My strategy and theory - This page talks about my theory and strategy in shoeing and trimming horses.
I shoe so as not to disturb the nature of the foot as much as possible(as seen above). I don’t put nails back behind the bend of the quarter of the hoof. This allows for the natural function of the hoof to move. The contracting and expanding of the heel is important to maintain blood flow of the limb. A horse does not just have one heart. It has five hearts--one in the chest and one on each foot. As the heels expand and contract it helps pump the blood back up through the limb. By restricting the natural function, you will run into a lot of problems. I give proper heel support when possible. The hoof is like a fish in a bowl. The smaller the bowl, the smaller the fish. By placing a shoe on a horse that allows proper support, the foot will grow to that support and the hoof will be better balanced.
These small things that I do is what makes shoes healthy for horses. Not all horses need shoes. There are only three reasons to shoe a horse; one is if the horse has a weak hoof wall, two is if the horse has some limb disparities or deviations, three is for performance. A good farrier can trim a horse well enough to go barefooted unless one of the three reasons above applies. Some horses need shoes to help their hooves grow better and some do not.
In the picture to the right, the center gravity of the horse (CG, THE YELLOW LINE) is baring down right on the heel of the horse and can only be fixed by taking the weight off the heel by means of a shoe. If not, the horses own weight will continue to keep the heel under ran. Some farriers will try to use a wedge; but, since the center of the foot is so far forward of the center of gravity, the wedge will cause the hoof to rock and will damage the horse's tendons and ligaments and the same will happen if you try to take the toe off through trimming. A good farrier will not just shoe a foot of a horse but the whole horse. There are two shoes that I know of to help this problem out--one is the heart bar ( the shoe shaped like a heart ) and the other is a mushroom shoe ( which looks like a mushroom ). I have also seen a farrier just float the heels in a normal shoe and
get good results.
The application of the mushroom is easy. Just nail the shoe on. But with the heart bar, you need to float the heels to reduce the pressure on them and then nail the shoe on. Floating the heel is just when you take a rasp and level the foot; then take just the heel down a little more so they are floating above the shoe but not to lower the angle of the foot. Again the main objective is to relieve the weight bearing down on the heels. These are the only ways I know of, but there are probably more.
The balance of the foot is also very important. The foot should be put into perfect balance as much as possible. Perfect balance is not always possible. Sometimes the movement of the horse will counter your work with balancing the foot. Example, a common trait in horses is to bar weight on thier lateral (outside) hoof wall in the hind feet. So the foot will flare on the outside all the time. You can keep it under control by dressing it every time you work on the horse; but, if you let it go, it will just continue to flare until it breaks off the foot which some- times will cause more damage than you want.
The first thing to check and take care of, I believe, is to make sure the foot is equally balanced
with the limbs center of gravity as reviewed above. I believe this is the most important because this can cause an extreme amount of damage to the whole limb and is the most missed by farriers (at least where I'm at). This picture to the right shows the correct balance of the foot to the center of gravity to the limb. There should be an equal amount of foot in front of the line as the behind the line. This balance can be fixed through a simple trim, or it can be complex as above with bar shoes depending on the situation of the horse and how bad the heel has come under. Fixing it through a trim is easy. You have to just trim the whole foot back at once until you have your equal portions in front and behind the CG (center gravity). The biggest mistake I see here is farriers do not take the heel back with the toe. You have to bring the heel back to where it needs to be even if it causes the horse to be broken back (down on the heel). You always have to get rid of the bad hoof. The hoof is a living thing that is always growing. All a farrier needs to do is teach the hoof how to grow right, and you do this by getting rid of all that is not right and start with the good, taking care of it until it grows right.
The second thing I check is the angle. I believe the angle of the hoof should be the same
as the pastern angle and the shoulder angle. I usually just match up the hoof angle as close as possible to the pastern angle, but sometimes the pastern can drop because of birth defect or from the horse being over- worked, without proper support like wraps especially in jumping horses. I have seen fetlocks drop 1" to 2" in a matter of a month or two because of not wrapping the legs during training. All of these fetlocks were long to begin with due to genes. I like the angle to match the pastern to prevent stress and strain on the tendons and ligaments of the limb, as seen to the right. This picture shows the inside of the horse's limb. As you can see, there is a lot inside of that horse leg. It is important to keep everything in equal tension. If your horse is broken back (down on the heels) this can put stress on the Flexor Tendons and suspencerary ligaments which can cause things like navicular. If your horse is broken
forward ( up on it's toe), it can put stress on the extensor tendons and make it difficult for the horse to bend the limb and cause things like laminitis by putting excess pressure on the toe and the coffin bone. By making the hoof angle the same as the pastern angle, you will put equal tension on flexor and extensor, thus keeping your horse sounder longer.
