Landcruiser
Well-Known Member
Mystery hooves, any thoughts?
- Thread starter Landcruiser
- Start date
PoppyAnderson
Well-Known Member
Why do you ask? Is it your horse? Why a mystery? No one is going to comment without some background.
Goldenstar
Well-Known Member
Those are Valegros feet .
ester
Not slacking multitasking
that was my guess too.
ycbm
Overwhelmed
Has he got high ringbone?
Not bad feet for shod ones and they obviously work for him. But they look a lot longer on the outside than the inside. It might be just the photo.
He's only fourteen, I wonder what he'll still be capable of doing now he's retired from top class dressage. Have they mentioned any plans for him?
Not bad feet for shod ones and they obviously work for him. But they look a lot longer on the outside than the inside. It might be just the photo.
He's only fourteen, I wonder what he'll still be capable of doing now he's retired from top class dressage. Have they mentioned any plans for him?
Landcruiser
Well-Known Member
Well it didn't take you lot long! They appeared somewhat randomly on "Escape to the Country " Gloucestershire, a little snippet from Carl Hester's yard. What struck me is how long and upright they look, but also the flat area on the inside of the nearside hoof. What's that all about? It looks like the wall must be wafer thin where it meets the shoe.
rachk89
Well-Known Member
I have seen his hooves before in pictures and they are massive. He has a lot of heel too which people say is wrong but I am confused as to how it can be when he is the most successful horse in the world currently?
milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
All of the various interviews with Carl and Charlotte have said that he will stay in work, and do tours and demos. He does seem to be a horse that enjoys the limelight.
My first pony had her shoes put on & off for pony club by Haydn. Never thought I'd share a farrier with an olympic star :lol:
Red-1
I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
Bizarre, I looked at the picture and thought "Valegro" too! I have never just seen feet photos before, but have looked at his feet when normal photos have been in magazines and online.
How famous is that? People can even recognise his feet in isolation.
As for the feet, they were not what I was expecting, but obviously work for him!
How famous is that? People can even recognise his feet in isolation.
As for the feet, they were not what I was expecting, but obviously work for him!
ycbm
Overwhelmed
Fantastic. I hope he comes somewhere near me.
Cragrat
Well-Known Member
Absolutely they work for him, and he does work hard, but always on perfect surfaces or gentle hacking on roads.
Cortez
Tough but Fair
Just an observation, but horses which perform a lot of high collection seem to have more upright feet; my thoughts....
Goldenstar
Well-Known Member
They do .
Micropony
Well-Known Member
SuperFarrier said, admittedly in a very different context, that depth of foot should be related to depth of girth, i.e. big chunky horses should have relatively deeper feet. That picture, with clipped out legs, does make them look quite big and deep, but I have always thought they look in keeping with the rest of him.
ester
Not slacking multitasking
I wonder how much is as a result of the work and how much is a result of the fact that might work on a surface more frequently?
rachk89
Well-Known Member
But valegro goes hacking on roads twice a week so its not as if they keep him in a field or arena all the time.
ester
Not slacking multitasking
I know he does, I didn't suggest he didn't but the comment was about horses in general that do a lot of collected work and their trend towards tall feet - you've only got to watch a trot up to see that is true, they are also the horses that spend proportionally more time on a surface (as does valegro even hacking twice a week compared to my 'regime'), it would be difficult to separate the two unless you get them doing collected work only down the road.
It has also been anecdotally observed with those shoeless that the the more road work you do the flatter your feet, those that do more school work end up taller and more concave. J1ffy's PRE got much more concave again when he went back to spain and was hacking on sand compared to when he was here and I don't think he was doing much collected work then.
Just thought it was worth mentioning as part of the discussion.
It has also been anecdotally observed with those shoeless that the the more road work you do the flatter your feet, those that do more school work end up taller and more concave. J1ffy's PRE got much more concave again when he went back to spain and was hacking on sand compared to when he was here and I don't think he was doing much collected work then.
Just thought it was worth mentioning as part of the discussion.
FfionWinnie
Well-Known Member
That is really interesting because Cyprian's feet which will have been on a surface nearly all the time have an unnatural amount of concavity which I couldn't work out. They are also quite boxy.
Better take some pics of his feet before the shoes come off and his life changes much more!
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
Well, if I'd rocked up to try a potential new horse, and saw it wearing these feet, I'd be going 'eep' at the overlong hooves with the excess wall and flare on the outside (medio-lateral imbalance), and double 'eep' at the apparent ringbone on the outside of the RF and inside of the NF.
Valegro's feet, eh?
So what the heck do I know?!
Valegro's feet, eh?
So what the heck do I know?!
rachk89
Well-Known Member
Yeah that will happen but which is right? I have people telling me my horses hooves are too high in the heel yet so are valegros if anything his hooves are bigger than my horses. Considering people say Carl Hester looks after his horses really well I am confused as to what is correct. Or does it not actually matter as long as the horse is sound and not in pain obviously?
Cortez
Tough but Fair
Horse's hooves are as individual as are our feet: there is no absolute "right" shape which should be applied to every foot. Certain breeds have boxy feet, which also need to be left alone (PRE's coming to this part of the world from Spain for instance). I have a horse with very dissimilar hooves: two have high heels, two are low; he's sound - as long as the farrier stops trying to make them match.
rachk89
Well-Known Member
OK so just leave them as long as the horse is happy basically?
amandaco2
Well-Known Member
My kwpn inter II horses hooves were very similar. He went shoeless and they did get a little lower on the heels but still had much more heel and concave shape than my other horses. If we tried to lower them, he wasn't comfortable so we left them where he was sound
ester
Not slacking multitasking
I am always curious in those cases Cortez whether the rest of the bony column is of very slightly varying lengths between legs, same with club feet. Certainly plenty that if you start to mess with them as an adult they don't like it.
Cortez
Tough but Fair
I should imagine so (bone lengths, etc.). My lad is shoeless ever since I got him (he was shod and lame when I bought him, and stayed lame for 4 and a half months until we sorted out the massive abcesses he had in both front feet), and it took a while for his feet to sort themselves out to where they needed to be.
ycbm
Overwhelmed
I'm running an experiment where I'm messing with the shape of the foot in a horse who has 'wrong'shaped feet but moves beautifully and is great on stones. I've just done an update on another thread if anyone wants to see it. I don't like the results so far!