Farrieritis

Links

johnny Silveira — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:17:17 GMT

Links:
http://www.EquineNow.com
www.YourEquineSource.com

I'm NOT just a horseshoer !

johnny Silveira — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:10:36 GMT

08/29/08

         So it's my pleasure to be here. The August Hoof Pick Winner will be announced just around the corner - 2 more days .   Hope you are going to have a great weekend and a great Labor Day.

      This is spontaneous - a friend suggested i write this post. I just came home from a 5 day retreat in Sanger Ca. called Wizard Camp. About a year and a half ago i did The Enlightened Warrior training 5 day camp as well , these programs and more are available from Harv Ekers Peak Potentials group. I do volunteer work for this company which pays my way to these courses. Enlightened Warrior Camp really blew my mind, i came back from that camp changed for life , i already had signed up for Wizard Camp at that point , had heard some people thought Wizard Camp better than Enlightened Warrior but after personally experiencing Warrior camp for myself thought Warrior Camp would be nearly impossible to beat . To my surprise Wizard Camp topped Warrior.

      I don't usually talk about myself here let alone on an intimate level but what follows is an accout of one of the most intimate and profound experiences of my life if not "The" most profound . This account is about me - if you want to know something about me personally and something very unusual read on - but if you came here for horse information - this time you won't be getting any and i appologize for that , so enter at your own riski (-:

        Wizard Camp , 5 days , every day is a different day long activity geared toward introspection and self improvement. Completely out of any comfort zone and what is familiar or routine . In the evenings during sessions (Indoor events with the speaker or another facilitator is always something new as well. On the 4th evening by our total surprise we had a special guest -   Mahara Brenna a holistic rebirther , mediator , and wonderful woman. We , all 250 of us were told earlier in the day to bring a pad to lie on and a pillow and towel for the evening session not knowing we'd be meeting this beautiful woman. All gathered we were told to split up into two groups as we met Mahara.

         The first 125 people to set up their stations lying on our padding with pillow and Mahara eloguently told us what to expect from our Breathing Rebirthing session .  We were told this was a healing , that everyone would have an experience unique to themselves. We were told how to breathe ( Quick full inbreath and rapid exhale as if pushing out anything unwanted - getting rid of . Mahara continued with varying explanations of how some will cry and others will be angry etc etc and all the funny examples that left people laughing out loud and surprised as she said words like "Snot" in our nose or how some will need a vomit bag that was provided and on and on. Who would have known she wasn't lying - she had an ease and grace and style like none other. To me she wreaked of mysticism or shamanizm or Gypsie , but there was something obviously very real about this woman.

        We were told she'd issue in Archangles and all manner of spiritual beings. Were told some of us would feel our wrists and ankles swell and stiffen and if we got stuck that the way out of it would be to wriggle our fingers or toes . Were told some of us would actually stop breathing as we slipped into the process but not to worry as the autonomic breathing system would kick in. Were told how to channel the healing in time with the breathing. As she continued to speak i just had no idea what this woman was talking about but i knew she wasn't lying and i placed my trust in her and went forward into the unknown with openess and trust.

         The lights went down and the drumming started , and we were guided into the breathing practice - Quick in - harsh out - IN - OUT - IN - OUT , and this went on for an easy ten minutes At about this point is where the White lite appeared to me , my eyes closed but as it came on it slowly appeared and brightened in my minds eye , also as she told us some would be experiencing this . I'm breathing through as instructed of course and then suddenly i hear Mahara , she had nealt down next to me and told in the voice of a goddess to "Feel it down here" as she placed her hand on my lower Chakra and i immediately started to "Feel" it there and all she said was "Yes" and was gone. The white lite as gently as it came gently went away but i knew the process had started and i was in it's embrace. The little blue lites danced in my head as well just following and i continued to breath and go deeper into what was happening. Breathing IN - Out - In - Out ------- In Out when i realized i started heating up and sweating and i melded into the earth in some kind of state of relaxation that i just simply can't ever remember experiencing in such a deep complete and full way.

        As i drifted deeper into the breathing and melding into the ground noticing the gravity of it all i was increasing aware that my wrists and ankles had become thick as a type of energy coursed itself through my system. To me it was as if a Divine presence was saying " i am holding you now " just enjoy and i did. I'm enraptured by now 15 minutes or so into this process , still breathing in - out - in out rhythmically. Noticing now though injury in my body , areas that just didn't feel right to me for one reason or another but knowing it all had been like this for quite some time. During our instruction we were told to "Get Under" this and that the breath IN would bring awareness to what was being experienced and the outbreath would push that negative out , and so again that's what i did. Breathing IN noticing the pains and Breathing OUT pressing the physical sensations out through those swollen stiff wrists and ankles . The outbreath is like discharging so believe me when i tell you the outbreath was done powerfully deeply and sharply now.

       The inbreaths would charge the exhale , it was thrilling , breathing inwardly experiencing the negative energy and exhaling and feeling the bad energy being pressed outward through those swollen wrists and ankles. Great waves of breathing came over me - i could choose to draw breath inward ever so slowly to experience fully the negative energy so i could deliberately blast it out of my body with a forceful authoritive out breath - and i did. By now believe me i am deep in a zone , shrouded in some kind of mysterious process , in the hands of some mystical all encompassing journey through for me was the complete unknown not knowing how long this process would continue or what was coming next and it didn't matter whatever would come next i was going with it - i knew this was a healing and there was no way anyone was going to take this away from me , i would have lay there in the dimly lit room with the drumming music for hours if need be. This was happening . This was amazing.

        As i arched and wreathed as i experienced these wild energies flowing through my body and exeriencing this Gawd Allmighty grip the process had on me it all suddenly became rather funny as i realized or it came to me that everything that was happening to me was just not that big a deal after all  and i just couldn't help myself with a deep smile and belly laugh as the humor of it all flowed through me - just as we also were told that some of us would feel this - and i did. And the process continued , rhythmically in and out still experiencing but now with Joy.

         Surrendering to the process was easy , i knew and felt it was a pure experience and trusted completely in the warmth of it all but what came next i wasn't prepared for. As i breathed inwardly again memmory awakened in me and i shifted from the physical healing aspect of it all to one of the most painful memmories of my life , that of missing my daughter Marissa.

