27/02/2024
On my quest to learn more about the horse's hooves I have come to find that most horses I come across, including my own, look like 1,3,6 and 8. Its very disheartening. I love this post because it gives you a visual comparison from the outside of the hoof. Something to think about 🧐
If you played the “Guess which ones were lame on anything but sand,” game, here are the answers.
I’ve circled the ones who were sound even on rock.
Now, it’s important to note, sound as in short term, AND long term.
Short term soundness is often about mass.
Long-term soundness is generally about alignment, and we can see both at play here…
Not only can overtrimming of the heels, or caudal failure, result in present lameness, it can be insidious, and not get noticed, until it finally causes enough structural damage down the road.
I had someone ask, “If it's so obvious which is the sound horse then why are there so many lame horses out there? Then why are these trimming styles still popular if they're destroying horses?”
I don’t have an answer for that, but I will say, after originally posting this last year, I notice more people got the answers right this year, so I do think our collective ‘eye for balance’ is improving!
What makes a hoofcare professional worth their weight in gold is not only knowing what to trim, but what NOT to trim.
It’s also important to understanding the limitations of trimming, where we can only take away. Sometimes we have to add.
