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Trimming a Toed out hoof

8K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
I acquired my paint about a year ago. I knew he had an issues with his left front hoof, which does not bother him. The farrier that was trimming his hoofs was over an hour drive from where I board him. I opted with another highly recommended farrier who has been trimming his hoofs the past year. Recently, my paint has been tripping when he trots. It's usually once and then I just walk or get off him. I'm scared he might get hurt. This last time, he went down slowly and of course I went with him. Thankfully, he was fine. I didn't care that my leg was under him. I'd heal up fine. His walk seems fine and never has any issue on trails. I walk him around the arena but don't want to ride him until I know the issue is taken care of. After discussion with others who used my farrier, it seems that he may not be trimming for the irregular hoof... or maybe he's trying to correct. My paint is an old boy so correcting may cause issues. I don't know. It seems to be toed out a bit. His last trim was 2-1/2 weeks ago. I watched how my gelding walks. He tends to land on heel, outside of hoof, then toe. My farrier knows he has this issue, but seems to have forgotten each time. I mention this every time he trims. I want to do the hoofs myself, but not sure how to trim the front hoof with the irregularity. Should I natural balance? If so, how do I do this? Are there hands on training courses that I can take to learn more about trimming? I'm confident I can do this, but want to make sure the front hoof is done properly. Thank you!
 
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#2 ·
Your absolutely best bet, whether you educate yourself to take responsibility for your own hoof care or hold your farrier accountable, is to start studying the works of Gene Ovnicek and the E.L.P.O., and the writings and teachings of Pete Ramey.

After a certain age no, measures should NOT be taken to correct a conformational defect. If a hoof is developing a twist because of imbalanced trimming that is another matter entirely and should be corrected asap.
 
#3 ·
Yes, could well be that the farrier is trying to trim a straight foot onto a bent leg... or some such. Without seeing pics at very least, who knows specifics, and it could be a coincidence - trim's fine but your horse's faults are catching up with him, or something else causing him to trip. But certainly very important to consider trimming.

If the horse is 'toed out', that means, his foot/leg turns outwards somewhere, so there's no 'correcting' that in the foot - you just have to trim it balanced according to how it is. Trying to tweak it to look straight may well put extra strain on joints & ligaments. It is possible, if it's not a limb deviation, that it can be corrected still by a good vet chiro or such though.
 
#4 ·
Yes, Gene Ovnecik of Natural Balance Hoofcare even said in the old days they were taught to "crank the hoofs around" by trimming.

But very bad for the joints above.

Current wisdom is to trim based on the live sole junction, keeping the medial lateral sides of the hoof even distances from that junction.

Best to educate yourself enough to be able to ask your farrier if they are doing this.
 
#5 ·
^Yes, I cringe at new clients who tell me stuff like their old farrier 'corrected' their horse's pigeon toes... but then on occasion there are horses who are labled as pigeon toed, but it's just because their foot has been allowed to flare inwards due to slight imbalance - that is usually easily fixed! I think it's like the labling any boxy, high heeled horses as 'clubby' IMO. The farrier/hoof care professional needs to have enough understanding to know whether/how much to lower heels, and evaluate whether it's a 'fixable' trimming/balance error, or whether it's a body issue & the horse needs to keep that 'un ideal' hoof confo. It is not adequate for a farrier to think of everything above the knee as an NMP(not my problem ;-) ) and to just try to cut *his perception* of the 'ideal' hoof onto a horse.
 
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