        Marissa was special , and she and i had that kind of connection i can only say we would do anything for . But being taken out of Marissa's life when she was only 3 nearly destroyed me with anguish . Too many times i'd wake up in the middle of the nite unable to breathe and weeping so deeply from a dream of her that i wondered if i'd ever breath.

        On the long ever so long inbreath of remembering her the return of the pain of loss came with it. As i arched on the inbreath with full lungs i was at a loss for understanding how to rid this and expell this energy and pain filling my every inch on the cellular level. After what seemed like a very very long time , still arched , the opening showed itself and with that exhale and through that exhale flowed the most agonizing scream of pain as this pain started to leave my body, and of course all followed by the next ten minutes or so of that sobbing that no one ever hopes to experience , that kind of sobbing that takes every bit of breath away for what feels like forever. And now this was the experience that took over and for the next 15 minutes the screams and crying continued , and all i feel is oh my god oh my gawd this is too much yet somehow knowing this is all healing.

        I guess all things will pass , as something inside of me decided to have an influence on this process that was happening to me and at that point i decided it was time to "Let this go" let this pain go and having been wrapped in this spiritual journey now for about 45 minutes it was time to come down and return to myself. While deep inside this process there was a small , very small place where there was a piece of Marissa there and i could touch her with the tips of my fingers of one hand as i lie there. I'll bet you she felt that too. At least i hope so , you see Marissa and i remain estranged to this day.

         As this whole process was passing and the waves of emotion became smaller and smaller i started to reconnect with the nature of life and my reality and i realized the beauty of the whole experience , and i reached up above me with arms outstretched into the dimly lit room , still lying , and with finger tips felt for and said hello to the angles that had just visited me and provided me this experience . Now we were guided over the music of the drums by Mahara through her microphone to gather those missing parts of ourselves and let them embrace us as we lay there in relaxation.

          This was Rebirthing Mahara Style , and for the life of me i have never felt anything to compare this to ever . Without a doubt the most profound experience of my life. I take from this experience a sense of peace and power like never before.  I can tell it's going to take me a while to integrate this Miracle into my being .                    Wow .

                       Mahara Brenna ----------- thank you.
        www.MaharaBrenna.com

I got Chewed Out ! Yup - Me.

johnny Silveira — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:05:06 GMT

08/03/08

     Here's a great big hellooooooooo to you.

         The July Horse Head Hoof Pick Winner , wouldn't you like to know happens to be .......................
                                                IRENE GAVNITZ of Tipton Iowa   Congratulations Irene. Lucky you.

    Ok , So i got chewed out the other day. I shoe for a Vet in Milpitas Ca. and while shoeing her horse one day a young woman with her horse in hand came and asked me to look at her horse due to some lameness issues and she's an endurance rider. So i looked the horse over , somewhat pigeon toed and a few other issues that i didn't like much with the feet so we decided to shoe the horse. During all this i was asked for my opinion of the horse regarding Endurance riding , my opinion at the time was maybe alittle bit harsh but i said the horse would not probably ever be a champion and probably wouldn't hold up , apparently i said "Would NEVER hold up". Whew !

     Well i didn't shoe the horse after the first shoeing and the woman went ahead and attended 5 50 mile endurance rides on the horse. So far so good the horse is holding up.

     So i'm shoeing for the Vet the other day and this girl ( the endurance rider ) approached me with her horse in hand again ( i hadn't seen her for 8 months ) and she says to me "Remember me"? my reply was "Of course". She continued with i've ridden this horse through 5 of the 50 mile endurance rides and he did pretty good. She continued with " i almost took what you said to heard about my horse not ever holding up to endurance competition - and that i should watch what i say to people with my opinions ".    Truth be told !

     It must have been that i felt the horse was pretty seriously out of balance and most likely had bad joints and right now i just don't remember exactly what the horse looked like , but if i made such a bold statement to this woman i probably would still stand by my opinion today. She hasn't done any 100 mile rides on the horse and if she starts pushing this horse through 100 mile competitions , it's very risky in my opinion . As already mentioned i'm most likely still stand by my evaluation of her horse. If it were me i wouldn't push the horse into 100 mile rides, not if i don't want to risk lameness.

     Some horses can tolerate lots of abuse to the joints and legs while others just aren't able to survive the punishment. Every horse is different . When it comes to horses i feel i'd rather err on the side of safety rather than keep pushing the horse to the limits.

     Why is competition so important sometimes that it overlooks better judgement possibly, in this case maybe a horse coming up permanently lame ? I used to compete in the Olympic Weightlifting Events - i did well enough. But i've seen the results of competition when pushing and pushing. I've seen weightlifters twist elbows like a chicken wing , i've seen Jerry Orlando rip both knee caps right off the tendon and had the knee cap roll right up his leg - he went down in shock and screamed for 5 minutes , and the list of catastrophies is long. I had a friend loose a life from taking steriods to be stronger and feed his need for MORE POWER. The sports world is full of drug abuse to achieve the dream , the goal , the vision ahead. It's not much different when it comes to horses in my opinion.

     This rather nice young woman , can keep riding her horse , keep pushing and perhaps actually finally enter the big 100 mile ride , but i still don't think the horse will hold up to the "Competitive Level" of 100 mile rides , I still think the horse will blow before it ever wins a 100 miler. I think the question for me becomes , what is it that becomes more important - my will to win or what's best for the horse's future. Does it all come down to what i want or should it be what's best for the horse. I think that's a decision everyone makes for themselves.

     I certainly hope if the horse gets pushed as hard as it's going to need to win 100 mile rides that it holds up for her - i hope she proves me wrong , they both have my best wishes.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Quick change of pace . Here's a pic that i hope you never have to see for yourself. I was called out to shoe this horse about 9 months ago and this is what i saw , I haven't been called back so i don't know what condition this horse is in , i just hope it's ok. I've seen this kind of thing lead to so much deep flexor tendon stretch that the fetlock joint of the horse was almost hitting the ground - the horse ruined beyond repair.
                            Here you go . Prepare yourself , i don't want to be sued for causing heart attacks.



