results of my personal survey (long)

["Maggie Mieske" <mmieske@netonecom.net>]

I went through our records of horses that we keep angles and length of toe
on.  I chose 50 dressage, endurance and performance horses (and threw in
some trail horses under the performance category, too). I decided not to
include halter horses. I found some interesting results.  I divvied up the
angles into 55-57, 51-54 and under 50 degrees (if there was a difference
between front and hind, I used the front measurements).  The length of toe
I divvied up into 3 and 1/2 to 3 and 3/4 ", 3 to 3 and 1/2 ", and under 3
".  
30% of the dressage horses Nelson does are shod at 55-57 degree angles, 60%
at 51-54 and 10% under 50 (which I might add are ones we struggle to get
heel on).  70% of the dressage horses have 3 to 3 and 1/2" of toe while the
rest have 3 1/2 to 3 and 3/4 " of toe.  
Performance horses (which included team penners, cutters, barrel racers,
trail riders, etc.) had a runaway (hahaha) 80% with 55-57 degree angles
with the other 20% at 51-54 degrees.  Toe lengths also showed a whopping
80% with toe lengths of 3 to 3 and 1/2 ".  The other 20% were under 3 "
(usually something like 2 and 7/8 or 15/16).
Now.....for the endurance horses.  The angles were evenly split between
55-57 and 51-54 degrees, 50% for each.  85 % had 3 to 3 1/2 " of toe with
the remaining 15 % with under 3 " of toe (again usually some minute amount
as mentioned above... Nelson is very precise in measuring though.).
I hope this more precise accounting was helpful for you.  I find it
interesting to note that the horses who are working ... performance and
endurance to be exact... have very similar length of toe and angle
measurements.  Some of you may argue that that is just how Nelson shoes. 
May be but what you don't know is that part of our record keeping is notes
on how the horses do at various angles and lengths of toe.  We have played
with the angles and toes to find the point at which the horse performs
best.  These are all the measurements LAST taken which at this point in
time is what we have found (with the owner's input of the horses gaits and
level of performance) to be the horse's BEST.   In looking at my little
chart and the few halter horses I had started to include (before I
stopped), they also tend to be equally divided within the 55-57 and 51-54
angles and the majority at 3 to 3 and 1/2 " toe.  Hmm..... and this is
generally done more for balancing the horse with pasterns and shoulder
angles for halter classes.  I would say, generally, the vast majority of
the horses we do end up with angles matching or very close to matching
their pastern and shoulder angles.  Just food for thought and hopefully,
those that do not think much about their horses legs and feet will think
twice and start asking their farrier questions and educating themselves
(www.horseshoes.com is a good place to start!).  Oh, and a thought about
the dressage horses....I think they tend to have angles closer to 51-52
degrees because they want a little more action.  I think some of the larger
warmbloods get choppier at higher angles (though so do others....I think
that accounts for the equal distribution of angles).  Dressage people get
very particular about the angles of their horses.  Most prefer longer toes
than what I have indicated here but the majority of dressage horses we have
been working with started out with some horrible problem of a farrier
hacking off heel, being unbalanced, or that long toe, no heel syndrome.  I
think the 51-54 degrees that they tend to be at now is the "sweet" spot. 
Sorry so long!

Maggie Mieske
Mieske's Silver Lining
McBain, Michigan
http://www.netonecom.net/~mmieske


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=