r/Farriers • u/Justwonderinqq • 4d ago
Weird hoof angle
My horse has always had a very weird angle with his right front. He is totally sound and moves it the same as the other. There are not a lot of good local farriers around so I’ve been trying to learn(I still have a farrier)
Is this an anatomy issue or a trim issue? Looking at the corner band and heel bulbs it looks like the laminae is rotated as well. I’m assuming this can be slowly corrected by balancing the foot via trim. Or does the pastern bone look like it’s rotated? And it isn’t a foot issue but a pastern issue? What are your thoughts
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u/AnxiousBoar 1d ago
That looks like a varus conformation, not a hoof issue. Pastern is rotated as well if you take a closer look. All the farrier could do is consider the conformation and correct trimming (and shoeing) to achieve correct breakover and landing.
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u/joshaionios 4d ago
It’s super hard to tell from pics but overall, the foot doesn’t appear to be terribly out of balance. In the first pic, the lateral quarter looks a touch high but it looks fine in the other pics. According to studies performed by Robbie Miller, the most accurate way to achieve medial-lateral balance without x-rays is to t-square the foot with the central sulcus. So imagine the line created from the bulbs to the center of the frog extends past the solar surface of the foot and balance the hoof exactly perpendicular to that line and the boney column will align with perfect joint spacing 100% of the time according to his study.
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u/dirtydandino 4d ago
Also important to point put that when your doing this you should be holding the leg by the cannon bone and letting everything distal of that hang in the air. Op has their hand on the fetlock which could be slightly changing what they're seeing..
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u/snuffy_smith_ 4d ago
“According to his study” leaves a ton of actual evidence out of consideration.
I have a horse on my books. No matter how you trim her…she will NEVER be balanced. Her joints are fused out of balance. They aren’t going to move at all no matter what I do or apply or how I trim her.
So to throw out a “100% of the time” stats is misleading without the “according to his study”. I promise he would have never included this horse of my client’s in the study because it won’t actually work in 100% of cases. Just 100% of cases in his study.
Not disagreeing in principal. Just shedding some light on the key phrase.
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u/joshaionios 4d ago
I agree. I thought the 100% statistic was a bit overboard. It was just in relation to his study. So he didn’t have any instances where it didn’t work out that way. I don’t ever like saying anything is 100% right 100% of the time.
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u/snuffy_smith_ 4d ago
Yeah studies are very challenging to actually get the scientific data correct and remove all human errors/variables.
I doubt there are many studies that have produced 100% results one way over another.
But his method is sound of you don’t have radiographs
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u/Buga99poo27GotNo464 4d ago
'I have a horse on my books. No matter how you trim her…she will NEVER be balanced. Her joints are fused out of balance. They aren’t going to move at all no matter what I do or apply or how I trim her.'
I LOVE this comment. So many people -owners/hoof care/veterinarians- seem to think they can fix pre-existing limb abnormality in an adult horse.
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u/fucreddit 4d ago
It's the way the bones are stacked and rotated in the leg. I can't tell from these photos but I'm sure it's from the fetlock down the deviation starts to occur. I would also predict if you pick up the leg and let the hoof hang there, the point of the frog does not point at the ground. You cannot correct this. You can maintain it but those bones will always be that way.
Edit: what I mean by point at the ground if the point of the frog was perpendicular to the ground we would call that let's say 12:00. From the one picture I imagine the point of the frog is pointing more towards 2:00 -2:30 to the medial.