     This following photo was the best i could do with this horse the first time. See if you can understand the red lines .




     To the left you see "Excess Hoof" That's extra hoof that i couldn't rasp off the first time - the hoof should match up with that red line. Next you see the pastern angle , it's just a bit steep but the hoofwall doesn't match up with the pastern angle - see the "Grain Of Hoof Stretch" red line , it should be in line with the pastern angle red line.

      When setting the coffin bone angle along with the pastern angles i don't use the toe of the hoof wall and a hoof guage , i have found it's not accurate . What i use as the closest guage of angles , next to XRays , is to use that grain in the hoof right there ( Mid Point of hoof - not the toe , not the heel - but mid point ) right there where the red line is drawn that says "GRAIN". When you can get that mid point grain angle to line up with the pastern angle you'll be about spot on for angles .

     So here it is August , a few more good months of riding , hope you are doing well and the horses are too.

     As usual , happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

     Consultations are still free ( FREE ) Free             Free Free Free - ok you get the idea .  You can send photos for evaluations and hoof care guidance or just to show me what and how you're shoeing your own horses. It's my pleasure - TRY ME !!    i dare ya !!     (-:

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

What's Wrong With This Picture

johnny Silveira — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:32:32 GMT

07/17/08

Hello My Name is Roula Lenska   LOL   Just kidding , This is John "TheFootDoctor" how's it going ?

I just want to jump right in .

                       What's Wrong With The Shoes In This Picture ? What do you see ? Tell me ?



           Well Ok that was a trick question .   There's really nothing wrong with those shoes. Those happen to be a pair of Aluminum Natural Balance shoes that came off the front of a horse i shoe. What i want to point out is the wear pattern . Those shoes have been worn down quite a bit , new they have much more metal at the toe area but these have alot of metal worn off , however the wear patterns are straight across the toe where they belong which is the best for the horse. OK ?     Now take a look at the photo below.



     Now what do you see this time ?  Obviously the wear pattern is way too crooked on this shoe and that can be disastrous for several reasons. Bear that in mind while i run off on a tangent.

     I don't shoe this horse in the photo above - if i were shoeing it you wouldn't see that problem . The foot is severely out of balance. It has alot of inside flare ( the left side of the photo the foot runs that way - and the other side of the foot has little support - see if you can visualize that - the wear pattern shows you how much foot is on the wrong side .

     Sometimes i check other horseshoeing blogs , One in particular the farrier was complaining about those natural balance shoes , the ones you see in the top photo here. The shoes are great ! They reflect forward thinking and understanding what horses need to stay sound, they just need to be used correctly and put on correctly. If you notice on those Natural Balance shoes that the toe or the new shoe is actually squarish and not round , what that does is essentially create two corners on the shoe at the toe rather than a roundish toe - flat across the front of the toe and then a corner on each side ( easy ) . Well the farriers gripe was , he was saying "Look at the Wear Pattern" Look at the Wear pattern , and how this poor horse had to walk on that "Corner" of the shoe until it got all worn down where the horse could finally stop having to walk on that pointed corner.   He gets upset like i do   (-:

      Well look , you see he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was noticing wear patterns " GREAT " good for him . Wear patterns are important - if you know how to read wear patterns you'll make a big leap in understanding feet or how to become a better farrier. There's a simple fix for what this farrier was complaining about and it's just too bad he missed it ! Went right by him like cotton in the wind . That wear pattern on the shoe is a HUGE clue , but he just missed it.

      The point here is for you to notice the wear patterns on your own horse , that wear pattern above is exactly one of the indications that somethings wrong with your horses shoes and can and does lead directly to lameness and it could be permanent lameness. Take this serious , you can easily go look at your horses feet and see if that wear pattern is straight across the foot or if it's crooked - if crooked i need to encourage you to get ahold of me and get it figured out.    Easy to do just contact me personally at John@Care4Horses.com - you're getting consultation at "NO COST" - that's what i do.   Ok ?   Just do it ! go ahead !

      One more thing before i go. The hoof pick drawing has only 14 days left for this month . Ewww la la .
           All you need to do to get on the list permanently for the drawing is to leave your name and physical mailing address at the same address as above ----------> John@Care4Horses.com     if you scroll through this site you'll see photos of the cool Hand Forged Horse Head Hoof Picks made out of half a horseshoe and personalized with your very name hot stamped right into the metal - these Picks are one of a kind no two alike and little works of art, you'll love em. OK ? just sign up once ---> John@Care4Horses.com

Take care be good and as usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

       signing out :    John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

ps. Drawing near finishing with "Inside horseshoeing Secrets of lameness Prevention" ebook - you can see at the following www.Care4Horses.com       The Ebook is no cost too - that's what i do    (-:

                     take care.   Feed Shark

Quick Announcement / June Hoof Pick Winner

johnny Silveira — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:38:43 GMT

06/30/08

The June Horse Head Hoof Pick Winner is Susan Drillock in Long Valley New Jersey.

                Congratulations Susan.

A quick note . One of my clients asked if i'd go to her vets shop while she took her horse there for xrays. This is a horse i started doing just under a year ago and had seriously out of control feet. I posted an article about these horses - the ones she had to go out to the barn every day for over a month and physically pull the horses up from lying because the feet had been trimmed so poorly.

The long story short as the Veterinarian started his series of Xrays i was able to see each one as they popped up on his computer screen. I quickly got in close so the vet could exchange thoughts with me. The first thing he said while looking at the coffin bone was "Not Bad" and he was referring to what i've been talking about here these last few times ( Level Foot ) . What he and i were looking at was an almost perfectly level ( horizontal to the ground ) coffin bone. My sigh of relief of course but the problem was the horse had developed Navicular disease long before i started shoeing it. There was serious degeneration of the navicular bone. That's bad news - as the horse was lame and ended up getting injections in it's joints.

