Posted by Patty Stiller on May 01, 2000 at 23:55:27:
In Reply to: Re: Too much truck time? posted by Gregory Coates on April 28, 2000 at 21:02:43:
:
: : : I can see it now, the first person to nail on some steel to a hoof ( ok, I know it was a lot more complicated than that, but bear with me) saw what is the basic outline of the hoof, not the wear pattern established WITHIN the hoof, ie. the parameters seen by the studiers of the natural hoof patterns(accepted compression of time?). I realized this with a shoe that a friend had nailed on his own horse. This fellow is very mechanically adept; has asked me some very pointed questions regarding shoeing and balance in the pursuit of being able to do it himself if the need arose, but he doesn't do it on a regular basis, and when I was looking at the shoe he had put on (I am using old shoes to make various things, yet another story), I could see that his information(visual) came from the basic outline of the hoof, even though he had a pretty good concept of the dynamic workings of a hoof in use. He seemed, from the shape of the shoe used, to have even thought that the manufacturers of said shoe had done a pretty damn good job of sizing and fit. And he was not entirely wrong in his aproach, but not entirely right, either. His horses weren't lame, or even uncomfortable (yet, as the subjective nature of preventative things work), just very due. That alone is bad enough in a shod horse, but most realize that as outside the parameters of the proper way to treat a horse. So, Here I am, looking at that shoe, and it seems as though that alot of folks look at the hoof the same way: To see the outline and disregard the wear pattern will make for long toes and consequently crushed heels. If you have been applying the (heretofore blanket mentioned as) 4-point method of shoeing and trimming, you are already seeing, to some degree, the dynamics, and not just looking at the outline. I know that this is an oversimplification, but do you see the concept of what creates a less than receptive look at the controlled shoeing in a balanced fashion?
: : Ah gregory, you DO have too much time on your hands...;-)
: : You have hit on a very important concept of why horseshoeing evolved to where it has been stuck for years, and why some folks strggle so wit ha new way of seing the foot in it's proper form.
: : Most of us were taught,(as are most farriers still) with concepts that were based around the false assumption that the outer hoof wall was always firmly attatched to the coffin bone , and therefore always had to be the "true" indicator of hoof angle and coffin bone shape.We assumed that if outer hoof wall was visually in line with the pastern , the bones must be, too.
: : Well....that does hold true in a self maintained,well worn hoof that has maintained it;s own breakover and wear pattern. BUT...then we step in, and protect that wall or add traction or whatever.To do this we put on shoes, and immediately remove the ability of that hoof to keep itself short, and keep it's wear pattern as it needs to be. Over that first 7 or 8 weeks the wall now has the opportunity to grow down PAST the sole, and start the slow and insidious process of getting distorted.
: : Over time, the distortion can get really gross. Every time we 'fit the shoe to the hoof", using the hoof wall that WE created, the distortion gets a little bigger. Pretty soon we are fitting to a completely man made shape, not nature's shape. Now through the deeper vision of some really concerned folks we have the means to look at this roblem better, and fix it, as well as prevent it, by keeping the wear pattern where it needs to be, by preventing the hoof wall at toe fron getting distorted by forcing it to be weight bearing, by aloowing the bars and frog to function as if there were no shoe(no small task at times). It's a start. Patty
: I have had some poignant remarks made to me saying that "if God had wanted it that way, He would have made it that way" in regard to the "follow the wall" method, as well as the statements about all that being the way they had learned, no need to change. Then there are the ones who have tried to apply the 4point with disastrous results, and the folks who think that they're doing properly, but still aren't seeing the foot and its reactions to pressures and imbalance. But I haven't figured out how to make looking at the process a little less confrontational. A lot of horses are not going to see the problems that can arise from imbalance for a long while, being physiologically tolerant, and just not stressed enough to have any potential problems come to the forefront. Hell, I'm trying to learn a little more about the anatomical dynamics involved in the regard to cause and effect of balance, which opens yet another can of worms, and encompasses even more of the folks involved in the care, riding, feeding, veterinarian apps, and farriery, beacause at some level, all these things affect the horse and its comfort.
: Greg
Greg, I too have heard the common "if God had wanted it that way..." argument. It is usually in reference to the 'squarish' breakover.
My answer to that is this: In nature,the breakover IS made that way. Although the outer hoofwall itself is NOT "dubbed" or square, the *breakover* point IS. The domesticated foot ,with it's 'round,long toed, delayed breakover way-out-at-the-end-of-the-wall' feet that so many farriers, trainers, and vets are used to seeing is NOT what was intended by nature, but rather what WE made it.
In presenting this case, we need to understand that the traditionally based farriers and veterinarians have their principles based on what was the best science they had available at THAT time.
It helps to let them know that there is some really new science coming in from the university level that justifies what the self maintaining feet were showing us, with their external parameters. . .
;-) Patty