Curative burning for lameness??? (pic heavy)

Oberon

Oberon

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I'm reading a book about shoeing, written by an American farrier in 1997.

Most of it made for uncomfortable reading (he has some dubious ideas on horse handling and restraint) and then something made me start to shake in horror.

I'll give the story behind the following pics from the book....

"Curative Burning"

"This type of treatment is used to put flexibility in a hoof that is frog- and sole-bound or otherwise restricted. For example, this type of treatment might help a club foot open up more, expanding into more of a normal, healthy-looking hoof. In the following photos, this procedure is used on a horse who was showing chronic lameness in both front feet."

"The horse was diagnosed as having bursitis in the navicular area - in other words, pre-navicular. The horse was probably predisposed for this condition, having fairly straight pasterns. He had been shod previously with wedge pads, which raised his heels, but that seemed to make his lameness worse."

"His left front foot was also somewhat of a club foot, and was noticeably smaller than his right front foot. He was also definitely frog- and sole-bound."

"After both front feet were opened up with the burning technique, and he was shod with concave roller-motion shoes on both feet, he walked away sound and resumed his summer horse-show schedule."

"In the years that followed, this gelding did gradually develop navicular disease, but he maintained a fairly useful life, largely free of pain, through regular trimming and/or shoeing, and the occasional use of pads (sometimes wedge pads, sometimes not.)........Today, the horse is primarily retired......."

"Burning around the perimeter of the frog helped open up the heel, allowing it to resume natural growth."
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A fan pattern was also burned into the sole, again to allow expansion of growth in the area.
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"A '7' was burnt into the hoof wall in this fashion on both sides of the hoof (both feet). This also adds flexibility to the heel area, which in turn lessens concussion and promotes healthy growth."
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I am aghast :cry:
 
Ummmmm......!

I remember "burning" the hoof was often used for horses feet that were cracked but i have no idea as to why the burning shown in this article would help the "movement" of the hoof to have it done in this fashion. I hope someone can shed some light!
 
If this is the most convincing case this farrier can put forward in support of this method, he really needs to rethink. This horse developed navicular after this treatment - not exactly a success story. Sounds like some backyard experiment - why he would admit to it in a book is beyond me.
 
Surely if the idea is to allow the foot to expand, the fitting of an egg bar type shoe would be somewhat counter-productive?

Looks at best useless and at worst cruel.
 
The author appears to be a well respected farrier with a lifetime's experience.

Anyone can easily see the contracted heels, weak digital cushions and deep (probably infected) sulcus - THAT'S WHY THE HORSE DEVELOPED NAVICULAR!
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Compare the heels of the second picture with my Tank's heels - he's never been shod and has a lovely, heel first landing.
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I was pleased to read the book as I don't want to learn about hooves only from pro-barefoot texts.

Farriers do longer study than BF trimmers and are therefore considered superior in their knowledge of the hoof - so I wanted to get an insight into what they learn.

Clearly my first venture hasn't gone too well - I was shaking, rocking backwards and forwards and crying:(
 
It sometimes makes me very ashamed to call myself a farrier.
I know this persons work and there are many others like him, they are given space in publications and are often thought of very highly.
I am quite willing to put on record that although I studied farriery for 7 years including a spell doing biomechanics before I started up my practice, when I started to look into barefoot and a certain system of teaching it I was blown away with the amount of knowledge that their practitioners were expected to have before they could practice.
I would put anyone of them up against any farrier when it comes to hoof anatomy and function
 
Oh god, that's awful.

Poor horse.

It's a good reason to never sell a horse to an unknown home, and even more of a reason to read up on any possible treatment before proceeding.

Don't know how this can happen in this age, really. Except that maybe I do understand how it can happen, when so many horseowners don't have a clue what a healthy foot should look like. Any maybe the horse belonged to the "farrier" so was free to do what he liked?

Wonder why oh why they didn't just start with a DECENT trim??????

Just bloomin' awful.

Sarah
 
moorman said:
It sometimes makes me very ashamed to call myself a farrier.
I know this persons work and there are many others like him, they are given space in publications and are often thought of very highly.
I am quite willing to put on record that although I studied farriery for 7 years including a spell doing biomechanics before I started up my practice, when I started to look into barefoot and a certain system of teaching it I was blown away with the amount of knowledge that their practitioners were expected to have before they could practice.
I would put anyone of them up against any farrier when it comes to hoof anatomy and function
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I'd like to get my hands on a farrier's apprentice's reading list at the moment so I can understand what their classroom teaching is.

There is often (IME) a yawning gap between some BF beliefs and some traditional farriery beliefs - I'd like to see 'the other side' of things to try and understand why such opposite views exist.
 
Looking at some of the photos that have been posted recently there is a need for owners to have more understanding of what a correctly balanced foot looks like, whether shod or not. There seems to be many that are long in the toe with no heels and the owners wonder why they are having problems with soundness, the standard of farriers varies so much, is it down to training, lack of interest or care, an idea that the shoes will get pulled off and that owners count this as bad shoeing or is there another reason?

