On The Hoof

Traveling In Balance

 

Watch’em Walk!

 

This time I’ll open with the caveat with which I closed my last article. PLEASE DON’T TAKE THIS MAGAZINE OUT AND WHACK YOUR HORSESHOER WITH IT, INSISTING YOUR HORSE IS SHOD WRONG!

 

He may tolerate that from you because you pay the bills, but he’ll most likely come looking for me (or SHE will- which could be worse!), and we just can’t have that.

 

If you see something here that makes you question how your horse is balanced, by all means discuss it with your shoer. Use these articles as a guide to recognizing a well balanced foot as you strive to be the best mounted shooter and horseman you can be.

 

Only Correct Shoeing
In the mid ‘80s I had the privilege of attending a clinic taught by one of the top farrier educators of the day. Our teacher began his talk by claiming that he was going to “dispel the myth of corrective shoeing.” He asked for four volunteers that practiced corrective shoeing—and also had crooked feet. That was easy; nearly every cowboy in the place fit that description! Four of us had the misfortune of being in the front row, so we walked up to help him prove his point. He took some odds and ends of leftover wedge pad material and some duct tape and proceeded to “correct” us—he straightened our stances by taping small wedges to out boot heels. . I should point out that the rule of thumb in corrective shoeing is to “lower the side that points.”  So if the toe pointed out (like mine), he put the wedge on the outside heel, effectively lowering the toe on the outside.  If the person was toed in, he put the wedge on the inside heel, lowering the inside toe. Then he told us that we were to wear the wedges for an hour; we had to stay on our feet and not sit down.

 

It took about 10 minutes before my ankles started to get uncomfortable.  In 15 I began to feel it in my knees. With 40 minutes to go my hips were getting uncomfortable and my lower leg from the knee down was on fire!  I didn’t make it the full 60 minutes. I had to sit down right there in the arena dirt and rip that… stuff… off my boots. My legs were killing me! Our clinician was quite amused as the other three victims followed suit. He had definitely made his point:  “There is no such thing as corrective shoeing. Only correct shoeing!”  My conformation had developed over a quarter of a century, but it took less than an hour with an altered stance to nearly cripple me! And as our instructor had pointed out, we were doing this to horses every day. The difference is, they can’t sit down and remove the cause. We continued this discussion at length and it completely changed the way I shod horses. After all the discussion, the answer can be summed up in one sentence: to travel correctly, a horse’s foot must land heel first and with both heels striking the ground at the same time.

 

Watch’em Walk
In the last issue, I didn’t get too deep into the topic of conformation.  For the purpose of this discussion, we are talking about a horse that has four sound legs that point pretty much in the same direction. We are talking about mounted shooting horses that need to be pretty well built in order to perform the rigorous runs, twists and turns that it takes to hunt down those wily balloons at full speed. Again, if you’re not sure about this, talk with your vet or a trusted professional horseman. Remember to leave your ego in the truck, and hear what they have to say. I’m not claiming that a horse has to have “perfect” conformation to perform at speed. Take a good look at a straight-on photo of the great Seabiscuit. He outran everything that came along, yet he was the absolute definition of “knock-kneed!” We are also not talking about correcting a crooked legged foal. There is much that can be done when a horse is very young, but we’re discussing a full grown mounted shooting horse.

 

Have someone lead Ole Sorrely in a straight line right at you, and watch his feet hit the ground at the walk. On occasion I’ll run into one that interferes that we have to watch at other gaits in order to identify a problem, but usually a straight-on look at the walk is enough. Are the feet hitting the ground heels first, and both heels at the same time? If they are, then the horse is traveling in balance. If not, discuss it with your farrier and see if there is a reason. That’s all there is to it.

 

That’s Too Easy!
Sure seems that way, doesn’t it? Using the guidelines we established last time (ideal, broken forward or broken back), simply watch the horse move at the walk toward you- making sure that both heels hit the ground before the toe.   Your horse is in balance. This is probably all your horse needs to perform to the best of his ability. Again we are talking about a horse that has pretty normal conformation. If the horse has a fault that causes problems such as interfering or overreaching, the shoer may need to make some adjustments to the hoof’s break over to prevent it—but even with these measures the hoof should be at its optimum angle and both heels must hit the ground together. The horse may not STAND perfectly straight, but hey, we’re chasing balloons, not going to a halter class. If it seems too simple for you, let me close by telling you about Star.

 

Star is the most beautiful buckskin Quarter Horse you’ll ever see. He’s 17 hands of gorgeous horse flesh, and when I first met him he had some of the worst medial (inside) quarter cracks I have ever dealt with. I’m talking about true quarter cracks which begin with a rupture of the coronary band and grow down, creating an ugly crack which expands with each footfall and creates a very painful lameness. The shame is that Star’s problem was manmade, created by trimming his feet so that he stood straight even though his conformation is slightly toed out. Lowering the outside of his feet, which are small for his massive size (not uncommon in his breed) caused him to hit with his inside heel, first loading up the inside of the foot and causing the coronary band to rupture. Getting those cracks to heal required a special ¾ bar shoe and it took about a year of balanced “correct shoeing” to get the coronary band healed, the cracks grown out, and get Star back on regular shoes. I just reset Star the other day and with just a quarter of an inch difference in the way he’s balanced now compared to how he was trimmed: he remains sound and the quarter cracks are history. Let’s ride Kemosabe- our work here is done!

 

Next time: “Why Does My Horse Need Shoes?”

Related posts:

1. Natural Balance Shoeing   Support From the Ground Up   Does your...
2. A Firm Foundation   Horse Shoeing for the Mounted Athlete   Sometime...
3. On The Hoof   The Perfect Shoeing Job - Is There Such...
4. Natural Hoof Care   A Different Perspective   Barefoot Trimming – The...
5. Traveling Equine First Aid Kit   Don't Leave Home Without It!   As a...
6. On The Hoof   On The Hoof When Jessica and Royce Anderson’s talented...
7. On The Hoof   DAILY HOOF CARE No Hoof, No Horse!  ...
8. Trainer’s Pen   Taking The Lead Understanding how your horse moves...
9. Trainer’s Pen   Mind Your Manners! Use these simple tips to...
10. Good Nutrition Supplement Choices of Top Shooters   Supplement (sup-ple-ment) noun....