Re: RE: Long toe, low heel

["Cheryl Shelton" <toltallyice@onewest.net>]

> Oh my gawd - do you actually want the coffin bone to be parallel to
> the ground?  Sounds like a ligament breakdown waiting to happen.
> The angle you should be concerned with is the fetlock, pastern and
> coffin bones should be all aligned. NOT PARALLEL TO THE GROUND.

You want the bottom of the coffin bone parallel to the ground. From the
front of the coffin bone and back along the bottom edge of the palmar
processes parallel to the ground. Not the vaulted ceiling of the bottom of
the coffin bone, which is what you more clearly see in an x-ray.

With the bottom of the coffin bone parallel to the ground, the front of the
coffin bone will be properly lined up with the short pastern bone and the
long pastern bone.

To find the proper angle for your horse, find the angle of the bottom
(palmar processes) and front of the coffin bone from an x-ray. That is the
proper angle for that foot.

What you don't want is a coffin bone tipped forward due to too high of
heels. Can you imagine the pain of the tip of the coffin bone jamming into
the sole with every step? Ever see a half moon shaped bruise in the sole in
front of the frog? A coffin bone will actually remodel under these
circumstances and develop a hook in the tip. The tip of the coffin bone will
actually turn up in an attempt to return to ground parallel due to the
pressure. This is difficult to reverse. You don't have the pressure from
above to cause the bone to return to a normal shape that you had from below
that caused the bone to remodel into the deformed shape. The up-turned tip
will cause stretching of the white line as the hoof wall grows over the
deformed coffin bone tip.

Cheryl, who finds hoof physiology fascinating!