoe was balanced out is that it brought the inside heel more
forward at the same time and allows them to make contact with the ground at the
same time, thus making for a one point landing. The nail holes have been opened
up in manner that will allow for greater control when the shoe is attached to
the foot. In addition I have beveled the front of the shoe to make a new break
over point for the foot to operate more efficiently. By moving the break over
point back it takes a great amount of stress off of the tendons and supportive
ligaments. Another feature of this change in the break over point is that it
will create a new habit in the horse to use this foot correctly and allow for
the proper break over that it should have. The next picture shows how the break
over point was mover back. This is done for a couple of reasons,
first, once a horse has shoes on for a short period of time they tend to create
this same type of break over point for themselves and second, it allows the foot
to operate more efficiently for the way that it has to operate. |
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This
is the front left foot with the shoe attached. Looking closely at the hairline
you will now notice that it is parallel with the ground, this is important to
realize that the internal bones are now starting to realign themselves. This
will allow the lessening of stress at specific joints and relieving any pain
that has been part of the daily life of this horse. You will also notice that
there is quite a bit of the horseshoe extended out past the inside of the foot.
This is necessary at this time to allow the inside of the foot to start to pull
itself back out and become more normal. Allowing this support to be realized
will allow the foot to be properly supported and to use itself as it is suppose
to be. |
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Close observation of the photo to
the left will show that there is quite a bit of shoe sticking out everywhere. We need to
get a larger area for this horse to be able to properly support itself and
become more comfortable. In addition there is a support at the rear of the foot
as well, the heels of the shoe have been widened to help with the contracted
heel problem and to take the stress away from the tendons and supportive
ligaments. |
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It is at this point that work on
the back feet was started, our overall goal here is to allow the horse to be
able to support more weight with their back feet than it had been able to do in
the past. Once that we are able to do that we will then have the center of
balance corrected, the back realigned correctly then the horse will be able to
start to move more like it is suppose to. |
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This is the amount of foot that was
removed from the left rear foot, again mostly toe was removed to allow for the
back to be aligned correctly. |
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Next we applied a new shoe to the same foot and removed the
excess toe wall. One thing to remember is that feet have shape that they should
naturally have., The front feet should be more round in shape and the rear feet
should be somewhat egg shaped. |
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The same foot from the rear, again
there is sufficient amount of shoe left for the foot to operate correctly and to
support the tendons and ligaments. |
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Next is the other rear foot,
working the same pattern to accomplish the same results. |
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If you look closely you can start
to see a stronger correct slope to the back in the upper picture after the
correct trimming and shoeing has been accomplished. The picture below is how the
back looked when we started. |
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After Trimming |
Before Trimming |
