A Return to Normal Part 2

This chart shows common trimming mistakes farriers frequently make that can cause bio-mechanical imbalances often missed or mistaken for pathological conditions by veterinarians and other paramedical practitioners. The purpose of this post is to educate the public. It serves as a plea to return to a time when every horse ailment did not indicate some pathological state needing complicated and expensive treatments from various medical and paramedical practitioners. The below describes correct and incorrect trimming that effects both the front and back feet in similar but slightly different ways. For simplicity sake, I only describe the front feet imbalances here.

Introduction: Ideal and Correct

When resting on the ground, a properly trimmed foot is in direct line with the pastern bone meeting at the pastern joint—the straight line in line with the cannon bone.

Normal “Break-Over” is when the front foot leaves the ground in a forward motion and occurs when the bottom of the foot reaches verticle. The foot flight pattern follows a symmetrical arch. When it touches the ground, it lands slightly on the heel first and then rolls forward with the forward momentum, sending the foot to a vertical position again before break-over occurs on the next stride. Ideal and correct illustrate this.

“Stumpy” and “Broken Forward” indicate heels left long by improper trimming. Stumpy is less severe than broken forward, but both have similar effects on the foot flight patterns. The foot breaks over BEFORE vertical, and the foot flight pattern is higher, with a shorter arch resulting in the toe striking the ground first. The broken forward condition causes tripping or a stumbling gait as the forward motion continues. Horses compensate to prevent falling by taking shorter steps. In both stumpy and broken forward, the superficial flexor tendon on the front of the cannon bone is stretched and becomes inflamed and swells slightly. You can feel a normal superficial flexor tendon by rolling your thumb back and forth across the front of the cannon bone. It should roll back and forth easily across your thumb and feel firm. It widens and does not roll across the thumb as easily in a stretched or inflamed state.

The “Sloping” and “Broken Back”condition indicates the toe left long by improper trimming. Sloping is less severe than broken back, but both have similar effects on foot flight patterns. The foot breaks over PAST vertical, and the foot flight pattern is lower, with a longer arch resulting in the toe striking the ground first or in the sloping condition, the foot strikes the ground evenly from front to back. In both stumpy and broken forward, the flexor and deep digital flexor tendons on the back of the cannon bone become stretched, inflamed, and swell slightly. These conditions result in the pathological condition called bowed tendons. The tendons stretch to the point that tendons tear, and a large bulge occurs on the back of the leg. In a normal state, grip the tendons with the thumb and fingers and slide up and down. You should feel a clear division between the deep digital and superficial flexor tendons. The superficial flexor tendon is more prominent and round, whereas the deep digital flexor tendon is smaller, flatter and flush with the cannon bone.

Because the sloping and broken back conditions result in a longer stride length, unethical racehorse trainers or farriers will purposely trim the horse like this to increase its stride length, resulting in many bowed tendons in retired racehorses.

People are often surprised when they learn the stride length of a Throrobred racehorse. Man O’War had the longest stride length out of any horse in history at 28 feet, while Secretariat had a top stride length of only 25.5 feet. Now imagine an unethical trainer purposely insisting his farrier trim for the “sloping” condition and increasing a consistently 2nd or 3rd place horse’s stride by even a few inches for each stride around the track. The increased stride length adds up with every stride around the track, resulting in a 2nd or 3rd place horse winning the race.

Imagine now, brown cow, how improper trimming can result in biomechanical imbalances often mistaken for other pathological conditions. It would be like walking all day on a raised heels, or having a wedge placed in the front of your shoes causing you to lean back.

In Return to Normal Part 3, I’ll explain how side-to-side imbalances in improper hoof trimming can result in other mistaken pathological conditions.

Disclaimer: It’s been more than 30 years since I practiced farrier science, and most of this is from the declining memory of an older man. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong at any point.