Previous to when i started shoeing the horse it had been being trimmed with extreme long toe out in front , along with that were the sheered heels that usually occur from the toe drifting forward - and of course some contraction of the heels also from the combination of the two just mentioned. The contraction puts more squeeze on the navicular bone , and well , now the owner has problems , and the easy 1000.00 $ i saw her sink into the Xrays and injections all within 45 minutes to 1 hour . Could that have all been prevented with more correct shoeing over the past years ? There's a good chance the answer to that is yes .   Anyway . Something i just have to show you.

Here is a picture of my most favorite buddy .   It's my son Tristan Dylan Silveira. He is soooooo cool.    I was at the park with him Sunday and he asked me to count to five and then it was my job to catch him from both of us at the top of a three story jungle gym. Oh i'm telling you - something came over me - some kind of energy and i just went for it ! Leaping over rails and swinging from a pole and hitting the sand running as Tristan looked back at me coming and i just heard him say to himself " Ohhhh Nooo " as i swarmed in on him .    HAHA. Priceless moment .   He's only 6-1/2 ....    He's a rider too ya know - has his own pony and competes in walk trot canter events. He's my favorite buddy .   Here you go - here he is.



                            Well i have to go . I have some videos for you coming soon .   I'll talk with you.

as usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

Hoof Pick winner and more on level feet.

johnny Silveira — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:50:54 GMT

06/09/08

Hello , John TheFootDoctor here. Lots going on lately right ?

The May Hand Forged Horse Head Hoof Pick winner is : Bridget McGraw in Antioch , Congratulations Bridget.
Bridget is a client of mine, she has the horse Zeus that had the quarter crack. She'll be leaving to Switzerland for school , i hope she's able to keep her horse till she gets back.  Keep your fingers crossed.

This is really simple - here at Farrieritis we give away one of these hand forged horse head hoof picks that you see below per month , all you do is leave your name and physical mailing address , ok ? just leave your name and mailing address at John@Care4Horses.com and you're entered until you win. Do it ! Now   (-:



I have a client who found me through a recommendation from her friend. Without going into much detail her horse was almost lame and we decided to shoe the horse using the methods you've been discovering here. In a very short time her horse became sound again much to her delight - the horses too , however the friend that gave the recommendation in the first place remained with the farrier she had been using. OK , so i get a call from her (the one that gave the recommendation) that she thinks her horse needs help as it's just not the same anymore and asked if i'd look at it. I did and the horse was not right . Apparently the horse was being corrected for pigeon toes using the ole industry standard methods that just don't measure up to safe shoeing practices . Her horse too was in trouble.

The long story short is the medial ( inside ) hoof wall was being trimmed short so the hoof/foot would rotate and force the foot in a less pigeon toed manner. Doing so puts the coffin bone in an unnatural position , in this case the horse was feeling the pain. With continued use the horse could very well have come up permanently lame. So we leveled the foot , moved the toes back , gave the horse heel support with a slightly longish shoe , put the shoes on so they balance the foot and practically overnite her horse is drastically improved , here is her email / update to me .

                " Hey John, Had to let you know how my ride went last night. I'm not sure how you did this, but my horse was "springy". She was so soft every stride felt like I was landing on a pillow. I'm still in shock! I will give her today off and try her again on Saturday.
THANK YOU!! Hope you are enjoying Grass Valley, and not working too hard!
Patti "

               isn't that nice ?
Ok you know me and i'm not known for pulling many punches on this site , i'm a farrier right - you know how we are (-:         Well one of the issues Patti had for waiting so long to look into an alternate farrier was the distance i live away from her barn and my availability and once she were to leave her farrier she probably wouldn't be returning and this caused her to worry for a replacement farrier that would be at least as good as the one she was using ( my opinion of course is he wasn't very good in the first place - sssssssh i didn't say that ). I could tell Patti was in a spot so i spoke the truth and told her she wouldn't have much problem finding another farrier anyway that would most likely be able to do a better job , that's all Patti needed to hear, she decided to use my services right then and there ( we shod the horse that nite ) and now her horse is doing much better.    There's a moral to this story and you know what it is , i don't want to bore you and get long winded about it.   My perspective though is , this is just another example of many of how relying on a farrier and not your own understanding of shoeing / educating yourself can lead to disaster.  You and i are trying to put a stop to that aren't we ?   hope so.

So here's what happened to Pattis horse. Follow along , i'll be quick . The photo below is a level foot - it's so easy to tell it's level , well , because the hoof's gone !!! That's the rear view and you can see the wings at the sides which is the coffin bone. But that photo is where you want to be with your horse when it's feet are trimmed , nice and level.


Supposing this is a left front foot, Pattis horse was being trimmed with the right side of the foot /hoofwall shorter than the left side. The coffin bone no longer level and binding the joints. OK i'm sure you understand this , the problem is how do you really make sure your horse's foot is level if you cover those bones up with hoof wall and are no longer able to see the joints. Look at this next photo . Does that foot look crooked ? the red lines are different lengths side to side - the heels look different , but i promise you this hoof is level ! When this foot is on the ground the bones and coffin bone are level (just as in the photo above) and this horse is optimal for level. I use a method to visually level a foot and every XRay i've seen of horses i have shod show the foot as truly level - but i need to get to the point.



There are farriers that would look at this foot and use the hoof as the guage of a level foot and even the lengths of this hoof wall side to side and length of heels (and change everything) while completely missing the point of level joints. It's sad - but that's what was happening to Pattis horse. There are gimmicks out there / tools that measure length of heels from the toe that tell you to simply keep cutting foot off until the length of the heels are the same while never once talking about bone alignment which just simply cannot be ingored - again - Patti's horse is the prime example of what happens when bone alignment is ingored. There's so much more to this shoeing puzzle but i need to start somewhere / here , with one of the most important aspects , the problem i have is this is the most difficult aspect to explain how to get the foot level in text format - So i'm going to get another video on here for you that will be very clear, how to establish a level foot , you will never again be at a loss for knowing if your horse is level or not and you'll not have to leave your horse at risk of lameness ever again from this perspective just as in Patti's case.

I was just at another horseshoeing blog a couple days ago while researching pigeon toed horses and the Expert was teaching the typical "Old School" method of lowering one side of the foot - teaching this stuff - YIKES !!!!! - please don't you buy into that , and don't let your farrier either ok ?       So i'll be back with a video.

till next time , happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

John "TheFootDoctor" silveira

PS. you can get consultations at no cost to you - that's free . Get ahold of me personally simply go to my email   John@Care4Horses.com , send me photos of your horse whatever you need. Limited time basis.

