Hoof opinion

Troggy

Troggy

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Hi,

I've had a few comments regarding my horse's front feet, I just wondered what other opinions were...in these photos he's 7 weeks since last shoeing. I appreciate its hard to tell from a photo but rough thoughts on angle/heel etc
Thanks!




 
The heel looks too high. The hoof/pastern axis looks broken back. And if your farrier wasn't doing such an extreme job of dumping his toe, it would be obvious that his toe angle is too sloping and his toe, if allowed to show its real length, would be very stretched forward indeed.

Does he trip? Is he ever a bit 'stuffy' in his movement? He is certainly risking becoming a candidate for a navicular diagnosis, imo.
 
ditto the heels look high, the shoes look short, and toe quite impressively dumped .

ycmb I do sometimes struggle to imagine correct HPA hooves on the end of upright pasterns, although Frank is pretty upright behind so maybe I should go and have a better look at his :p.
 
ester said:
ditto the heels look high, the shoes look short, and toe quite impressively dumped .

ycmb I do sometimes struggle to imagine correct HPA hooves on the end of upright pasterns, although Frank is pretty upright behind so maybe I should go and have a better look at his :p.
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I think hoof pastern on a straight line is an overrated ideal on a horse with no shoes on who is choosing that alignment for himself. When it's created by shoes, though, it's asking for trouble.

My own experience of upright pasterns with a broken back alignment in shoes is that the pastern becomes less upright when the heels drop to a proper height.
 
Circe said:
Can I ask please, why you say that side clips on a front shoe rings alarm bells for you? Do they damage the hoof ?
Kx
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Not necessary I shoe most of my horses this way .
Why a horse who appears to have dumped toes is wearing them is more difficult to understand .
The thing I would be worrying most about is he looks like he will have a contracted heel thing going on but you can't tell that from the photo .
You really need to seek advice from someone really experienced on the ground a good equine vet or a very experienced horse person .
If I was looking to buy a horse seeing those feet in a picture would worry me .
The fact they are like after seven weeks would worry me too as they are so short at the toe .
 
ycbm said:
I think hoof pastern on a straight line is an overrated ideal on a horse with no shoes on who is choosing that alignment for himself. When it's created by shoes, though, it's asking for trouble.

My own experience of upright pasterns with a broken back alignment in shoes is that the pastern becomes less upright when the heels drop to a proper height.
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It is an ideal but BF horses with long shoes face soft tissue injury just like shod horses .
It's very important in my experience to intervene with the rasp on BF horses with a broken axis .
Of course when you are taking lame damaged horses BF you may have to accept less than ideal things but when sound horses are BF I try to put them in the most ideal position as possible .
One of mine you remove the shoes ,he self trims the toes all you need to do is lower the heel now and again when he's not in hard work.
The other you have to have the rasp out every few days to help him with his toes .
 
Goldenstar said:
It is an ideal but BF horses with long shoes face soft tissue injury just like shod horses .
It's very important in my experience to intervene with the rasp on BF horses with a broken axis .
Of course when you are taking lame damaged horses BF you may have to accept less than ideal things but when sound horses are BF I try to put them in the most ideal position as possible .
One of mine you remove the shoes ,he self trims the toes all you need to do is lower the heel now and again when he's not in hard work.
The other you have to have the rasp out every few days to help him with his toes .
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Yes, I'm sorry should have explained better. I'd never accept a long toe and would be concerned about an obviously high heel if it was overgrowth, but if all those are ok, then I would say if the hoof/pastern axis is not perfect but the horse moves well, it probably isn't something I'd worry about.

I'm another who has no issue with double clip front shoes. I often found they stay on a lot better. What's the saying? 'a clip is worth two nails'. ?
 
Circe said:
Can I ask please, why you say that side clips on a front shoe rings alarm bells for you? Do they damage the hoof ?
Kx
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No, but the question is "why are they being chosen by the farrier?" "What is wrong with the foot making this choice necessary in his opinion?".

I'd never advise anyone to buy a horse in these shoes.......they scream "trouble ahead" to me.

I know more, but as it's my job (equine feet) I limit what I offer online.
 
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