10/03/2024
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Flare (or “Resist the Urge to Fix Everything Part 2”)
So, my last post was about resisting the urge to make all hooves look perfect, when some horses just can’t be sound with symmetrical feet.
My hoofcare journey seriously picked up when I visited Rockley Farm in the UK in 2015. I saw horses there that had severe internal pathology- navicular bone damage, DDFT tears, collateral and impar ligament tears, navicular bursitis, and all other manners of navicular pathology- that absolutely could not be sound with “balanced” symmetrical feet. When left to wear to their comfort level they came up sound and stayed sound, for over a decade of competition in some of the cases I saw, despite a previous poor prognosis and euthanasia suggestions.
After visiting and seeing that, my trimming anxiety went up quite a bit 😅 How would I know if the horse I was working on needed weird feet or needed a “regular” trim? How would I know if I was helping or harming?
Even 9 years later I certainly do not have all the answers, and ask these same questions, but I have some general guidelines I follow when considering trims. Please note that I don’t believe in giving trim advice without seeing a horse in person- so take ANYTHING in this post with a grain of salt and work with the horse in front of you!
For horses that have been difficult lameness cases often due to soft tissue issues or calcification where nothing else has worked, I often get a little out of the box. I know this post is probably going to anger some, but this is for cases where you’re stuck and nothing has worked and the owner may even be contemplating euthanasia.
✳️In a webinar for PHCP in 2019 or so, Paige Poss was showing dissection images and showed the damage that flare can do, potentially leading to bone loss in the area of the flare. After seeing these detailed photos, it was clear that our goal is to keep a horse’s hoof in balance and routinely cared for. So what does balance and routine care mean in these cases? As long as these horses are sound and comfortable we use our skills to watch movement and keep their feet where they don’t have to “fight” against that excess length of wall- always utilizing their comfort and movement as a metric for if what we are doing is correct. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS AS AN INVITATION TO BE NEGLECTFUL!!!
✳️In some cases, especially those with soft tissue involvement, calcification, joint issues, etc., sometimes the pathology trumps the ideal. Although we want to “prevent bone loss caused by flare,” the possible potential bone loss in my mind becomes less important than getting the horse comfortable and sound.
✳️In these cases, I will film slow motion video regularly as we allow the feet to wear to the horse’s compromised movement while only assisting in minimizing breakage etc. As they begin to become more confidently and comfortably on various footing, including gravel, hard ground, etc, and they start to land fully extended and better balanced mediolaterally, I note the ways their feet have changed. This could mean they grew a flare that they are compensating with, or a bit of longer wall, bar, or more heel or toe, etc. (Sometimes during this time I’ll also use Sure Foot pads to see where they prefer to lean and load on the pad, which can highlight how they may grow as well).
✳️In some horses with upper body issues, you’ll sometimes see them grow a medial or lateral deviation. When this is a conformation issue, often I balance that side to the worn side and the horse’s comfort improves. If they seem to be worse (whether their landings on slow motion video, or their comfort level anywhere) whenever a deviation like that has been removed, I know they’ve been using it for compensation and trial leaving it to see if their comfort improves in the future. With the upper body issues, bodywork and chiropractic can be instrumental in helping make the feet more balanced as well.
✳️If they begin to move worse, you know this is not the approach for them and you need to modify. With horses, don’t ever force your own ideals on their feet or soundness.
✳️This entire time, I am constantly looking to GROW A HEALTHIER HOOF from the inside out. This means I don’t just settle for ugly, flared feet with event lines and long overgrown bars and just think “well that’s that.” It means I’m constantly seeking how to remove things in their diet that can be leading to inflammation (lowering sugar and starch amounts, properly balancing minerals, trying to remove grain based product and alfalfa based products, removing access to pasture, etc are all things I try in these cases). I also will get metabolic bloodwork to ensure we aren’t missing something.
✳️When might flare hurt? I’ve seen flare actually be painful in laminitic or founder cases, where the excess length is creating a “hang nail” type feeling on the inflamed laminae. In these cases I will often be more committed to removing that length and using boots and pads so the laminae can be off weighted, but the foot is supported with padding. The use of boots and pads also lets me make more frequent small corrections in those acutely painful cases. Laminitic feet just don’t grow normally- they often grow erroneously with a metabolic type growth reaction.
Again- DO NOT NEGLECT HOOFCARE because a small percentage of horses need us to let their feet look ugly. That’s not what I’m saying! What I am saying is that some horses humble us and teach us that they are lame when we force symmetrical feet.
Have you had a horse that utilizes flare, longer walls, longer bars etc for comfort?