Coffin Bone Rotations

johnny Silveira — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:22:20 GMT

05/08/08


Hey there , John here.

     You've probably heard me talk about coffin bone rotation on numerous occasions , but this is the first i'm actually posting a Xray of exactly that.

      This was a pony that foundered, the rotation if i remember correctly was about 10 degrees which is considered a bit on the severe side (the tip of the coffin bone dropped by 10 degrees ). Horses don't have to founder to get rotation so any horse including your horse is susceptible. Alot goes on during rotation and not just the coffin bone is affected. In the worst case scenario of coffin bone rotation the tip of the coffin bone rotates so severely the point/tip of the coffin bone rips right through the bottom of the foot and the bone is protruding , of course there's blood everywhere. Otherwise there are all differing degrees of rotation none if which are beneficial.

      Ok , now that the worst is out of the way let me ease your mind a bit - there are things ( shoeing/triming ) practices you can make sure are done correctly to minimize the risk of rotation. Whew - even i feel better now (-:

      Remember this photo below ? In milder cases of rotation you can see the bruising at the tip of the coffin bone right? See the redness right there? There's a reason for that - as the tip of the coffin bone rotates and presses downard it squishes and crushes the sensitive tissue rupturing blood vessels . It's pretty common , i see it often , it's not a good sign and in the case below most likely a result of that toe being too long , that's one of the reasons i keep mentioning moving the toe rearward on feet. Working a horse hard may also cause rotation - as the horse fatigues and it's muscle strength deminishes more stress on the tendons and ligaments result which pull harder on the deep flexor tendon attached to the back of the coffin bone and rotation shows up.

     Do you jump your horses ? As the upper body of the horse is coming downward - hind up in the air - a tremendous amount of weight is being forced down through the legs directly into the feet - hoof angle is severe while the rear is up in the sky and the stress to the coffin bone could easily rotate it . This is a perfect time to bring up the importance of having enough heel on the horse's foot, the lower the heel the more stress and pull on the coffin bone encouraging more rotation , one of the reasons for wedge pads right there.



         If this isn't enough to get your attention lets go alittle bit further. When you have coffin bone rotation it's not only bad for sensitive tissue within the foot but the coffin bone rotation also throws the pastern bones out of alignment , which looks like the photo below , the three long red lines should all line up with each other. Common problem or symptom of this is Arthritis in the joints of the foot and pastern bones. Looking at the photo below you'll also see how close the tip of the coffin bone is to the bottom of the foot , if you're driving a thin soled horse hard over somewhat rocky ground you can fracture the coffin bone easily , a good argument toward using pads at that point.



      Possibly the biggest culprit of rotation other than founder is the long toe sheered heel syndrome so often and common in the way horses are shod , which brings to mind the horse "Big Al" who was exactly as just described - extrememly long toed and sheered heels , look below ; the result of his foot being much much too long in the toe and sheered heeled is the blood you're seeing. This horse was being ridden this way.



      Minimize stress and coffin bone rotation on your horse and you'll have a much happier horse.  If you want to know how to prevent coffin bone rotation just get ahold of me and i'm happy to tell you.

                         You can get ahold of me at John@Care4Horses.com the consultation is free .
                                                         You're not charged a penny .

      I need to get going , As usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

PS. Don't forget to sign up for the Free Custom Hand Forged Hoof Pick drawing , Just leave your physical mailing address along with your name @ John@Care4Horses.com    so easy - do it now ........

More Wild Blunders , still amazes me.

johnny Silveira — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:16:18 GMT

05/06/08

Search Engine Optimization

Hello , The Foot Doctor here , you enjoying the weather yet ?

       i just recieved an email from a woman having problems with the way her horse's feet are being taken care of. She sent photos as well. What i saw is something i have been seeing more and more of lately and particularly with the barefoot crowd. I don't use the quote "Barefoot" unquote method , and i won't especially after seeing something like what you'll see in this photo. The other times i've seen this type of thing before it was mentioned as "The Natural Method" of hoof care. Here we go ------ "Good Lordy - i just don't know what they're thinkin" (-:

       Let me just jump right in and show you this photo , won't keep you in suspence any longer.


      This just blows my mind ! This horse had just been trimmed , when the owner inspected the workmanship after the Farrier had gone she just knew something was wrong. Can you see how the sole of the foot is growing longer than the hoof wall ? And can you see the bars of the hoof that wrap around the frog are growing much too long as well - especially there at the point of the frog ? And the frog is burried deep within the foot probably never having a chance for ground contact and to do it's job of helping pump blood through the foot.

      This poor horse has to stand more on it's sole ( much more ) than on it's hoof wall - would be somewhat like if you had a ball of clay in your shoe and had to stand on it.

       Since the sole is so overgrown it not only puts pressure and beats pressure back into the foot causing discomfort to the horse but it also adds unnecessary weight out on the end of the horses leg making the foot a cumbersome clumsy hinderance to the way this horse travels.   Jeeeezus ! Are Farriers that practice these type of methods even thinking for themselves "At all " ??? Are they just too damn lazy to do the extra work necessary to clean the foot out ? Are they just closing they're eyes and minds to this ?? The point is this could have been your horse. The point is this is just One of the many necessary elements of shoeing that need to be addressed correctly that are often times simply overlooked or worse yet not even understood or known about - and again the point is this could be happening to you or your horse without you even knowing so - you may be trusting your Farrier to know better.    I don't feel like going way off on a rant about this today but horses come up lame every day - THIS IS WHY !    Don't let your horse be next.

      So the simple fix for this horse is quite easy. The Farrier simply gets his nippers out and grabs all that protruding sole right there at the toe with the jaws of his nipper and starts to give a tug - the whole sole will peel right out of the bottom of the foot leaving a whole clean new sole underneath. The sole sheds just like the frogs do . Once that old sole is literally popped out then the knife is used to reshape the sole back to it's natural structure ( Now that's what you call "NATURAL" ) - NOT just letting the foot do anything it wants and calling that natural .  So anyway - now that the sole is all cleared away the Farrier would then see the foot has much more hoof wall to be shortened using the nippers to cut it away. So not only does this horses foot in the photo above have all that sole causing pressures but the foot is also much too long by an amount of growth equal to at least an 8 week growth cycle. Remember the photo above is of a hoof that was just trimmed.