Re. apprentices I had an apprentice remove the shoes off of a 32 year old 8 weeks ago, he was very careful to leave the sole untouched , he just tidied a little and left them, the pony has remained sound, despite being shod for 28 years, is still in light work and is moving better than ever, he will have a trim this week as toes are a little long and I hope the lad does as good a job this time.
 
moorman said:
.
I am quite willing to put on record that although I studied farriery for 7 years including a spell doing biomechanics before I started up my practice, when I started to look into barefoot and a certain system of teaching it I was blown away with the amount of knowledge that their practitioners were expected to have before they could practice.
I would put anyone of them up against any farrier when it comes to hoof anatomy and function
Click to expand...
I so wish there were many, many more like you moorman. Good on ya! :)

Re those disgraceful, barbaric photos, do I see a lamella wedge clearly in the second photo?
 
Don’t start me on training!
One of the reasons I found it hard to get on with ( and still do) the FRC is the system we have for training in this country, and when I published my book that was about the last straw for them !!!

I have always maintained that the least an apprentice should do in their final exam to qualify to be a farrier in this country, is shoe a horse in the way that they intent to do it for a living.
That is to say if they are going to use readymade shoes (which the greater percentage are) and work out of the back of a van then I as an examiner would like to see the applicant, assess, discuss, shoe and explain what they have done and why in order for me to make any sort of judgement .
In the USA you will find that due to the lack of registration, they compete on standard and knowledge.
Over here after the 1977 registration act farriery became a closed shop, so standards only improved if the farrier wanted them to, as work was and still is plentiful.
I believe you still have to be a very bad farrier in this country not to have a full client book.
 
can't really think of any comment on those awful pictures poor horse.
however on farriers as owners we must accept that it's more than the farrier that keeps the horses feet right it's diet it's clean dry bedding it's picking out feet at least twice daily it's doing enough work it's not expecting the shoes to stay on for eight weeks and yes it's the quality of the shoeing, some farriers are better than others of course but it's too easy to blame all problems on them.
 
Well, they ARE awful photos and of course it's an insane system BUT it's hardly the norm (I lived and worked in North America for decades and while I suspect I know who this person is, I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything close to that) and let's face it, there is a lot of bad work - both passive and aggressive - around.

Burning the feet is awful and extreme but having horses working on badly balanced feet can be extremely damaging - no less so because maybe it doesn't look so bad. And we can do some pretty extreme things now that look all neat, pretty and space age but that doesn't make them any less invasive or eye=popping. Like many practices, everything is much more subtle but that can carry its own risks - you knew if a horse had been fired and could treat the horse accordingly, you're not going to know if it's had surgery so the horse goes out in the world looking "normal" but being anything but.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending this person or his methods but sometimes its easier to get in a knot about something big and dramatic and unusual and discount the painful effects of much more common, mundane practices.
 
I agree with you and appreciate that there are many abuses out there - hooves being my pet topic of ranting, and I have no doubts this kind of treatment is not the norm.

I am getting in a knot about it because I can clearly see weak, atrophied heals and digital cushions (and by proxy, the lateral cartilages) and a deep sulcus (likely infected) in a contracted frog. This all equates to a toe first landing and therefore the reason the horse developed navicular.

I am getting in a knot about it because if I (a nobody) can see this from a photo - why could this 'well respected' farrier not see it:(

It's the mis-information that pisses me off:(
 
I repeat, it's horrendous and completely worth getting upset about. But so are lots of things closer to home. Absolutely, the photos are a good "learning tool" and a good example of an extreme reaction to a common issue that can and has been solved in far less dramatic and more humane ways.

And, yes, internet forums are a great place to get the info out there.

My only point was, if we concentrate on the drama, my experience is it tends to inure people to the sorts of situations people are more likely to meet in their daily rounds. It's quite easy to say "Well, I'm not doing that scary thing so it must be all right."

And the US is a weird, weird place. They have a leading, prosperous religion that believes in magic underwear. I really don't think you can equate someone being "popular" or even "rich" with them being "right" or even "sane". ;) And just because it's in a book . . .? EVERYTHING is in a book now. Or on the internet. Frankly, I'd rather have it out there, in the light of day, so people can poke holes and give alternative views.
 
TarrSteps said:
I repeat, it's horrendous and completely worth getting upset about. But so are lots of things closer to home. Absolutely, the photos are a good "learning tool" and a good example of an extreme reaction to a common issue that can and has been solved in far less dramatic and more humane ways.

And, yes, internet forums are a great place to get the info out there.

My only point was, if we concentrate on the drama, my experience is it tends to inure people to the sorts of situations people are more likely to meet in their daily rounds. It's quite easy to say "Well, I'm not doing that scary thing so it must be all right."

And the US is a weird, weird place. They have a leading, prosperous religion that believes in magic underwear. I really don't think you can equate someone being "popular" or even "rich" with them being "right" or even "sane". ;) And just because it's in a book . . .? EVERYTHING is in a book now. Or on the internet. Frankly, I'd rather have it out there, in the light of day, so people can poke holes and give alternative views.
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Now you've upset me.
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You CANNOT tease me with magic underwear and not elaborate - what religion is this???
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