Horseshoeing Angles and coffin bones
Hello , it's Monday here Oct 15th, a bit of rain , i need to squeeze this in as i know there's alot of controversy over what to do with angles of horses. For some reason / i'll add my opinion / there is a following that horses need to have low heels - the reasoning goes : "If you've seen horses out in the wild the heels are very low".
My opinion is, and backed up by Vets as well and my nearly 17 years now track record of not one single lame horse, Low heels is not good ! Just the fact/or saying "Horses in the wild" are that way doesn't mean it's the best for the animal "once they get in Our hands". Horses in the wild have No choice! Their feet get worn down and alot of time you'll see the low heel long toe syndrome. You'll also notice , horses in the wild get lame. When it comes to mechanics and leverages and load principles there are certain universal laws that are - well - almost impossible to dissprove and when we're dealing with delicate ligaments and tendons within horses legs and joints it's going to behoove you to get things right ( did i just say Hoove ) oh boy !! it's monday....
Below is a photo that i'm sure will help explain what proper angles are for your horse. By angles i mean putting the pastern bone angles in line with the coffin bone so your horse is comfortable and safe regarding lameness issues. I'll keep this simple however this discription of angles is only "One" angle , there are others that are important - such as the angle of what is called "Level" - but i'll cover that in another post so not to confuse things.
In the photo below the horse has sheered heels ( heels that have been pulled toward the toe ). As you can see the condition gives very little support for the horse in the heel area . It means when the horse travels on it's feet the heel is going to sink into the ground ( rock back somewhat ) stretching the deep flexor tendon and slowing the foot down before breakover. You'll also see the toe of this horse is still a bit forward ( out in front ) which also contributes to slowing the break over. I'll also cover how to correct sheered heels in a later post as sometimes conventional wisdom of how to repair doesn't work as in the photo below it hasn't.
What we're defining here is angle - in relation to coffin bone alignment. The coffin bone should lie horizontal to the ground and also line up with the pastern bones. There are some problems with establishing how this is done. One of the measures of how to get correct angles is using a hoof guage however if as in the photo the toe is too long in front it throws off the hoof guage measurement - the result is really not an accurate measurement of coffin bone angle. Personally i don't go by the rule of thumb that anything between " oh say 50 and 55 degrees is acceptable ". A horse has "Natural angle" or it doesn't - and natural angle is when the coffin bone is horizontal to the ground when the pastern bones are straight and aligned with themselves.
The way to achieve the closest to coffin bone correctness is when the grain at mid point ( looking from the side as in the photo of the hoof wall, is in line with the pastern bones. I've drawn two lines to show how in this horse the angles are off, the horse is out of balance. As you can see - if you were to either raise the heel or shorten the toe you'll approach hoof angle closer to the pastern angle. So that is what you would do - either shorten the toe or raise the heel or both. In this case do not trim any more heel and if you must in a severe case shoe with a 3 degree wedge pad to give the heel more lift. I consider pads temporary. When the red line of the hoof wall grain is parallel to the red line of the pastern angle you / your horse will be at it's natural angle .
The horse in the photo could use more shoe protruding at the rear for added heel support. As usual moving the shoe to the rear and rasping the extra toe is also needed here.
Keep in mind this is for starters. Achieving the correct angles relieves alot of stress on the horse.
Sorry for the quality of the photo - it was much worse , i managed to photo shop it though. You'll see some strange growth patterns / that ring around the foot just past half way down , the sheered heels, and look where the heel of the shoe is in relation to the back of the foot - the heel of the shoe could use to be almost an inch further rearward . If you draw a line from the hairline at the very rear of the foot along that hoof wall to the ground it will create a spot on the ground there where the heel should be. Actually the heel could use to be alittle bit further back that that even. The general rule of thumb with how far can one place the heels of the shoe to the rear is ( No Further than the Bulbs of the foot ). So if you drew a line straight down from the very furthest part of the foot at the hairline to the ground would tell you.
What i'm doing is pointing out problems for you so you'll be able to recognize these things , when your horse starts slipping into these problem zones you'll be able to spot them and do something about it. The longer you wait to start the repairs the more the condition will become worse and the closer you'll be to lameness. I've said it before - it's not necessarily true that your horse will come up temporarily lame "BEFORE" it comes up permanently lame - so don't get lulled into false sense of securities. You're horse might be doing just fine and all of a sudden you can have a permanent lameness on your hands. We're here to do something to stop that ok?
OK - have fun - happy monday -
as usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.ccom
You can still get consultations at no charge ( that's FREE
. Simply get ahold of me at John@Care4Horses.com
This is on a temporary basis so if you need help with something just ask.
thank you , take care
john silveira
articles at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=john_silveira
My opinion is, and backed up by Vets as well and my nearly 17 years now track record of not one single lame horse, Low heels is not good ! Just the fact/or saying "Horses in the wild" are that way doesn't mean it's the best for the animal "once they get in Our hands". Horses in the wild have No choice! Their feet get worn down and alot of time you'll see the low heel long toe syndrome. You'll also notice , horses in the wild get lame. When it comes to mechanics and leverages and load principles there are certain universal laws that are - well - almost impossible to dissprove and when we're dealing with delicate ligaments and tendons within horses legs and joints it's going to behoove you to get things right ( did i just say Hoove ) oh boy !! it's monday....
