Posted by Phil Armitage on February 25, 2003 at 21:58:47:
In Reply to: Re: banana shoe/trim? posted by brian robertson on February 25, 2003 at 21:13:59:
: Does anybody know what angle (degrees) the banana is set at? I tried to pin Dr. Redden down on what angle his form (he uses to shape the shoe) is or what the difference in degrees he sets the rocker toe from the posterior portion of the hoof. It looked to me to be about 15 degrees but it's hard to tell without a protractor. I have seen him do one set of shoes with a nice crisp angle at the breakover and another set of shoes with a rather round belly. He didn't really clarify when or where he uses either. Maybe it's part of the evolutionary process of the banana to rock n roll rail shoe.
I hate that shoe and the reason I do is because a couple of years ago I took on a horse that was shod like that and was chronicly lame, everytime the owner came back from a trail ride her horse was extremely sore, head bobbing. This horse had dished dorsal wall and underrun/low heels and flat soles. We also discovered a hailine crack in the LF wing of the coffin bone. I think they were atempting to ease breakover, but the bannana shoe was doing more harm than good. If you ask me it places to much pressure in the quarters and on the wings of P3. I trimmed the foot for balance, used Egg Bars, side clips and rolled toe. After the crack in the coffin bone healed up I went to Natural balance shoes and the horse was much better and could trail ride, after about a year the horse was completely sound. I think NB is the best way to go if you need to ease breakover.
Phil