     For the horse above this would all become a viscious cycle and a downward spiral of worsening condition to the foot would be the result . This is exactly how horses come up lame - 8 weeks will lapse before the next Farrier visit and by then the foot grows longer more stretch to the hoof wall and the lameness strikes like a venemous cobra .   You just need to keep educated for yourself so you can recognize these things for yourself and that's why i'm here. So i can present these things and your eyes can get educated and you'll be able to take action towards prevention of lameness.

     OK ?   i need to go , wish i could chat more , but i'm on the way out ... talk to you later.

     Till next time happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

      Speaking of that , i just remembered - www.Care4Horses has finally been updated alittle bit. You can go check it out real quick . www.Care4Horses.com , this is the free ebook coming out really soon covering all the issues that lead to lameness that the industry is just not clued in about and the reasons the horse above in the photo is the way it is.   So go ahead and put yourself on the early notification list .

Till next time ,   John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira     OUT !!

links :
www.YourEquineSource.com
www.Care4Horses.com

ps. don't forget the Consultation for any horse and shoeing issues is currently FREE. just get ahold of me personally at John@Care4Horses.com

Eight Belles , Euthanization

johnny Silveira — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:55:11 GMT

05/03/08

Hello .

As you most likely have heard Eight Belles , may she rest in peace , was euthanized today 05/03/08. As you can imagine this incident is a sensitive issue with many , i'm no exception to that - this has been rumbling around in my mind all day. This is way too easy to speak out on especially for me for a few reasons. I spoke out about Barbaro when he was put down , i was going to pass on saying anything about Eight Belles due to the controversial nature of what happened , yet here the words come.

Eight Belles was a beautiful horse , i for one certainly just cannot make light of what happened . Eight Belles was exceptional , the best of the best and it grieves me to see her passing.

I'm a Farrier and i specialize in lameness prevention , i've also spent many hours on horseback , mostly bareback with my Arab Stallion Khero. I rode bareback for the feel and the increased connection through feel i could get to the animal. My training program with Khero was to build up his endurance , a one hour continuous canter out and up the hills in los Altos , a short 20 minute break at the top of the mountain and a one hour canter back to the ranch. Khero is a Khemosabi bloodline - Khemosabi known as the leading sire of champions to date and Khero is a Magnificent animal, long hours of riding turns horses into extremely Majestic creatures to say the least.

What i learned from so much long bareback riding was how sensitive horses are to picking up the most subtle clues we give them with our bodies. In a manner , we as riders are responsible for the development of the horse. It's our will that translates into the animal and the development of the animal is a reflection of our own thoughts and feelings and connection with the horse. It's my personal belief we mold and shape the horse , it's movement , it's body , and it's way of being through what we feel and believe and how we sit the animal and ask it to perform .

When i heard about Eight Belles i looked for videos on her and studied her movement. When i watched the videos of the race and before i even knew which horse she may be i thought i spotted her due to the way of movement i thought would most lead to such a breakdown. When Eight Belles moves and runs she in a subtle way throws her weight downward through her legs , she thundered along. I spotted this movement right away out of all the horses in the race and it was she.

I'm not here tonight to place blame , it's not my intention , i'm here to say i believe at least through my experience that we as riders teach our horses how to move. It's my belief that Eight Belles was taught to move in the manner she was which was basically heavy through her legs. Now here's where this gets deep, When i imagine myself riding on Eight Belles back i'm certain i would feel her movement , the heaviness up front , because this would have been what she knew and how she moved , what she was taught , it was her behavior. I'm certain i would have felt the heaviness with which she moved and i'm certain i would not have been happy with that, and not happy because the heavy movement on the front end is , to my experience with riding , punishing to the joints and the legs.

At the height of my rides with Khero we moved with great harmony , as if he and i were one. When he ran he did so with extreme lightness in the way his feet hit the ground , and Khero was fast , very fast. But the particular motion and way of traveling Khero had was taught him , by me , because it was through the thoughts i held in my mind while riding that brought Khero to that level of development. I simply held the thoughts and carefully rode and developed Khero until his body language fit and harmonized with my thoughts and visions. So it's hard for me to look at videos of Eight Belles and convince myself she was not taught to move so heavily on her front end , and the punishment her joints must have taken. As i've said , i don't want to go into blame but what i do want to say is horses give clues when things are going wrong , subtle clues that we as riders really need to spend 100% of the time looking for while we're riding, it's something that should "Never" be off our minds while riding.

I don't want to pass judgement on what happened to Eight Belles openly but i hope what i have spoken here brings closer to your mind the causes of lameness. Could this event with Eight Belles have been avoided , well i'll leave that for you to judge for yourself in your own sensibilities.

Race horses perform at such early ages , Race horses are shod for speed , Shoeing for speed means longish toes to propel horses forward with the extra leverage that increases speed. There's a reason i'm not in favor of this type of horseshoeing practice and Eight Belles epitomizes that.   I am heartfelt for a great horse, and believe she deserves honorable mention.

                                   May Eight Belles rest in peace.  May we all do better with our horses.



                                                              Eight Belles 2005 - 05/03/08

April Custom Hand Forged Horse Head Hoof Pick Winner - WOW.

johnny Silveira — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:58:03 GMT

o4/30/08

Search Engine Optimization

Hello and boy have i been busy , But i'm here to happily announce the April Hoof pick winner.

Here we go -------------------- The April Hoof Pick winner happens to be Lu Rubink in Elizabeth Colorado.

                                                         CONGRATULATIONS LU !!!

             If you're here for the first time - this is a monthly hoof pick drawing , Just enter your name and physical mailing address one time to : John@Care4Horses.com and your on the list till you win. Easy to do and doesn't cost you a penny when you win.    The Hoof Picks are Custom one of a kind hand forged horse head hoof picks made out of half a horseshoe, they're personalized with your name hot stamped right into the metal. The Picture is below - remember it's John@Care4Horses.com easy -   leave your name now .