The next thing I check is hair line.
As you can see by the pictures above, there is a lot to a balanced hair line. The first thing I look at is the heel. Both the hair line and the heel of the horse should be level and identical. The hairline will show you how level the bottom of the foot is. The heel should look something like the picture above in the middle. If you have one heel dropped, the horse can catch the dropped heel and twist the limb. Sometimes the heel will be level but the hair line will be off--this is sheared heels and is fixed by floating the heel that is higher.
Next is the hairline at the front of the hoof (the picture to the left). This part of the hair ine should be level. Both the outside and the inside of the hairline should be the same distances off a level surface. This can be very tricky to tell because sometimes the inside and the outside hoof wall are at different angles and can make one side seem shorter although it is just an illusion. The best way for the untrained eye to tell is to put your rasp, or a tool with a straight line, up against the hairline and see if your tool is level. The hairline cannot always be leveled if the horse bares an extreme amount of weight on one side. It will crush that side.
Example:While in school, I saw a thoroughbred once and the hair line on the hind feet were way off balanced.. The inside of the hoof wall was three inches off the ground, and the outside was only one inch off the ground. As a farrier just starting, I thought to myself that, if one side was extremely higher, I could take the other side down a little to help the horse. When I parred the sole out on the higher side with the first stroke, I struck blood. I felt bad, and it was my first lesson on not everything can be perfect. I have never made that mistake again.
Finally I check the hairline on the side of the hoof . This should be nice and straight from toe to heel. Sometimes there will be a bump in the hairline this indicates a part of the foot unleveled. A level foot will have a straight hairline as seen in the pictures above. You should check both the inside and the outside hairlines of the hoof. A hoof can not always be leveled or as perfect as we would like it to be. Sometimes the horse will be working against us in the way it walks and carries itself. A farrier only works on the foot every 4-8 weeks, but that horse works on it every day.
Now the trimming is done. Next is shoes. Shoes can be good or bad for the horse depending on how they are applied. There are only three reasons to shoe a horse, in my opinion: (1) weak hoof wall; (2) limb disparity; (3) for performance. If your horse has none of these, you don't need shoes on your horse. Horses sometimes are better barefooted than with shoes on. Some reasons shoes can be bad include they add extra weight, there not as much traction, and they restrict the natural function of the hoof. At the same time, shoes can help many, many problems with your horse's limbs.
The pictures above show some of my work. Notice the extra support in the heel. As explained in the beginning of this page, the heels expand and contract, and you need good heel support for that. I'm also a firm believer in hoof oil. I have never seen a foot too soft, but some farriers say that it will make the feet too soft. I use it daily on horses. It will help keep a proper moisture balance in the foot. If you have surface cracks or a white chalky substance on your horses hairline, the hoof oil will take care of it. I have also found on really brittle feet that it works great too.
This hoof above has lateral (outside) support. It also has a crack in the toe, but this is not because of the color of the foot. That is a myth. Color has nothing to do with how strong the foot is. This horse paws and the hoof hits the wall when it paws causing the crack. Notice how the crack does not start at the bottom of the foot. If you can see where the crack is wider in the middle, that is where the problem started. Sometimes there will be little stars where the horse is hitting the hoof wall. Shoes will not help this problem because the problem does not start at the bottom. The answer is to stop the pawing or to put bell boots on the horse.
Shoes can be used to cover up problems too. The most common problem farriers try to cover up is soft soles. Farriers will tell you that you need to keep shoes on them, but I see it differently. This is how I see it. If you take off your shoes one day and walk around barefoot all day, you are going to be pretty touchy, aren't you? If you put shoes back on, you're fine. But, if you take them back off, you'll hurt again. By putting shoes on a horse with soft soles, you are only covering the problem up when you can fix it and not worry about it again. Some farriers just trim too short. As soon as you pull the shoes off, the horses are sore. That is wrong, a horse should feel better after a visit, not worse.
To fix soft soles, you just leave the hoof barefooted. Pick the foot out with your hoof pick. Then, sterilize the foot with bleach and water, 50/50 mixture. Then apply some Venice turpentine-- not the stuff from your hardware store but the stuff in your tack shop that is approved for use on horses. If you try the hardware stuff, you will send your horse through the roof. It will burn the horse's foot. Do this daily, and in about a month your horse will be good and you can put the shoes back on if you wish.
This is just the basics I use in my work daily. I hope you have enjoyed reading it.