A response I wrote concerning unbalanced hooves:
Allow me to preface this little writing by saying that I don't believe that *the* Strasser trim is a "natural" trim. I don't believe, either, that there is any one trim that fits all hooves. That's just not according to nature, either. Some have stated that things like horseshoe nails etc. cause irrepairable damage to the horse's liver. Well, only to the point that if the iron from the nail, or the rust or whatever compound is there gets into the blood stream. Then, it would tax the liver in just the mere fact that the liver would have to work harder to be rid of the toxins in the blood. But that's true of any foreign substance that gets into the blood stream including preservatives, fertilizers and other chemicals that are used to grow the grain that makes the feeds and hay. ;)
I do believe that overgrown bars will cause navicular pain. But I don't feel that they're THE reason for navicular. When we start looking at the trees instead of the forest we miss alot and even more so when we begin to inspect just one leaf of one tree. Hooves and horses go together as a whole unit. So when I see less than healthy hooves I have to look to the rest of the picture, too. Feed, environment, use, social, emotional, etc. etc. We can microscope the feed; we can microscope the environment and we can give as close to perfect as we can possibly give but ... if one portion of the entire unit is off its going to have an affect on the rest of the unit, too. A depressed horse will not be as healthy as a content horse. An obese horse is not going to be healthy as a fit horse. Etc. etc. A horse that lives in fear is going to have repercussions throughout its body including its hooves, eventually, as the entire equine system is taxed. A horse with a physical/hoof issue is going to be affected mentally and emotionally. There is balance in all of nature, naturally. When the balance is thrown off kilter for some reason all is affected. Long standing imbalances cause issues. So, that's a given, right?
As to the mechanical ... as I said, I look to the natural hoof for my answers. Imbalances in the hooves will cause detrimental issues and pain. Sometimes there is mainly just one factor such as bars but that's rarely the case. One needs to ascertain where the breakover is, how the hoof lands, how long are the heels? Do the heels allow passive contact of the frog with the ground so the frog can do its job? The frog needs to be used to dissipate energy and, in doing so, will affect the workings of the digital cushion that also dissipates energy. They are both fluid filled; fluid dissipates energy. If, for some reason one is less than efficient then it will ripple effect to the other causing imbalance. The frog also is part of the circulatory system and helps to keep the nutrient and oxygen filled blood circulating efficiently through the hoof and the lower limbs. Since the DDFT routes around the navicular and is attached to the P3, it is part of all this in the fact that it receives the action of the frog and the DC. The breakover is part of all this, too - if the breakover is too far in front of the toe of the P3, it causes undue pressures to the P3, itself, but not only that, it affects the action of the entire hoof. If the horse is landing toe first because the actual toe of the hoof is left too long, the energy is shot right up through the front of the leg instead of through the back through the frog, DC, where it is dissipated greatly before even reaching the other soft tissues, ligs and tendons, etc. If the horse is landing harder on one side of the hoof than the other due to imbalanced walls then, again, everything else is affected on up through the shoulder, neck and back. If the walls are left too long and are weight bearing by themselves its much the same as what leverages on your own fingernails would do -- begin to tear away at the connections between the nail and the finger. This causes pain and ripples effects all the way through the rest of the hoof. The walls of the hoof are meant to share the load with the sole. And so on and so forth. I look to get the hooves balanced; I like to imagine superimposing folded hooves (individual to each hoof; not to each other) if that's possible; sometimes its not possible due to the individual horse's conformation of the hooves and distal limbs. It's all taken into consideration; balance, level, shape, lengths, pressures, etc. -- as close to what mother nature designed as possible but also in accordance with the horse's living and working/playing environment. Soft ground, hard ground, dry ground, wet ground, rocky ground, etc. etc. Soft ground means longer heels and less arch in the quarters. Hard ground means a rounder roll around the hoof. I just told a horse owner to start throwing rocks back INTO the paddock because she says her horse is ouchy on rocky trails. Well, if the hooves are not conditioned to rocks because the horse lives on grass, common sense tells me that of COURSE the horse is going to be ouchy on rocky trails. So, make a rocky area that the horse HAS to walk over in order to get to the barn, or drink or whatever so the hooves can condition themselves. Living on grass means longer heels, more imbalances to the hooves and more frequent trimming/care is required. Longer heels on rocks will be ouchy. Soft soles on rocks will be ouchy. Common sense goes a long way.
March 1, 2005
Page 2
I don't believe that we treat *the hoof*. We work and treat the entire body and mind of the horse. So, to say that there is one thing that causes navicular is not correct. It is a combination of imbalances, forces and leverages that have gotten out of whack and been out of whack for awhile. That imbalance has, by the time its affected the navicular, has also affected the rest of the body in some manner. Correct the mechanics (shape, lengths, widths, breakover, landing, balance etc.) of the hooves and if the rest of the horse and environment is in balance as much as possible, the issue should resolve if it has not degenerated to the point of no return. i.e. -- spurs on the navicular that are shredding the DDFT to bits and pieces.
The hoof is a marvel of science. It is amazing that this little, tiny, piece of nature's design can withstand 12,000# of pressure landing on this 4" round hoof for the 1000# horse jumping over 2 ft. of log. It's amazing that the skinny little bones do not shatter to pieces with the weight and leverages and pressures of the horse and its movements. It is designed in balance specifically for its job. When that design gets altered then it stresses the unit. When the design is allowed to recover to its natural state then the unit will recover, as well. Of course, again, there are points of no return but I would hope that, as hoofcare providers, that we would take it all seriously enough to be preventative, rather than reactive. Of course when we're inheriting the results of prior abuses or neglect then we can't always be preventative at the start. But we can help to correct and THEN be preventative with diligence and care.
