Re: [RC] Shoe-pulling horse/Trailers - Heidi Smith
> Trailers on
rear shoes with endurance horses surely do change the manner in which the horse
unloads and moves his feet. Unfortunately, it also changes
the dynamics of how the rear leg responds to that change...and it will show up
in the hock, the stifle or lower back. I would recommend
not using trailers or on rear shoes.
Ditto that, Frank.
Trailers greatly affect how the foot lands, and if a horse has a "swing" that
isn't just perfectly straight, the trailer puts a twisting motion all the way up
the leg on landing. When I was young and didn't know any better, I thought
I'd help an endurance mare of mine to travel straighter (and hence quit
interfering behind) by adding a trailer and a squared toe to the offending
foot. Well, sure enough, it affected the flight of the foot enough that
she didn't hit--but it really did a number to her hock! Thank goodness I
got the thing off of her while the hock was still just sore and swollen, before
it did any real damage. After a winter layoff, she was just fine--and what
"cured" the interference was three years of riding that muscled her up to the
point that she abducted her rear legs better. She didn't travel any
straighter, but by traveling wider, she no longer interfered. And she went
on to do a 1000+ mile season, quirky flight of her hind foot and
all.
