Re: CTR: Toe length

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

>Another conflict today with the barn goddess.  As usual, she wants me to
>listen to her and forget all this internet stuff.
>
>As my riding buddy was commenting on how good my gelding's feet are looking
>now, the BG responded with, "But you've got to get her (my farrier) to leave
>more toe on him.  He looks downright clubfooted."
>
>The bg's breed of choice of TWH, though she would never engage in the TWH
>(nightmare) show practices.  She's also a very tradional horsewoman.  Am I
>right that TWH's tend to be trimmed with longish toes (or maybe the BG is
>just traditional, period)?
>
>Curious...
>Cindy

The same myth is common in the PP world.  I ignore it.  My farrier does a
balanced trim on my PPs (one of whom has 1710 NATRC miles and just did a 30
mile LD at age 18, finishing sound), and the toes are typically 3.25 inches
freshly trimmed (on horses taking 0's or 1's).  The horses gait nicely with
plenty of reach and extension.  They have adequate heel (in balance with
the rest of the foot) and healthy frogs. See
http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/balancingnormalfoot/balancingnormalfoot.htm for
a good discussion that you might want to print out for the BG.  Good luck.



Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky