Contracted heels?

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Seahorse

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My back lady came out today to look at Axey and mentioned that he has very contracted heels on his front feet. I had never noticed this before but compared to his hind feet (which are unshod) you can really see a difference.
My farrier said he was pleased with Axels feet last time he came out as they had grown and he could now put a bigger shoe on, so surely this would help?
He did lose a shoe last time and trashed his foot quite badly so I think he had to put a smaller shoe back on.
Sorry rambling a bit now
tongue.gif

Is there anything I can do in the meantime until the farrier comes?
 
Contracted heels can not be dramatically changed by farriery.. They are associated with Navicular syndromw but are alos normal in horses..

If your farrier is happy with the feet last time he was hosd, there will be no change in the heel since then and i would not be concerned!

DONT PANIC DONT PANIC

all will be fine..
Lou x
 
Dont go panicking about Navicular for g** sake. My horse has naturally contracted heals and he does not have navicular and we have x rays to prove it. You farrier needs to shoe with plenty of support encouraging the heal to expand outwards as much as possible. Dont worry, im sure with a chat youll be fine and if it aint broken, dont try and fix it!!
 
Your other option is to consider taking his front shoes off as well - but that is not an easy route or for the faint hearted as you would need to lots of conditioning work with pads and boots etc. However you would find that with the stimulation on the heel it would come back. The heel won't recover with a metal shoe on as it does not allow the foot the natural contraction and expansion that a foot without shoes gets.

You have already seen the results yourself as you say how much difference there is between his front and hind feet. Just a thought anyway.
 
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