Sometimes, farriers remove just too much front hoof heel and not enough
of the rear hoof heal, changing the timing of the front and rear hooves'
loading and unloading.
*Hi Frank and all....that isn't a configuration I have seen much in my
neck of the woods, I more routinely see high heels in the fronts and low
hinds...but I also haven't seen many farriers (for years) watch how the horse
moves unless you specifically ask them to..
This discussion is relevent to me, in that I am really looking at feet
recently and how a horse moves and lands....becuase one of my horses always
seemed to grow long toes out, and no heels, but I think now the heels were
just getting more underrun over time. In watching her, I noticed she did
a toe-first landing, and tended to bounce going dowhill....Heel issues might
be because she was weighing the toe more.....
Shoes came off mid August and I started doing my own trimming, which is
pretty common sense and basic and mostly involves keeping the wall length only
a tiny bit higher than the sole, and doing a really good roll to the hoof
wall. This mare also had a lot of laminar separation and flare, which is going
away. There are still some weird issues going on with her feet, BUT,
what is important to me is that already this mare is moving better, her feet
look better than they have in years and she is sound.
I have also been playing with the new easy boot epics, which have been
working wonderfully on another mare who is barefoot, staying on with no
rubbing, and easy to put on.
So I don't see any reason to put shoes back on the first mare, will just
use easyboots on the harder terrain..
As Lee said, not wanting to start the barefoot debate up again; but I
have always believed, for years, it's best for any horse to go barefoot now
and then even if you feel you require shoes for competition; and that often
this will show you how they really want to move and wear their feet....
I've been adamant for the 15 years I live in the county in Northern Calif
(Lake), which is very hard and rocky, that there isn't a horse alive that can
do the trails barefoot; but so far I'm doing pretty well with the mustang
barefoot. And, I believe I have the best farrier in the area; I don't
think anything he was doing was contributing to the first mare's feet
deformation; but perhaps the fact she was shod 7 years.....
In any case, the fact that the original posters horse was consistently
losing a shoe on one hoof might indicate that the hoof wall has become
compromised; perhaps some laminar and hoof wall degradation? Just one
idea out of many possibilities......and just relaying my experiences.
