A view between the ears: Zoe's farrier appointment

So here are the results and pictures from Zoe's farrier/consult appointment. I included my notes which are sometimes just thoughts that I remembered. Again the appointment was like a college semester class all rolled into 2 hours. So my thoughts may be somewhat sketchy.

Zoe's heels were too long and collapsing under her feet. Her toes were too long. The heels needed to be pulled back and that was accomplished by cutting her heels. The frog needed to be trimmed back some more first. Then trim the heels of the foot back to the widest part of the frog. They had to be even on both sides of the foot. Once the heels were set in the right place -was somewhat trimmed a line was drawn (on the bottom of her foot) at the widest part of the foot. Then a line was drawn where the heels started. The distance from the line in the middle to the toe was to be the same or close to the distance from the line in the middle to the heels. If the toe end was too long we could rasp some toe off or compensate by setting the shoe back-rocker the shoe or rocker the toes to give better breakover. The front of the foot needs to be straight from the corrent band to the end of the toe-Zoe's was a little concaved (had a bump sticking out) so straightening that out took some more toe off. The heels of the shoe extend 1/4” past the end of the heels of the foot. The end of the heel of the shoe needs to be straight under the middle of the leg. Also the edges of the heels of the shoe should be as wide as the corent band at that part of the foot. The whole point was to make the axis point of the foot (where the weight came down from the leg) in the middle of the foot-so it could be centered on each foot.

Hoof doesn't grow with excessive weight on it. If the toe is too long the weight is on the heels. The heels start to collapse under as the toe keeps growing. Zoe has a high/low situation too. One foot is always in front as she bends down to eat, it's always the same foot. That foot has even more weight on the heel and even when she eventually stands straight she tends to keep the weight on the back of her foot-making the problem worse.

Zoe is also base narrow with her toes out, meaning that she tends to keep her feet together esp the heels with the toes pointing out (pigeon toed). This means her weight is mostly on the inside of her foot, thus the inside of the foot doesn't grow as fast as the outside of her foot. She is also a pretty much upright horse, the pasturns don't slant down very much. Meaning there is more than average the concussion on her foot as there isn't much “give” to her stride. (Also makes for a bouncy ride)

The hind feet had the same problem. Her left hind had more toe growing and the toe had more point than the other one.

The corrent band is pretty straight and always has been. That is good, you don't want a really “pushed up” corrent band.

So everything is now balanced. It doesn't mean that in 6 weeks it will still be balanced, but that's why we all have appointments with our farriers to balance the feet again. It makes me really wonder about barefoot trimming. It has to be “right on” without the help of a shoe to compensate for balance or compensate for comformational issues.