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Looking at
Your Horse This may seem entirely ridiculous, but until someone showed me, I just never thought about it. In order to get a good look at the horse you must first stand him on a flat, level, clean surface preferably concrete or asphalt. Position him with his front feet directly under his shoulders, or as close to it as the horse will allow. His hind feet should be under his hips, not parked out behind him or one in front of the other. It should be a natural and comfortable position for him. If he cannot stand this way he may be pointing to an uncomfortable foot or leg situation which can be a clue that something isn't right. Using your eye, or a plumb line or any straight object, visualize a line from the top of his forearm or upper leg (for the front) and point of the stifle (rear) to the tip of his toe. As you look down the leg from the top notice if there are any deviations where the leg seems to turn to the right or left. Are the center of his knees facing forward or turned to the outside? Does he seem to have more of the knee on the inside of his leg or the outside of the line? Is his cannon bone bisected equally by the line or does it slant inwards or outwards? Next look at the fetlock, the pastern and then the foot in the same manner. The shape of the hoof is always a reflection of the leg it supports. This is simple it you think about it. Lets take, for example, a toed-in or pigeon toed horse. This horse is probably base-narrow (his feet are closer together than the width of his shoulders) with a broad chest. There is more hoof on the inside of the straight line from the top of the leg than the outside. In other words, the pastern seems to enter the foot more to the outside of the hoof capsule. This horse bears the greater amount of weight on the outside of his foot and his toe breaks over, or leaves the ground from the inside of his toe rather than the center of it. Since the outside of the foot bears more of the load, the inside of the foot reacts by flaring away from the greater load toward the inside. As in all things, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Okay, that sounds complicated, but try this experiment and it will become clear. Fill a balloon with water. Lay it on a table and press on one side of it. It will expand, or flare on the other side in the opposite direction. Try the same thing with a Styrofoam cup, open end down. Press on the top of one side of the closed end (bottom) and see the opposite side of the open end flare away from the pressure. Simple, right? These are the things that you need to "see" in order to realize how these legs should be correctly supported with shoes. These types of "conformational defects" (as opposed to perfectness ...... whatever that is) can lead to detrimental changes as the horse ages, i.e. arthritis and things like that. However, shoeing to support the leg and foot can help prevent some negative effects of uneven weight bearing. Our efforts as a horseshoer are to develop symmetry (balance) of the foot as it relates to the leg it is attached to. Ultimately we would like to have equal weight bearing on all sides of the foot so that the leg is supported as well as possible. Beverly Estabrook is the author of "Horseshoes for Horse Owners", an easy to understand and humorous guide to understanding your horses' shoeing needs. Beverly is an A.F.A Certified Journeyman Farrier, and has been shoeing horses for 12 years. We thank Beverly for allowing us to reprint this excerpt from her book, and on our links page there is a link to Beverly's site where you can order your own copy of "Horseshoes for Horse Owners". |
