Posted by Patty Stiller on June 02, 2000 at 22:37:13:
In Reply to: Even heels? posted by Cindy Casey on May 25, 2000 at 22:44:54:
: This is a question for Gene Ovnicek. (Other opinions appreciated too!) My farrier uses Gene's shoeing method. Last fall he had another client send a question to Gene asking about shoeing to land flat vs shoeing for level heels. The horse in question had a crooked leg causing one or other of these situations. Gene said shoeing for level is most important and that some horses will never land flat. My horse has a very minor amount of crookedness in her leg. She is "off" slightly on this leg in the round pen. (3 people have observed it but it is very slight) This is VERY intermittant and very minor. My shoer said that to him she appears shortstrided on that foot. He said he could even out the gait by shoeing for landing flat but he believes this would not be in her best interest long-term and to let things be. (she is not lame) Would you agree with this? This seems to be a controversial issue around this area and most tend to go for land flat. Now I'm not sure as I don't like seeing this little bit of "offness". The vet told me if I kept her this way I'd have problems down the road. My farrier thinks the opposite. (the vet is also related to the farrier and there is a bit of family fueding going on) Thanks for any input.
I am sorry that Gene has not been available to answer this himself..He is travelling at moment. I hope my answer will help you. Some horses, due to an uneven shape of the pastern bones, have the pastern and coffin joint set at an angle. Those horses will never land flat. Trimming to the natural sole plane will insure that the coffin bone is level medial/ laterally to the ground. This will insure the least stress on the joints during the loaded phase of the stride. Attempting to get a flat landing by unlevelling the coffin bone will stress these joints a lot more than having a momentary unevenness in the landing. Your horse, due to his conformation, may eventually develop problems but trimming to the sole plane can delay the process. . If your horse is a bit off now, it is probably time to get some good radiographs, to both determine the level/balance/breakover of the foot and look for beginning joint problems. Hope this clarifies you some. Patty.