Horses chew, we all know that, but if you’ve ever watched horses out in pasture they’ll perform types of grooming and bonding rituals with their teeth. Take a look sometimes and you’ll notice many times horses standing together while one is almost seemingly biting the flesh of the other. They’ll grab a little bunch of flesh and in a careful way kind of nip away with a little tug of the skin. This is very common and it’s a cooperative event where one horse allows the other. I’m quite sure I wouldn’t discourage such behavior amongst horses.

Now we (humans) come along and from day one we teach our horses- even from babies- not to bite. At the slightest indication the young horse is nipping us we’ll most likely retaliate with a little swat on the horses nose to discourage such a thing.

If you’re studying navicular disease you’re undoubtedly finding a fairly wide array of information. Let’s just look at it from the prevention/shoeing perspective.

Navicular disease accurately describes a deteriorating condition of the navicular bones that lie in the horse’s foot. Causes can vary and actually pinpointing the real cause often times is left undetected – there are just too many factors that can contribute to the problem. One such factor is shoeing.

The navicular bones are under constant pressure from the deep flexor tendon. The deep flexor tendon is the long steel like cable of tendon that runs down the back of the leg down the back side of the pastern joint right over the navicular bones and attaches itself to the coffin bone. Without that deep flexor tendon there basically is nothing to support the weight of the horse and the fetlock joint would collapse and fall to the ground.

First let’s define what sheared heels are. Sheared heels are when the heel of the horse’s foot grows forward toward the toe. Instead of there being support for the foot in the heel area where the horse needs it support is reduced – the heels have grown forward and there’s no foot (heel) to provide the support for the horse’s foot.

Now instead of the horse having heel support when he or she walks there’s a good chance the horse is rocking back on the heel instead of having his foot just land flat and then being able to easily walk off. Now the horse’s foot “labors” on the ground and slows down its normal way of travel. The foot does more work now – first it’s heels sink into the ground at the heel then it has to recover before returning to going forward.

When it comes to shoeing and Farrier talks one of the least understood topics is the discussion of hoof balance. Ask half dozen different Farriers the meaning of hoof balance and you’re likely to have half dozen different answers. While hoof balance is so misunderstood it’s also most crucial to avoiding permanent lameness to horses. Put those two ingredients together and you have a recipe for disaster. Until hoof balance is completely understood there’s a 98% chance a horse will remain at serious risk. Let’s discuss balance and reduce the risk.

True hoof balance is not simple; it’s a combination of many different principles and applications. Balance involves bone angles, loads, support, and alignment of joints, shoe placement, foot length and direction and more. All these areas need to be put together like a puzzle in the proper proportions and amounts before optimum performance can be achieved.

When I first started my horse shoeing career I apprenticed for slightly over a year and was on a shoeing job in Gilroy California at Savanah Farms. The horse being shod was a very beautiful bay halter show horse – an Arab gelding. And I do happen to be an Arab fan.

We had the horse is cross ties and I had gotten both front feet done and finished, both rear shoes are put on but needing to finish rasping. While shoeing this horse it remained in the cross ties like a statue, never moving a muscle. It was Beautiful and magnificent looking. I had been working on this horse for about 40 minutes at this point and I was just saying to my self “oh boy, he’s being perfect all horses should be just like this horse”. I had just put his rear foot on the finishing stand as I was saying this. As I bent over to pick up the rasp to finish his foot and right as I was thinking how perfect he was he NAILED ME! Like being shot by cannon! Full power kick dead center my knee.

It took me a long time for this one to come to me. What are the criteria used to choose your Farrier? Interesting question isn’t it?

Over the 16 years of my career as a Farrier I have heard several times from people “My Farrier Specializes in Lame Horses”. For some reason I’ve always felt a bit inferior from hearing this, as if because I didn’t work with a lot of lame horses my abilities as a Farrier didn’t measure up. How wrong I was for thinking such a thing. Truth is I know how to work with lame horses and I understand lameness and I’m a good craftsman and trust the quality of my work.

I am a Farrier and I have been kicked by horses. All I can say is it’s no laughing matter and I’ve been very lucky to come out of it with no permanent physical problems. Others are not so lucky; I’ve known people who have died from horse kicks. This article is about just such a possibility.

I have a new client, a woman with 9 horses. She called me to trim her horses and my gut feeling about that woman is she is very nice. Well the other day I was informed that she had gotten kicked “Double Barrel” by one of her horses, a big paint and she is in the hospital with life threatening issues. The kick broke all the ribs on one side of her body and ruptured internal organs, and she struggles to breathe at all due to the pain.

Bowed tendons on a horse can be murder. The deep flexor tendon between the knee and the pastern joint blows due to excessive stress and stretch. It’s a long recovery process sometimes leaving a blemish.

There can be several elements that can all contribute to this problem. Hard work is surely one while incorrect shoeing the other. A quick look at race horses and how prevalent bowed tendons occur can give you some clues to a deeper understanding into this issue. Race horses are definitely worked hard – at the end of the race horses are completely exhausted. In this condition of exhaustion and fatigue the muscles of the body are not carrying the horse in the most optimum manner-hence a breakdown.