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| Author | Topic: How do you deal with flat-footed horses? |
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E-Mail Question (Moderator) |
posted 8/20/08 11:50 PM
As appeared in American Farriers Journal, September/October, 2008, page 85. Your question, "I also wanted to know if you could take a shot at a Farriers Round table question for me. If you can, please answer the question below in about 250 words." "When dealing with a flat-footed horse, is it advisable to pare out some sole to try and give the foot some cup? What are the possible negative consequences from doing that?" The simple answer to that question is No due to multiple negative consequences such as, thinning the sole too much which could cause sore soles, bleeding, increased concussion concerns, bruising of the sole, and/or weakening of the sole. The question better put forth would be, "How do you deal with flat footed horses?" I do not go about dealing with this problem by over paring the soles. For me, the key to dealing with this issue is by looking at the whole horse in order to try and identify if there is an insult causing the flat-feet instead of treating the flat-feet as the insult. I would first identifying if the flat-feet are in one or both pairs of feet. If in one foot then I would have to look into a limb length disparity issues and postural imbalances due to chiropractic issues. If in both pairs, then I would look into conformational issues. I would identify how does the horse stand. Are the legs in front of the normal center of gravity plane or behind. Now I realize that we can't change a genetic component as well as a conformation fault however, we can go about providing shoeing support to effect a change on the biomechanical stresses possibly being overly applied to parts of the limbs and feet due to conformational issues such as long pasterns, camped out, sickle-hocked, behind the knee, or postural imbalances due to injuries, spinal misalignments, and/or limb length disparity issues. Esco Buff, PhD, CF [This message has been edited on 09/05/2008] |
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