Re: RC: Long toe, low heel

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

<<from what I gather (???) you are trying to 
get your  horses to grow more heel?? This is far from Bergy's method. Bergy's
method is based on the study of how wild horses feet are naturally in the 
wild (short toe/ low heel) .  High heels are a disaster for endurance horses.>>

It is all a matter of degree.  Yes, if one raised the heels up to a point that the toes were dubbing into the ground, this would be highly undesirable.  However, a great many horses simply do NOT grow enough heel to keep their feet in "normal" balance, and this is the problem that is under discussion here--where the toe grows and grows but the heel remains very short.  This combination actually tips the coffin bone up, and also puts a tremendous strain on the suspensory apparatus and the tendons.  When the toe is abnormally long, this puts a further strain on the heels and causes less growth and/or diversion of growth so that the horn tubes at the heel angle unnaturally forward ("underslung" heel), making the problem even worse.  In a fair number of horses, the problem can be solved in a few trimmings simply by trimming the toe consistently back into balance so that the foot begins to grow in a more natural way.  And as at least one poster has pointed out, trimming over time t!
o change the growth pattern is p
referable to wedging the foot, as the latter is only a temporary "fix" to the problem and does not really help to solve it over time.  However, I don't think anyone is suggesting that the horse should have long heels and short toes--this would be the other extreme, and is also not desirable.

Heidi