Gaining weight, new attitude, new job, and bad feet....

Things have REALLY looked up for me and Poco sense I changed barns. He has gained and astounding 183 pounds and (now weighs 1193). His attitude is remarkable sense we have changed barns. He is back to the old spunky, frisky Poco I used to have. He still needs some more muscle but we are working on that. He recently pulled his deep digital flexor tendon out in the pasture one day and is now on stall rest. I called my farrier up from Virginia. He worked with Poco for over 3 years and done amazing work with him. The farriers down here have proved to be a pain in my side as they all are screwing up in some way or another. Before Pocos injury he was getting rode 5-6 times a week anywhere from 2 hours to 10 hours. Arena work to extensive trail rides. What I am wondering, is if I should go back to trimming his heels all the way down and putting a 3 degree roller wedge on him. (Open Performance Roller Wedge, sold by Grand Circuit). THis was the advice my farrier in Virginia gave me. Poco is doing great with his recovery and I was told to put the wedges back on him to prevent any further injury to his tendon and to relieve the stress off of it. Poco is very flat footed and have sounds like a camel when he walks do to this. When his heels do grow they turn under. Requiring him to be shod ever 4-5 weeks to prevent any soreness. Any advice on pulled tendons, wedged shoes, and the recovery would be greatly appreciated!

If the toes are backed up, you can have flat heels on a horse. I am TRYING to get my mare's heels down, lol. I would put him on a 4-week shoeing/trimming schedule and make sure his toes are short and backed up, to match his short heels.

If what your previous farrier did worked for you, then see if any of the farriers around you are willing to work directly with your old farrier and take his advice.

The guy where I board at now has been doing most of my farrier work. However, I am trimming my horses feet and he is doing the shoeing because I am not comfortable doing the shoeing myself. But hopefully with the new shoes we can get Poco back to work here shortly because It drives him crazy to see other horses going out on a trail ride and he can't go.

WHen you have a horse whose heels tend to run forward, I find that often times the bars are left a tad long, or cut too short to support the hoof. If too long, the quarters mash out and flare, and the heels crush. If too short, the foot in motion bottoms out farther than it needs and not only crushes the heels,but bruises soles.

Also, I find that underrun heels are more prevalant on long toed horses. SOmetimes the toe appears short, but a more aggressive bevel may be all that's needed to reduce leverage on the hoof capusle, and reduce the forces pulling the heels forward. The beveled toe will ease breakover for that tendon, as well.

Look at his hairline. Does it bow upwards in the quarters? That would indicated excess quarter length, and that can cause the heels to curl under and mash flat. "Scooping" or "floating" the quarters can alleviate it, relax the hairline, and let the heels straigten up. This is esp true in shod horses.

Even with a bowed tendon, I would avoid wedge shoes. THe under run heels indicate a hoof imbalance that a wedge shoe can't fix. The strong toe bevel will provide the same amount of relief in the breakover and you don't want to raise the heels for long, as the tendon can heal back too "tight". Just don't whack off the heels. Try the "toe bevel, trim the bars a tad, and scoop the quarters" would be my suggestion, but is hard to say over internet, so this isn't a rock solid guide, just general tips based on what my *usual* experience is.

The flat soles indicate to me, the excess length at the quarters and toes.

Poco has extremely weak and thin heels as well. With or without shoes his heels tend to run under. The shoe I want to put on him will compensate for the heel we are going to trim off and will have a rocker shape to let him breakover easier. 3 degree wedges arent permenant. What I have had to do in the past is trim his heels all the way down and put a 3 degree wedge under him. Let his heels grow at the correct angle and reshoe him in 4-5 weeks. Then go to a 2 degree wedge and within a couple more shoeing he should be back down to a flat shoe. I've had to do this before with him but this last farrier I used (which was suppose to be the best one ever) really screwed up and would not listen to me at all.