      I'm busy with the ebook that's coming to Farrieritis.com and need to keep working but have you ever seen horses shed their frogs ? you know - those little rubbery things at the bottom of their feet ?   LOL     Yes they'll shed right off the foot leaving a perfectly shaped new frog exposed . It's a really healthy sign for the foot to shed like that. Not only that but it makes my job shoeing alot easier because with the frog out of the way i can get my knife and clean out and reshape the sole . I'll get into alot about the sole of the foot coming soon. For now here's a picture from two horses i was shoeing the other day , both of these horses were shedding their frogs - Take a quick look.



           These were very thick frogs and when i was looking at the foot as i was cleaning them i could tell because the frog was so thick they were probably ready to shed off - Just grabbed the tip of the frog with my nippers and give a slight tug and they just start to peel away. Wish i would have taken a photo of the brand new frog that was under these ones .   Next time.

          Gonna go .
        As usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

PS. Don't forget - i'm still giving Consultations on any horse shoeing related / conformation issues at absolutely no cost to you - that's "FREE". Send me pictures / emails , whatever it takes to get the answers you're looking for.

thanks again.

links:

www.YourEquineSource.com    <---- this is a great site growing very quickly . I blog there as well. Just click the banner " THE FOOT DOCTOR " on their main page.

Some serious foot for thought.

johnny Silveira — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:20:11 GMT

Hellllllooooo Hello .
John here. Warming up and some good riding on it's way .

I recieved a response from someone today ( a comment ) on the blog post named "Quarter Crack Hell - the story of Zeus".   I want to post it below because it hits to the core of lameness and what lameness prevention is all about . It's a short read but i think you'll find it interesting.

But first - The April Hoof Pick Giveaway is right around the corner. Hurry up and just leave your name and physical mailing address at John@Care4Horses.com and you'll be put on the list for possibly being chosen the next winner. Here's what the Custom One of a Kind Hand Forged Personalized Horse Head Hoof Picks look like ....



Just do it NOW !   name and physical mailing address at John@Care4Horses.com

OK - here's the comment and my response. This hit me right at the core.   Thanks.

-
-
-

The One line comment , and my response under...

Comment:     Perhaps you might think along the line of "How does a owner allow the horse to get to this point?????????

============================

Ha ! good comment ...   As you know it's the farriers who are supposto be the educated ones . Farriers are supposto know. Farriers are the ones that take care of the horses feet. Farriers are supposto have the experience , Farriers are the ones doing the work.

Are you a farrier by chance ??

Zeus's owner wasn't able to ride her horse for over a year because of that crack . She wasn't the one that put it there. The Crack was a result of the horse not being shod well. She looked for other farriers , apparently some couldn't get the crack fixed ( another weak testamony for Farriers if i say so myself ). We can't really expect the average and even the above average horse owner to pull out tools and an anvil / Forge / shoes / hammers and start doing the work themselves can we , let alone expect them to somehow magically posess the knowledge about shoeing that horseshoers/farries themselves obviously don't even possess ? This is an Industry problem , an industry shortcoming. I went to what's considered the worlds greatest horseshoeing school - the day i graduated i knew - i felt - something was missing in the education there. I'm just lucky that i now posess the information and the knowledge that the farrier schools and textbooks themselves don't even teach. Where and how does the horse owner arrive at the top of the list to shoulder blame for horseshoeing blunders when mainstream information about the right way to shoe a horse is not even out there for them to find the truth?

I've discussed this method i use to Vets - their response - "Revolutionary" - even the Vets didn't know or have the right info. "How does the owner allow the horse to get to this point"? What are they supposto do ? Do the shoeing themselves ? And what about where do they get the right information on how to shoe correctly when the information is just plain not out there. Horse owners everywhere are screaming about how their horses and other horses are coming up lame , But what do they do ? What can they do ? I can't really expect them to pick up the tools themselves shoeing is just way beyond their capabilities. People who do pick up a tool are shocked at just how difficult it is even to just take a set of nippers and trim the foot - let alone clean out the sole , trim the frog , use a rasp , shape shoes , nailing techniques , how not to quick the animal , placement of shoe , how big the shoe , correct angles , length of toe , what about the heels , contraction , and the list goes on and on. It just can't be expected horse owners take up this role as farrier - just way too demanding , not only from the knowledge base of how to shoe correctly in the first place but also from the shear physical demand shoeing places on the body, and God help you if you get ripped to shreads by a nail when a horse pulls it's leg back while you're under it - it can be a literal bloodbath , i speak from experience on that issue.

Horse owners "Rely" on the Farrier. The horse owner can scream all they want but until they get the right information for themselves the screams will be of shear frustration which i hear all too often. And when their horse comes up lame it's devastation.

Many times for horse owners the subtle changes in their horses feet from incorrect shoeing sneak up on them and their horse over time - sometimes spanning a full year or more , and when the horse owner finally sees the red flags it's too late, sadly the horse is already ruined.

You pose a good argument - where to place blame . I personally feel the bottom line is Farriers shouldn't be shoeing incorrectly - and why are they blowing it , it's the mainstream information / knowledge base - the industry itself. That's where i point the finger.

Until the correct information of how to shoe becomes mainstream horse owners and horses will continue to suffer.

I guess we all need a change.

Thank you for your valuable input and comment , it's very appreciated.

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

Confrontations , Misconceptions and you

johnny Silveira — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:20:52 GMT

04/17/08

Good day , Wow been really busy lately. Lots going on. Preparing the ebooks and getting lots of cool stuff ready.

How have you been ?

As usual just a quick mention of the Hoof Pick Giveaway coming up on another month and will be picking the new winner at the end of the month. If you haven't signed up yet hurry up, just leave your name and physical mailing address with me at John@Care4Horses.com and you're in . You only need sign up once.