Below is a photo that i'm sure will help explain what proper angles are for your horse. By angles i mean putting the pastern bone angles in line with the coffin bone so your horse is comfortable and safe regarding lameness issues. I'll keep this simple however this discription of angles is only "One" angle , there are others that are important - such as the angle of what is called "Level" - but i'll cover that in another post so not to confuse things.
In the photo below the horse has sheered heels ( heels that have been pulled toward the toe ). As you can see the condition gives very little support for the horse in the heel area . It means when the horse travels on it's feet the heel is going to sink into the ground ( rock back somewhat ) stretching the deep flexor tendon and slowing the foot down before breakover. You'll also see the toe of this horse is still a bit forward ( out in front ) which also contributes to slowing the break over. I'll also cover how to correct sheered heels in a later post as sometimes conventional wisdom of how to repair doesn't work as in the photo below it hasn't.
What we're defining here is angle - in relation to coffin bone alignment. The coffin bone should lie horizontal to the ground and also line up with the pastern bones. There are some problems with establishing how this is done. One of the measures of how to get correct angles is using a hoof guage however if as in the photo the toe is too long in front it throws off the hoof guage measurement - the result is really not an accurate measurement of coffin bone angle. Personally i don't go by the rule of thumb that anything between " oh say 50 and 55 degrees is acceptable ". A horse has "Natural angle" or it doesn't - and natural angle is when the coffin bone is horizontal to the ground when the pastern bones are straight and aligned with themselves.
The way to achieve the closest to coffin bone correctness is when the grain at mid point ( looking from the side as in the photo of the hoof wall, is in line with the pastern bones. I've drawn two lines to show how in this horse the angles are off, the horse is out of balance. As you can see - if you were to either raise the heel or shorten the toe you'll approach hoof angle closer to the pastern angle. So that is what you would do - either shorten the toe or raise the heel or both. In this case do not trim any more heel and if you must in a severe case shoe with a 3 degree wedge pad to give the heel more lift. I consider pads temporary. When the red line of the hoof wall grain is parallel to the red line of the pastern angle you / your horse will be at it's natural angle .
The horse in the photo could use more shoe protruding at the rear for added heel support. As usual moving the shoe to the rear and rasping the extra toe is also needed here.
Keep in mind this is for starters. Achieving the correct angles relieves alot of stress on the horse.
Sorry for the quality of the photo - it was much worse , i managed to photo shop it though. You'll see some strange growth patterns / that ring around the foot just past half way down , the sheered heels, and look where the heel of the shoe is in relation to the back of the foot - the heel of the shoe could use to be almost an inch further rearward . If you draw a line from the hairline at the very rear of the foot along that hoof wall to the ground it will create a spot on the ground there where the heel should be. Actually the heel could use to be alittle bit further back that that even. The general rule of thumb with how far can one place the heels of the shoe to the rear is ( No Further than the Bulbs of the foot ). So if you drew a line straight down from the very furthest part of the foot at the hairline to the ground would tell you. What i'm doing is pointing out problems for you so you'll be able to recognize these things , when your horse starts slipping into these problem zones you'll be able to spot them and do something about it. The longer you wait to start the repairs the more the condition will become worse and the closer you'll be to lameness. I've said it before - it's not necessarily true that your horse will come up temporarily lame "BEFORE" it comes up permanently lame - so don't get lulled into false sense of securities. You're horse might be doing just fine and all of a sudden you can have a permanent lameness on your hands. We're here to do something to stop that ok?
OK - have fun - happy monday -
as usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.ccom
You can still get consultations at no charge ( that's FREE
. Simply get ahold of me at John@Care4Horses.com This is on a temporary basis so if you need help with something just ask.
thank you , take care
john silveira
articles at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=john_silveira
Excellent work today, John. Very descriptive and informative. It makes SO much sense what you showed here today. Keep up the great work. Marcia
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Thank you Marcia. The whole long toe sheered heel issue is one of the biggies when it comes to preventing lameness. Just looked at your author stats - says alphanumeric - had to edit it " no paranthesis" around "No Pain" . Which made me think suddenly - this is one area when it comes to horses that the adage "No pain no gain" doesn't work .... last thing we need is horses having pain in their legs and feet...
thanks for stopping by
johnny
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Another ver easy way to know what the coffin bone is doing, simply check the hairline (coronet) and you will see that the top 1/4 inch mirrors the coffin bone alignment. You caught this hoof with just a long toe, but over time, the coronet angle would become more steep as the laminae tear away from the front of the coffin bone (laminitis).
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thanks for that statement - it's an area i haven't mentioned much at all in my discussions on the blog. I don't use that method much because it's somewhat relative !!! meaning if you have a horse with extreme long toe syndrome there is so much stretch in the hoof wall that even when or after moving the toe severely rearward and two months go by and now you have 1/4" new growth at the hariline it's not "ALWAYS" accurate as there's still some stretch in the foot - foot hasn't really reached an equilibrium . Using the first 1/4 inch sounds to me like a good ballpark method. Of course when you think about it the only "Real" way to be sure is with Xrays and of course who can afford Xrays every time to shoe a horse. I will say though that horses i have worked on that have been for some reason Xray'd the Vet has always said to the owner " i don't know who's shoeing your horse but they've got the coffin bone set perfectly". I guess i'm doing something right.
again thanks so much for writing in. I love getting comments it's so much fuel for thought.
john
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