Posted by Sue on May 26, 2003 at 16:15:26:
In Reply to: Re: hoof pastern axis wrong or not/ posted by Patty Stiller on May 25, 2003 at 17:43:19:
Hi it's me again. I don't have any close up photos of the horse's feet and as we don't have a digital camera it would take a few days to take them and have the film developed.
I've spent ages looking for pictures and diagrams and having found something on this website I can see exactly what the farrier has done.
I have printed out the diagrams titled pastern conformation faults: lateral view. Looking at the long sloping pastern my farrier has taken the axis line directly down the front of the pastern and hoof and has trimmed the heel to follow exactly the same angle. If these are drawn in on the diagram he toe ends up almost a centimetre forward of that in the diagram and the heel about two centimetres further forward. It's just like a long toe/short heel scenario without the long toe.
I have tried three different farriers to try to obtain an appointment. They don't even ring back. I've even contacted my old farrier who I used for ten years before we moved house and he has not returned my fax. I would have travelled the horse the 60 miles to him if I could just get an appointment.
Would this incorrect alignment cause the horse to slap his foot down heel first? He's not very confident about where he's placing his feet on concrete, he slaps one down and it sort of slides forward marginally before being picked up
again. You wouldn't actually say he slips on hard ground, he's definitely clumsy.
Do you think it would be possible to get him placing his front feet just like our other horse? We don't have any unsoundness problems but I fear if we continue we'll be courting them.
Sue