Wedge shoes?

[surfnsky]

I am looking at a horse to purchase and he is wearing wedge shoes on his fronts, owner says he has been sound the 3 yrs they have had him and was told of no problems by the previous owner ,but i was told the farrier put on wedge shoes because he has very upright pasterns. That seems wrong to me ,wouldnt that make him more upright?

[Gary Hill]

He may well have upright pasterns but what does the whole picture of the lower leg look like without the shoes on? He may well have a broken back pastern angle at the coronary band and the wedges are lineing him up? You would have to pull the shoes to see this of course. Good Luck! Gary

[surfnsky]

Thank you Gary

My farrier likes them to go natural so I think we are going to pull them and see whats going on. Here is the horse in question.

http://hometown.aol.com/sweetz34/myhomepage/pet.html

[Gary Hill]

Can't tell too much from those photos? Put him on flat ground or concrete and shoot from the sides (both) and from the front. Gary

[surfnsky]

Ok, I will take some tomorrow.


Erika

[Jason Maki]

Surfnsky,
( I can never seem to get comfortable using Internet handles instead of names :( :D )
I do quite a few Zippo, Zips Choclaote Chip, Western Pleasure bred horses. They are all bolt upright, and often times, the axis is broken back. I think this is a result of stacking heels on these already straight up horses. This crushes the back half, slips PIII downward and flares the toe. After the heels are brought back and the flare removed, some of them maintain thier axis, while about half require a two degree aluminum wedge. Every now and then, I will need to use a big, fat three degree Al wedge for a cycle or two, until the foot regains some of the lost depth. This is just the reality of dealing with these geneticly engineered for slow, flat, short stridedness animals. I work on one who was the two year old, three year old and Sr. horse western pleasure world champ Appy. He is six now, and just carries his kid around( not very fast, but VERY steady). He wears a two degree wedge to keep his axis correct. He is nearly straight from the shoulder through the pasturn. I guess my point is some of these upright guys need the wedge to be upright enough for their conformation. I cannot tell from the pictures if that is the case for this animal. . If you trust your shoer( which I really hope you do!) Take him to see the animal, and work out a plan with him if you purchase her. :cool:
Jason Maki CJF

[surfnsky]

Thank you! Jason , I am really learning alot here.

I took some pics of him today but I didnt get any good shots,But I think he has the most upright pasterns I've seen . But he is such a good horse, I dont know if I should get him or not.
New pics below
Erika


http://community.webshots.com/album/221741292OsmPry

[caballus]

I see a horse with almost ground parallel hairline/coronary band -- this means the heels are overgrown and need to be drastically reduced. Down to 1/8" from the live sole at the seat of corn ... low enough for the frog to have passive contact with the ground. This will help with his overall stance as well as with his way of going ... his strides will lengthen, his back will relax and his overall body will be able to round out rather than stand hollow-backed. Think of how you would feel standing in high heels 24/7!

--caballus

[Jason Maki]

Erika,
I would have a vet perform a Pre-purchase exam. This would assuage a lot of your concerns. He is upright, but no more so than alot of the WP horses I see. Do not take what I say from a picture as anything other than a second hand opinion, and a vet will have many tools, and the horse in front of him.
These horses will, in general, be fine with good management, even under a hard work load. Take what the vet says, your own opinion, and the horse himself into consideration and go forward. I would not, strictly speaking, back out if my only concern was his upright pasturns, if the whole horse fit the bill for what I was looking for!
Jason Maki CJF

[Rick Burten]

You state that you are going to have your farrier pull the shoes and leave him barefoot. Unless you own him, this is a bad plan. If something goes awry with the horse, even if you decide you don't want to buy him, you may have to. Which is why a PPE, especially on a horse with this conformation, is essential, including radiographs from the knees down.

If anyone is going to pull the shoes on this horse, it should be the vet, for the PPE, and then you will have to pay to have them reset.

Personally, I don't like horses with this kind of leg/hoof conformation. Most all I have been around are rough riding, short striding pathologies in the making.

Rick

[surfnsky]

Thank you! Everyone for your fantastic responses, you guys are Great!
I have decided after much thought and an added detail( I discovered after getting his pedigree from AQHA that the dob they listed 4/1/94 was incorrect his real dob is 1/2/89 and if they lied about this maybe there is more to his feet :( )I will not get this sweet boy. So my search continues but I have learned alot on this journey.



Thank you! :)
Erika