Horse-man-ship Mentality –Unraveling Distortion in Horse’s Foot
Cappel Cowboy Wisdom
What is distortion?
The act of twisting or altering something out of its true, natural, or original state.
This happens naturally to a horse’s hoof wall under the load of their weight and the resistance from the ground in movement.
The wall at the toe begins to curve forward at a one-third of the way down the foot from the hairline.
The longer the hoof grows the more distorted it becomes.
The heels are also subject to distortion and usually stretch forward as well. The side of the feet can also experience distortion by stretching away from the foot.
This can lead to a breaking-off or a chipping effect. This is how horses self-trim even though it can be unsightly it usually does no damage to the foot.
The sole at a point where the hoof wall and sole meet is the limiting factor on how much hoof wall chips off.
There is a naturally occurring process whereby the horse is seeking support in the center of its foot. As the hoof wall grows the support moves to the outside edge on the hoof wall alone. This sets the stage for a stretching away of the hoof wall from the foot.
The horse will either benefit from human intervention with a good trim or the foot will chip off on its own, again returning the load back to the entire bottom of the foot, supporting the internal structure of the horse’s leg.
Ideally hoof wall, sole and frog should all share in responsible in the load bearing of the horse’s weight. If any one part has more load than the other, it usually causes discomfort for the horse.
Cappel resources: online horse trimming and shoeing courses.
Learn the satisfying reward of doing your own horse at the Cappel farrier classes.
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Mindful Riding,
Dennis Cappel - Master Horseman
D/C
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