Foot Angles

[Karen Standefer <hrschk@yahoo.com>]

I don't believe there is a true gague to use as all of
the things both inside the hoof all the way up the
boney column to the shoulders are floating and can be
changed.  

My horse convinced me himself that he wanted his
coffin bone to be ground parallel.  After having
severe balancing issues with him as well as severe
sidebone cause by imbalanced shoeing/trimming I
followed Dr. Rooney's advice (in his book, not
personal advice) and let Roy wear his feet the way he
wanted.  Prior to removing his shoes, his LF was 54
degrees and his RF was 60 degrees (clubby).  I pulled
his shoes and we rode about 30 miles over several days
on crushed rock.  At the end of that time, he wore his
heels down and shortened his toes himself and his
front angles were at 45 and 48 degrees.  X-rays later
showed his coffin bones to be ground parallel on the
LF and almost on the RF (club hoof).  X-rays from the
previous year showed about 5 and 7 degrees of tilt to
the coffin bones.  This horse has completely cured his
club hoof (had it before I got him), his shoulders
have gorgeous layback and the dips behind his shoulder
blades have completely gone away.  His shoulders are
now symmetrical and not bunchy on the club hoof side. 
His hunter's bump has gone away over his rear and he
is completely symmetrical in his rear muscling as
well, where he use to be bunchy in his left rear (same
diagonal as the club foot).  

To affect these changes over time means slowly
trimming the hoof to change the angle of the coffin
bone, allowing the muscles to adjust over time as
well.  Letting Roy trim his hooves as quickly as he
did was not the way I would suggest to do things. 
However, the conformation can easily be changed by
trimming the hoof in a way to affect conformation
changes in the limbs.  

In answer to your question, I don't believe there is a
gague that is absolute because all the gagues can be
changed........nothing is constant.  However, I do
believe that having a ground parallel coffin bone
gives the inner hoof and boney column the most area of
support.  It also allows the pastern bones to act as
shock absorbers the way mother nature intended, rather
than stacking them one on top of the other and
actually radiating more shock up the leg.

Ironically, my veterinarian is a founder expert.  She,
also, believes that the coffin bone should be ground
parallel.  So, I've had excellent help in achieving a
healthy hoof for my horse. 

As to your discussions below that were not directed to
me:  The pastern angle is a good indicator as to the
angle of the coffin bone inside the hoof capsule
(unless the laminar connection is destroyed or weak in
which case only x-rays can be accurate).  And if you
continue to trim the hoof to that angle, then, yes,
the coffin bone will remain there and you can use it
as a "gague" as to how you want your horse trimmed. 
If the coffin bone is not at a healthy angle, you will
only perpetuate the poor angle by continuing to trim
to the angle of the pastern (or shoulder angles, or
whatever other gague you use).

Karen

REFERENCED POST:
Maggie, Abby and RD and any of you other farrier
types, help me out here and
correct me if necessary..... I take an active interest
in farriery but just
might be way out of my element here and I don't want
to spread
misinformation.

My understanding is that, when the horse is standing
square, the front
hooves should be trimmed so that there is a smooth
angle from fetlock to
toe. Ignore any rounding of the toe for easing break
over for now. If the
toe is too long, the laminae stretch and the toe curls
out and that smooth
angle becomes a curve. If the toe is too short or the
heels too high, there
is a visible break in that smooth angle downward where
the hoof begins.

The horses I've observed who get lots of exercise
(turnout and a fair amount
of pleasure riding) "seek" the relationship I
described. That is, if their
toes get too long, they start breaking them off and if
the toe is too short
(usually through over trimming), they break off hoof
near the back of the
foot. Of course, I'm talking about unshod horses,
since hooves ideally don't
break off of shod hooves.

It seems to me that the pastern angle is determined by
the underlying bone
and tissue structure and cannot be changed by changing
the angle of the
trim. I've observed that to try to do so results in
gait abberations and
hypothesize that it would lead to joint or tissue
damage in the long-term in
a horse that was expected to travel a few hundred
competitive miles per
year.

Karen, what would you say IS the guage for determining
hoof angles?

Deanna (Ohio)

Karen Standefer wrote:
The pastern angle changes according to how the hoof is
trimmed. The pastern angle can defitely NOT be used
as a gague for setting hoof angles.



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