Posts tagged “horseshoes”
Hoof Angles – Part 4
There doesn’t seem to be an end to what I can find to say about hoof angles! Several of my previous posts have mentioned the consequences of hoof imbalance, and it’s now time to start being more specific about the problems that can, and do, arise from an improper landing due to an out-of-balance hoof. […]
Hoof Angles – Part 3
“I cannot end the story of the horse without writing with regret that the health of this useful and precious animal has been up to now surrendered to the care and practice, often blind, of people without knowledge and without qualification.” – Georges-Louis Leclerc (1707-1778) Leclerc De Buffon was a French naturalist known for his […]
Hoof Angles – Part 2
In Hoof Angles – Part 1 we touched on the basic parameters of movement that veterinarians and farriers attempt to alter through trimming and shoeing. In this installment, we’ll examine a fundamental misconception about cause and effect as it relates to equine anatomy: the notion that the shape of the hoof causes the horse to […]
Off His Rocker(s)
When the owner led the horse out of the stall, my heart sank. This poor gelding was wearing a type of shoe known as a rocker, banana, or convex shoe, and although I’d read about them before, I’d never actually seen them “in action.” I wish I could have maintained that ignorance, because what a mess! […]
The (High?) Cost of Hoof Care
I was giving a lecture on the economics of hoof care to a class of university students when one of them asked me how much a particular pair of “specialized” shoes cost. Consulting the farrier supply catalog in my hand, I replied, “They’re $12 per pair.” “No they’re not!” she retorted. “My farrier says they’re […]
A Closer Look at Breakover
If you’re around the horse world long enough, you’re bound to hear people talking about breakover. What, you may ask, is breakover? Well, there are two definitions. The first, as defined by Dr. Hilary Clayton in The Dynamic Horse, is – Terminal part of stance phase during which the heels of the hoof rotate around […]
A Matter of Conscience
This started out as what I had envisioned as a fairly straightforward post, written in response to some comments made by a reader and by a local horse owner. Instead, it turned into an extremely challenging one to write – I suppose because I have so much to say on the subject that the difficulty […]
Natural Hoof Care Revisited (or “Promises, Promises”)
Some further reflection on my last Post, coupled with conversations and comments from several readers and clients, has made me want to add a few other thoughts regarding what constitutes genuine natural hoof care. In this case, I think it’s important (and, given the plethora of folks pretending to provide natural hoof care, becoming increasingly […]
What Makes it “Natural Hoof Care?”
It’s not unusual these days to hear horse owners, farriers, and even veterinarians talk about so-called “natural” approaches to a wide variety of equine health and management topics, including vaccinations, deworming, feeding, and hoof care. Since (as I explained in my first post) my equine expertise lies primarily in the area of hoof care, that’s […]
The Emperor’s New Shoes
I happened across an article entitled Polymers replace metal in horseshoes for added benefit in one of my many engineering trade magazines the other day (Design fax, Volume 7, Issue 26). I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked by its contents, but I continually hold out hope for more legitimate science in this field, and […]