Phil Armitage wrote:
Can there be too much breakover? I think this is a great question.
As with anything we do, nothing is free. There is a cost or should I say a repercussion for every action. What are your thoughts on this?
In my humble opinion Phil, the vet asking that question should have asked what the advantage is of delayed breakover. Let's define 'delayed breakover' as any lever between the center of articulation and the tipping point of the hoofcapsule. With this definition even an ideal foot has a delayed breakover.
What is the advantage here? Who ever your creator may be Phil, the Lord or Darwin, there must be a reason for this. Just like there is a reason for this mechanically unsound decision the create an angle at the pastern. No engineer would come up with such a construction on anything support beam! He'd make one straight down, like an elephant's leg. That's strong!
So what is the reason for this angle? The reason has to do with locomotion. This angle here (and others!) in the skeleton of a horse allows a horse to use a kind of elastic effect it's muscles have to offer. This greatly improves the efficiency of locomotion. The lever in a horses foot we all know and discuss so often plays some kind of role here.
Our nowadays horses are a long way off the horses God and/or Darwin came up with. So is the work they are supposed to do. Sure we managed to have them adapt but it's not prefect. And the flaws we see everyday. Respiratory problems in horses (just think about that one, on an animal that could almost beat a cheetah where athletic performance -heart and lungs- is concerned!) navicular syndrom, LT-LH problems and what have you.
For a lot of those problems we found a cure, we learned how to fix those problems we bred in ourselves. As horse shoers we specialize in locomotion
and our job is to implement ideas by researchers. Well it should be. Being the specialists we are we come up with a lot of stuff ourselves, simply because our job is highly specialized. Just poll the amount of vets that would note the start of a mild club on a 2 y/o. You'd be surprised how little vets are able to do that. For us it's routine.
But before I drift of too far (I have a tendency to do that

) I think that what a horse's foot can hold up to, and what we make it do, are not matched anymore. So we are looking for ways to find cures for problems. Some do that by blaming shoes for everything and found that if a foot is corrected each and every time it tends to get out of line, they can reach satisfactorily results. They fail to see the real problem. And they also fail to accept that a horse's foot is a very plastic structure. As soon as a 'corrected' foot is put back to work, it will head south again. This is probably the reason you don't see too many (if any) performance horses on a barefoot schedule (and I DON'T the weekend show horses).
Smarter

people came up with ways to get to the spot where most problems strike, delayed breakover. That obviously includes Mr. Ovnicek, but others too. (My mentor for one, who never ever heard of Mr. Ovnicek)
Redden brushed up the banana concept, that has been around for ages guys. It's not new, not at all. People following my posts may remember that pic of a wooden shoe I wore out. Anybody can see the banana effect the wear and tear created. Anatomically different, sure! Meant to be funny? Obviously! But I do hope that through posts like those, people start thinking about the concept a bit more.
Not as a cure all, there is no such thing, but as a valuable tool that combines flexibility with efficiency. No need to worry about pay back when using the banana. It's a very effective way to reduce breakover forces that account for A LOT of problems in horses under our modern breeding-, training and performance schedules.
(My God how am I to squeeze all this and more, in a two hour talk?

)
Ronald Aalders