Narrow Hoof, Need Advice

[Double C Forge]

I have a customer who has a 9 yr old racking mare that she wants me to shoe soon. I looked at the mare when I was there doing another horse for her and this mares front feet look like hind feet. Literally! I told the lady that she should pull the shoes and let the mare go bare cause she needs to let her hooves grow out and widen, (this was my assumption). She did not want to do that cause she is going to start riding this mare quite extensively. So now I'm trying to figure out what to do. My experience (which is less then 2 years) tells me to give her a wide web shoe unclipped and leave plenty support all the way around the perimiter of her hoof (not perimiter fit but supported and safed) her heels are underrun a little bit but I am a little nervous about leaving to much support behind the buttress since she is a racking mare, (havent' had too much experience w/ racking horses). Her feet are a cross between her normal hind feet and a mule foot. I appreciate all of your help and advice. Also what would cause this foot to be in this shape? Thank you

C. Clark

[coreen harris]

I do a bunch of Pasos, not TWs but gaited nonetheless. Folks get a little riled about barefoot with gaited horses cuz they think the gait will be ruined. It may temporarily, but if the owner can be convinced to admit that a healthy hoof will last longer and feel better...

We all know that gaited feet are manipulated mercilessly. That is one thing the owner needs to understand. Too many farriers say they are flat shoeing a TW but still shoe with 'prejudice'. After years in shoes, esp with TWs, we see this narrow contraction - I think the hoof capsure tries to comform to the shoeing, the toe gets long, may or may not be actual notable flare, but you can bet the white line at the toe will be not-strong.

Shoes or no shoes, back the breakover up, take the toe flare down, level the walls esp heels to sole, if shoeing not using NBS shoes, try the full rims - they work best on gaited IMO as they already have some built in breakover.

In this area, there is a lot of success with glue-ons, no nail trauma to the hoof. Your customer may want to look into boots too for transitioning while barefoot. Might suggest to her this and other sites so she can read all the great material out there on barefoot lifestyle.

[Dave Purves]

You said the heels are a little underrun, which means the hoof capsule has migrated forward and narrowed. First I would take the heels down and back to good growth if possible. Next I would use a wide web shoe and fit it full, esp, in the heels, if the owner refuses barefoot enlighen her that the shoe needs to be fit full in the heels which may cause her to pull the shoe and it will cost her money to get the shoe put back on. Next make sure the horse is getting turned out. I've seen a few western pleasure horses with the same foot that never get out and the stall is cleaned 3 times a day, the feet are simply to dry and contract. You need to get some moisture in the foot and the best way to do that is movement and circulation.
good luck
Dave Purves CF ;)

[Jason Maki]

One thing I have noticed about a few Walkers: some have upright, narrow boxy feet! Bring your heels back and remove any distortion, but once the white line and wall are tight and the foot is centered around Ducketts Dot I personally would not muck with it! Remodeling a healthy foot just because it "seems" narrow will only cause headaches. If the horse is being show shod, set her up as such, but if she is being trail ridden, I would not hang any steel out behind the foot. The upright foot exposes the shoe to the long reach of the hind feet. If the foot is really hooky, I would cut out the end of the hook, buttress fit and put a hunter bevel on the heel of the fronts, so that the shoe angles like this- / - from heel to toe.
Remember, normal only applies to what is correct for each horse; our job is to find normal and ideal for each animal.(or you might have a run forward contracted mess that need lots of help LOL)
Jason Maki CJF

[Greg Thomas]

I have a 12 yr old trail Racking horse I have had since 7 months old. I owned his sire and had the same shape of feet. He has front feet are shaped that a #2 Kercheart(sp?) hind fits perfectly. His feet were this shape as a colt and even after two years of turnout a few years ago due to not having time to use him. During his barefoot 2 years I trimmed him with what would be real close to a "natural balance" trim + 1/4" trying to get his feet to spread and they never did.

For the front I build heel caulks with drilltex and put a little on the toe for traction then use a plain, flat, slick #1 Kercheart on the rears. He has always been sound except for a "warm" nail last year that caused a small abcess that I relieved and then immediatly rode him on a ride. My daughter rode him Sat and yesterday app 4 hrs. each day on blacktop, in the woods, creeks and on crushed limestone roads. Her and a boy on an Arab had a galloping race acrosss a field and she didn't loose by much then later jumped a log about 2" high plus racked probably 15 miles both days. This horse is sound in anybody's book. God gave him 4 hind feet and he does OK with them.

On these gaited horses people often worry about the front shoe sticking out behind the heels when actually they need to widen stride of the hind feet. I see a bunch of gaited horses with long toed, underrun heels caused by farriers trying to keep them from pulling front shoes by moving the front shoes forward. The remedy is most likely in shoeing the hind feet properly so the don't cross interfere. The longer the foot the more they need the leg support that the heels provide to keep their foot under thier leg so their heels don't underrun.

Greg Thomas

Don't dub the toes off (on front or hind feet)to match the shape of a hind shoe just round it off and let it stick over 1/4" or so. This keeps the hoof wall strong and solid and keeps cracks from forming.

Another note to back up what I say: I very seldom use more than 6 nails per shoe(leave out the back nails) and have had maybe 2 pulled shoes this year and they were pulled during turnout and not during a ride or show.( I bet since I bragged, every horse I have shod will have a pulled shoe when I get home this evening.)

[Double C Forge]

I would like to thank you all for your advice and tips from your own experiences. This will help me tremendously. I will study the foot much closer when I go back out and asess the situation...........Thank you all again.
This is why I love these boards.............

C. Clark

[Margo98203]

Just another possibility....I bought a hackney pony for my daughter earlier this year. He came down from Ontario, Canada so I didn't physically see him 'til he was unloaded from the trailer (Washington State). He had been used a a saddleseat mount and unfortunately misrepresented and definately neglected in various degrees...but that's a whle different issue! Anyways, his feet were very close to mule shape when I got him (I'll try to post some pics within the next week). At the right angle he looked almost foundered. His feet were very boxy/mulish! If you looked closely though, you'd see that he had thick toe and his walls were paper thin. My theory, a horse can only grow so much foot at a time...which way is it going to go?
I went ahead and trimmed him using natural balance tecniques and put a reverse shoe on him so that the foot could no longer keep pulling forward and would have a chance to grow downward once again. It took two shoeings using a reverse shoe to bring it back to normal (though I was very aggressive). I then shod him one regular shoeing before going back to the toeweights and pads. His foot today is beautiful, evenly distributed and without all the toe flare the trainers/exhibitors desire....but he has all the same action he was delivered to me with. (He did lose some for a while during this process...but came back full force!)
Hope this helps.
Margo, WA farrier

[danverschild]

Hey Chris,

...good advice here; I'll throw one more thing into the mix. One of the things I try to live by is that--under normal circ-umstances--the bottom of the hoof should look similar to the top of the hoof... We generally refer to it as "shoeing to the coronary band" or "shoeing to the origin of growth." For thirty years, I tried to do that by eye. Then this whipper named Jim Quick pulls a carpenter's contour gauge out of his shoeing box, puts it at the top of a nicely trimmed hoof and pushes it in 'til it's set to the model; then he flops it down on the bottom of the hoof, and it matches up to the inside of the white line. DUH!! Put it down on a hoof that's not where it should be, and it'll show you where it should be according to the origin of growth. It's great to visualize stuff, but using this tool is a great double-check. ...article coming up in Professional Farrier that will show pics of this.