Under Run Heels

X-ray shows proper bone alignment.

A

       

B

C

D

E

What do pictures A, B, C, D, and E all have in common? Under run heels. A, C, and D  all have low, crushed heels.  B and E have high heels but thay are still too far forward. The rasp shows how much too far forward the heels are)

F

G

F and G show where the heels should be, in line with cannon bone.

This is a good example of a shoe that is to small. Drawing the heels forward. It also causes the heel crumble under weight.

A real good example of under run heels. If you look close you can see a leather pad. Even though they raised the heels the shoe is way to small.  

This shows where the heels are. In front of the pastern joint.

This shows how far back thay should be on the pastern joint. 

This shows a foot balance to pastern joint, pastern and foot are at same angle

Toe + Quarter cracks

I think the main reason for cracks starting at the ground is unbalanced feet. Due to lack of or improper trimming. Cracks that start at the top are usually from abscess or puncture. This can be from small grains of sand working up the white line.

                                                                    Quarter crack

If you have a crack starting at the ground you can usually stop it by trimming or shoeing.

These cracks can also be caused by under run heels. If your horse has a curved hair line looking from medial or lateral view they will quite often break out at the hair line directly above where the heel actually makes contact with the ground. This is caused from lack of support to the buttress of heel . These will usually heal if you can get the foot to proper balance. Cracks that start at the hair line should never be clipped at bottom. This will make them worse. To fix a crack that starts at the hair line the best way I have found is to carefully stitch with a horse shoe nail. Just drive nail through the crack side ways and clench then rasp nail head down till smooth. You have to know what you are doing because you can quick them.

Some farriers will use router and take all hoof wall off in the crack. I have seen this over done causing more damage to the foot. I like to use the KISS method as much as possible.

This shows a toe crack with a stitch in it.

It is very easy to do and works very well.

Any time you have a crack at the hair line you do not want to clip the shoe because the foot will keep expanding at the top and never heal. Even just shoeing will restrict expansion at the ground so the top will not heal.

                                                           Putting a stitch in crack

Broken Coffin Bones

Broken coffin bone right hind. This horse heeled up a 100% and is being used as a lease rider's horse. After a whole year off they started riding him and he is good now. 

Lateral view shows no cracks.

Rear view shows crack down center.

  Front view shows crack off to lateral side of foot.

  

 

  Shoe and clip parallel to the break.

Add bar directly underneath the break

Make a stainless steel pad,

 put sole putty under pad but be sure not to use too much,

Make sure foot is squared with the cannon bone.

 I have had 100% success using this method.

Navicular

Navicular is an innocent bystander. Quite often a horse will be sore in center of the frog but have a clean x-ray.  This is called navicular syndrome. Research has shown this is most often soft tissue damage. I believe this is caused by under run heels combined with contracted heels.

This I think is caused by shoeing with too small of shoes and the old 'long toe, low heel'.
This way of shoeing does not properly support the elastic parts of the foot which is for shock absorption.

If you look at these feet, the one on left has very little digital cushion. The one on right has way more depth to it. The one on left has under run heels. The one on right dose not. Thus THE DIFFERENCE!

This picture shows a navicular bone with bone spurs on both sides of the navicular bone. Even though this horse has true navicular with proper balance we have been able to keep him sound for 7 years.  Refer to Grey and to [Henry still to come]. I believe that if we keep these horses balanced properly they can be maintained indefinitely.

I'm not saying all navicular horses can be helped. But if we can help some, it is worth it. Proper balance simply helps most horses.

                                                           Grey with balanced foot.

Henry

Henry first came to me the end of June 2003.He had been to Okotoks vet clinic.

He was diagnosed with navicular.He had bone spurs on both sides of his navicular, on both front feet.The prognosis was not good .They told Sue that she might get one more year out of him.Henry had severely under run heels,long toes as well as contracted heels.His frog was almost nonexistent.

                                                     Right front with  low angle.

.                                                                                    

Left front with low angle.

                                                            This shows navicular spurs.

                                  This is a xray from Dec 4  2008 you can see there is no change.

Henry was at a 45% angle. Witch is lethal to a horse .He also had way to small shoes on turned in at the heels . The first time I put shoes on him I put a 6 % wedge on him and put the heel back under his cannon bone where it should be.I used a wedge pad with sole support to get his frog working again.Henry showed improvement right away.The first challenge was to get his heel back under his cannon bone where it belongs. 

Once this was done I slowly started taking the wedges off till he was just in a shoe.We had Henry re. xrayed in Dec 2008 there was no change from his 2003 xrays.This goes to show proper balance can make a big difference.Henry is still going today March 2011.

                                              This xray shows proper alignment of bone column.

Hocks

 We all hear about horses getting their hocks injected. I believe that the main reason for this is from trying to force them to stand 'straight'. The age old standard is that horses are supposed to stand with hind legs facing straight forward. But when you start to understand the proper bone structure, this is not right. 

Most horses stand naturally toed out.

Why? If you look at these horses they all stand with their stifle wider than their point of buttock. I believe this is normal for most horses. Therefore they should stand with their legs pointing the same way as their femur. This is actualy correct if you are balancing to the bone structure.

If you look at the horse from behind, the pelvic bones are the widest point (H). From this point they narrow to the point of the buttocks (B). From there they widen back out to the stifle joint (S).

This tells you that the leg and foot should be at the same angle as the femur. This means the cannon bone and foot should be at the same angle.


This illustrates femur, tibia, and cannon all in alignment.

This is a good example of hind leg high on inside turning foot to inside.

This is the same foot centered with leg. Shows balance and suport of bone column.

(Hind legs both high on the inside)

Farriers have been told to leave back hooves high on inside to make them stand straight (toes facing straight forward).

This is devastating to the horse. It puts pressure on the pastern, fetlock, and hock. I have seen horses with hock problems come sound just by balancing their feet to the cannon bone (using the t-square).

This is a balanced foot. This should be done front and hind.

I believe that hock injections could almost be eliminated by proper trimming and shoeing.