Allow me to preface this little writing by saying that I don't believe that *the* Strasser trim is a "natural" trim. I don't believe, either, that there is any one trim that fits all hooves. That's just not according to nature, either. Some have stated that things like horseshoe nails etc. cause irrepairable damage to the horse's liver. Well, only to the point that if the iron from the nail, or the rust or whatever compound is there gets into the blood stream. Then, it would tax the liver in just the mere fact that the liver would have to work harder to be rid of the toxins in the blood. But that's true of any foreign substance that gets into the blood stream including preservatives, fertilizers and other chemicals that are used to grow the grain that makes the feeds and hay. ;)
I do believe that overgrown bars will cause navicular pain. But I don't feel that they're THE reason for navicular. When we start looking at the trees instead of the forest we miss alot and even more so when we begin to inspect just one leaf of one tree. Hooves and horses go together as a whole unit. So when I see less than healthy hooves I have to look to the rest of the picture, too. Feed, environment, use, social, emotional, etc. etc. We can microscope the feed; we can microscope the environment and we can give as close to perfect as we can possibly give but ... if one portion of the entire unit is off its going to have an affect on the rest of the unit, too. A depressed horse will not be as healthy as a content horse. An obese horse is not going to be healthy as a fit horse. Etc. etc. A horse that lives in fear is going to have repercussions throughout its body including its hooves, eventually, as the entire equine system is taxed. A horse with a physical/hoof issue is going to be affected mentally and emotionally. There is balance in all of nature, naturally. When the balance is thrown off kilter for some reason all is affected. Long standing imbalances cause issues. So, that's a given, right?
As to the mechanical ... as I said, I look to the natural hoof for my answers. Imbalances in the hooves will cause detrimental issues and pain. Sometimes there is mainly just one factor such as bars but that's rarely the case. One needs to ascertain where the breakover is, how the hoof lands, how long are the heels? Do the heels allow passive contact of the frog with the ground so the frog can do its job? The frog needs to be used to dissipate energy and, in doing so, will affect the workings of the digital cushion that also dissipates energy. They are both fluid filled; fluid dissipates energy. If, for some reason one is less than efficient then it will ripple effect to the other causing imbalance. The frog also is part of the circulatory system and helps to keep the nutrient and oxygen filled blood circulating efficiently through the hoof and the lower limbs. Since the DDFT routes around the navicular and is attached to the P3, it is part of all this in the fact that it receives the action of the frog and the DC. The breakover is part of all this, too - if the breakover is too far in front of the toe of the P3, it causes undue pressures to the P3, itself, but not only that, it affects the action of the entire hoof. If the horse is landing toe first because the actual toe of the hoof is left too long, the energy is shot right up through the front of the leg instead of through the back through the frog, DC, where it is dissipated greatly before even reaching the other soft tissues, ligs and tendons, etc. If the horse is landing harder on one side of the hoof than the other due to imbalanced walls then, again, everything else is affected on up through the shoulder, neck and back. If the walls are left too long and are weight bearing by themselves its much the same as what leverages on your own fingernails would do -- begin to tear away at the connections between the nail and the finger. This causes pain and ripples effects all the way through the rest of the hoof. The walls of the hoof are meant to share the load with the sole. And so on and so forth. I look to get the hooves balanced; I like to imagine superimposing folded hooves (individual to each hoof; not to each other) if that's possible; sometimes its not possible due to the individual horse's conformation of the hooves and distal limbs. It's all taken into consideration; balance, level, shape, lengths, pressures, etc. -- as close to what mother nature designed as possible but also in accordance with the horse's living and working/playing environment. Soft ground, hard ground, dry ground, wet ground, rocky ground, etc. etc. Soft ground means longer heels and less arch in the quarters. Hard ground means a rounder roll around the hoof. I just told a horse owner to start throwing rocks back INTO the paddock because she says her horse is ouchy on rocky trails. Well, if the hooves are not conditioned to rocks because the horse lives on grass, common sense tells me that of COURSE the horse is going to be ouchy on rocky trails. So, make a rocky area that the horse HAS to walk over in order to get to the barn, or drink or whatever so the hooves can condition themselves. Living on grass means longer heels, more imbalances to the hooves and more frequent trimming/care is required. Longer heels on rocks will be ouchy. Soft soles on rocks will be ouchy. Common sense goes a long way.
March 1, 2005
Page 2
I don't believe that we treat *the hoof*. We work and treat the entire body and mind of the horse. So, to say that there is one thing that causes navicular is not correct. It is a combination of imbalances, forces and leverages that have gotten out of whack and been out of whack for awhile. That imbalance has, by the time its affected the navicular, has also affected the rest of the body in some manner. Correct the mechanics (shape, lengths, widths, breakover, landing, balance etc.) of the hooves and if the rest of the horse and environment is in balance as much as possible, the issue should resolve if it has not degenerated to the point of no return. i.e. -- spurs on the navicular that are shredding the DDFT to bits and pieces.
The hoof is a marvel of science. It is amazing that this little, tiny, piece of nature's design can withstand 12,000# of pressure landing on this 4" round hoof for the 1000# horse jumping over 2 ft. of log. It's amazing that the skinny little bones do not shatter to pieces with the weight and leverages and pressures of the horse and its movements. It is designed in balance specifically for its job. When that design gets altered then it stresses the unit. When the design is allowed to recover to its natural state then the unit will recover, as well. Of course, again, there are points of no return but I would hope that, as hoofcare providers, that we would take it all seriously enough to be preventative, rather than reactive. Of course when we're inheriting the results of prior abuses or neglect then we can't always be preventative at the start. But we can help to correct and THEN be preventative with diligence and care.
posted by Gwen at 12:40 PM
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