These are cute little custom one of a kind no two alike hand forged horse head hoof picks personalized with your name hot stamped right into the metal. They work great fit the hand real well and make great conversation pieces.   There are two .


i constantly check out other websites and blogs about shoeing. I'll get emails telling me to go look at something online and give my opinion about it. One of the horseshoeing blogs i visit were talking about how to measure a horses foot to make sure it's level . The method explained was about visually looking at the hairline or coronary band of the horses foot and making sure it was horizontal which would/supposto mean the foot is level. This is one of the big issues i have about shoeing as many Farriers and horseowners just don't really know what level is or how to achieve it , and it's quite important. I had to disagree with what this blogger was saying about using the hairline as a guide. He even went on to quote someone ( i guess some specialist ) who had written an article backing up the claims that it's necessary to use the hairline method as the guage of a level foot.

I just told the guy flat out that the hairline is not a static part of the foot and that it can move and wander around on the foot and because of that it's not an accurate guage for measuring level. This blogger just wasn't about to find himself wrong in his argument and the conversation ended in a stalemate.

So i have another photo for you , photos show so much and make things so easy to understand sometimes.

While shoeing the other day i trimmed a foot to level , this particular foot i paid very close attention to making sure the foot was "Spot On" Level. When i got done with the trim i stood back and not much to my surprise i noticed just how crooked the hairline was yet i knew this foot was spot on level. Trimming for level is i believe one of the least understood aspects of shoeing so i want to make sure i go over this often . Easy to talk about and use the word level but difficult to really fully understand and visualize , so a picture is worth a thousand words. So check out the photo below and you'll notice that hairline on the left rear foot is just not level .


                                                           and the better picture below



So obviously i just don't use the hairline as the guide. I use the bones themselves as the guide - it's foolproof for the most part unless you're cross-eyed, but i'll need to go deeper into this to make sure you get this down. So i went to UC Davis the other day and took more photos that i'll be showing you next post here that will for the most part make it very clear what you should understand here about this thing called "Level". So keep an eye out ok ???    good !

Oh i'm dying to tell you an interesting story about what happened today while i was out shoeing with a client but, ahhhhk , it's just getting late.   I'll tell you about it later instead ok ?

For now just know that it's simply not good practice to visually use the hairline to establish a level foot and i'll talk to you later.

As usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com    <-- working on that site.

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira

ps. Don't forget i'm here to help - you can still get consultation for any of your horse shoeing needs just by contacting me personally at John@Care4Horses.com      just ask ... it's totally no cost to you , that's FREE.





                                                                 Links: www.YourEquineSource.com

And The March Hoof Pick Winner is .

johnny Silveira — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:03:54 GMT

Oh this is soooo fun.

You know i don't personally pick the winners. I turn that task over to someone else. Today the person who picked the winner is someone from Twitter.com .    But todays winner is a personal friend of mine and i'm happy to say the hoof pick winner is ... Drum Roll please.

Drum de da dumm - dumm de da dumm ....

         None other than the wonderful Pamela Roche of Lafayette California.

                   Contratulations Pam !   Ahhh whooooo !     Enjoy.    see you soon for Mickey.

Ok now. If you haven't yet signed up for the Custom Hand Forged Horse Head Hoof Pick drawing you need to do so right away. Simply leave your physical mailing address and name at John@Care4Horses.com    Just go do it - it's real easy.

    Hoof Picks  ---------->     ----->

Quick story for today.

You know Pam called me alittle over a year ago, Pam could tell her horse was in trouble and on the verge of going very lame. Pams first horse , Mickey a big thoroughbred , and like the rest of us , where do you get good information about shoeing ? Most of us rely and depend and give our horses well being over to the Farriers to do a good job on the feet with the belief the Farrier knows what he's doing. Jeeesus ! How scarey is that ? I remember the first time i called the Farrier out for my first horse , it scared the hell out of me when within 15 seconds of the Farrier looking at the foot saying "Oh i think you should probably call the vet and have him look at this" , my jaw just about hit the ground. Wasn't shortly thereafter ( like five more minutes ) i realized the Farrier really didn't know what he was doing.

Anyway Pams horse had almost all the typical issues, Long toe , sheered heels , slightly pigeon toed like about 98% of the rest of the horses , flat footed , thin soled , and poor ole Mickey's the type of horse if things aren't just right he's going to be in trouble, and he was.

Well the long story short of it , Mickey's doing very well now , he's happy again , sound , and Pam's happy too. Awww   (-:       the happy ending.

The problem is all too often these things don't end with the happy ending. The problem is all too often horses come up lame and remain lame for the remainder of their lives. Ouch !

Do you ever ask yourself why ? or , why did this happen to you or your horse ? or , why did my Farrier let this happen to my horse ? or , what can i do to prevent this kind of thing from happening again or to other horses ?
or , where can you yourself get information (the right information) so you can be sure your Farrier does things right in the first place ?

If you pay attention and close attention here i'm hoping to save you alot of grief , save you time searching for information , save you frustration , save you $$$$ and most of all save you from a lame horse. You can hunt , you can peck around and search and search for information and it's going to drive you up a wall cause there's so much contradictory information out there and so many differing opinions it's amazing , i know , i've been through it and i even went through a hand on full three month mastery Farrier education at the cost of thousands and thousands of dollars to me and i came out of the school at the top of my class and i "Still didn't have the right information".

So i can't blame you or anyone if they don't have the truth about shoeing , i didn't , even after graduating, i just happened to get lucky though and caught on to what's really going on with the horses feet. Now i have a 17 year 100% track record "Not one single lame horse" from my method of shoeing. Whooooah !!

Now i'm working feverishly to provide you with all the information you could ever need about shoeing correctly all in one place - ebooks - downloadable videos - Dvd's. You won't ever have to guess about what your Farrier is or isn't doing or risk your horses soundness ever again.   OK?   is that good ?    This is everything the schools didn't and couldn't teach .

You can either keep coming back and getting information here ( and i encourage that anyway ) or why don't you just leave me your email address at John@Care4Horses.com and you'll be the first to be notified of the release of information.   go ahead ! Do it -   just email me at : John@Care4Horses.com and ask to be put on the list. Easy as that.

Thank you
Congratulations Pam
as usual happy and safe riding and always remember to www.Care4Horses.com

John "TheFootDoctor" Silveira