Ridecamp: [RC] Farrier Question - High Heels

Got a question for the farriers, and those of you with a lot more experience 
than I have (I also have a call in to my farrier, but would like some input 
to discuss with him.)
We just bought a horse whose front feet are quite odd.  She's a 12 yr old 
Paso Fino, and the horses on the farm where we got her have had little or no 
hoof care in months (by admission of the owner...she said the gelding we just 
bought had not had his feet done since January...and I believe it from 
looking at his feet when we got him).  Long story - her longtime trainer who 
did every thing left abruptly, she was detached from the horse operation, 
etc., and is now overwhelmed...she still has 35 or 36 horses...sigh.

Anyhow, back to this mare.  Her front pasterns appear to be angled pretty 
normal, as near as I can tell.  However, her front hooves are very "boxy", 
for lack of a better word, and have *very* high heels.  The front of the hoof 
is practically vertical.  I'm not exaggerating...she's practically walking on 
her tippy toes.  The ground on the farm she came from is very hard, so she 
probably just kept wearing off any growth of toe as the heels were allowed to 
grow long - just a guess.  Looks to me like those heels sure need to come 
down so that she can grow some toe and so that the hoof angle can be brought 
to match the pastern angle.  However, from what I recall, as the heels are 
lowered, that's going to put strain on the tendons, ligaments, etc. in the 
leg, pastern, etc.  So, seems like we're going to need to do this gradually.  
My question is, how often should I have my farrier out to take a bit more off 
the heel?  Also, should we just let her roam in the pasture (it's about 1 
acre, and flat) while we're getting her hoof angles adjusted, or is it ok (or 
desireable?) to do some light riding?  She's sound for light riding in her 
current condition (we rode her to try her out back in Feb. - her feet looked 
the same then).  She's not going to be a distance horse...we just bought her 
because she's so darned much fun to ride.  <G>  But we want to get her feet 
in shape before we do much (or any??) riding with her...don't want to risk an 
injury.

Oh - to keep this endurance related, the Paso gelding we bought is going to 
be my husband's LD horse.  Yes, he knows he won't be "top tenning", but he 
doesn't care - he's always wanted a Paso, and just wants to go to rides with 
me and have fun doing the LD while I'm doing the 50.  Actually, I think he's 
just trying to get out of crewing...  <G>

Thanks in advance,
Dawn in East Texas

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