This is interesting, because I had a horse that did just this as well, and I
am an amateur farrier who was trained at KY Horseshoeing School on her way
to being a vet. I know how farriers think of vets at the track, and vice
versa...
Anyway, I have been using polo plates on my stallion exclusively, becasue
they were already naturally rolled, gave my horse a good grip but still slid
the little they need to for less stress on the horse. And they are
lightweight. Putting weight in the shoe of an enduranc horse is probably a
very bad idea- if there was ever a horse that needs to be shod the "way it
is" it's probably the endurance horse. 50 miles of "corrective' shoeing when
the horse is slighlty toed out may mean a lame horse. Or at the least
interfernce as in my case.
I was also taught that if you need to make corrections and you have the time
to let the horse down for a week, do the necessary changes all at once-
unless of course they are extremely drastic. However, I can't imagine that
this horse is "way off" but I can't see it so don't know. We had a rocky mtn
horse show up at school one day- their farrier had been trying to correct a
gait deficit with this horse by leaving the toes long, when in fact just the
opposite had to be done. Mitch took all the excess hoof off and shod it
nicely and the horse went off on his merry way, looking a hundred times
better than before... I went to see the horse a week later and he looked
pretty good!
BTW, the nice little hoof angle gadgets are only about $10 apiece...
And I can give the address of a farrier supply here that sells them if
anyone's interested THey are pretty subjective though, so get a farrier to
show you how to use them, or a vet...
I am not a Dr yet, but I have found that my angles are averaging about 50 to
52 in the front and 55 or better int eh back. The horse was designed to have
a steeper angle in the back than in front. - those nice laid back shoulders
on your horses should be at the same angle as your pasterns. - at least for
horse judging, but it makes sense to me if you look at the horse and the
stress put on their legs. I have noticed that some very successful endurance
horses are steeper in the shoulder, but their pasterns match up, and they do
well!
BTW I highly agree with you about giving the track farrier a punch.
Gwen
> Again, the principle that will work, a step at a time, is
>to shorten the toes and raise the angles in front--lengthen the toes and
>lower the angles behind. But it has to be done a little at a time--no more
>than 2 degrees change per shoeing.
>
>
>There are other tricks, like squaring or rolling the front toes, or using
>shoes designed to break over more quickly, or extra weight in front or
>behind--but start by getting the angle and toe length balances correct before
>trying any of the more aggressive "corrective" shoeing techniques.
>
>Next time you come in contact with that track shoer, give him a punch for me.
>
>ti
>
>
Gwen Dluehosh
Desert Storm Arabians
1156 Hightop Rd, #89
Blacksburg, VA 24060
540/953-1792