Beckie’s Equine Letter
News, Case Studies, Questions & Answers
and a Lesson of the Month in every Issue
September 2005 -- Issue 5
News for the Month
Well, lots of exciting things have been going on over the last month--so plenty to tell you about.
My big news is that I’ve been asked to be one of the Resident Farrier's at Anvil Vets in Copsale. I’ll be going up to the practice every other Wednesday to shoe the lame horses they get in. I’ll continue to go up to Liphook vets, but just on the Wednesdays in between. This is really exciting stuff and I feel very honoured to be asked. It has proved to me how valuable it’s been taking a day out of my week for the last year to work along side Dave Nicholls at Liphook and learn how to shoe all these trickier cases. By the time you get this newsletter I will have already done a couple of clinics at Anvil. I’ll keep you updated on some of the exciting things I see.
In my last newsletter I mentioned that Mel Hayman and I were off to a Horse handling day in Kent. Well, it was excellent. Carl Longanecker, a farrier from America who specialises in the handling of young and problem horses, took us through the techniques he uses.
He started off with a young foal that had never been touched. He spent 15 minutes with it in the stable with a loose rope around it’s neck. The first thing he wanted to do was walk all the way round the foal, with the foal turning to look at him at all times. He used a pressure and release system--the rope being slack as a reward when the foal did what he was told. Carl’s research has proved that horses can only learn things over a 15 minute period. Then they need 15 minutes for it to sink in before you try again. I thought this was a really good point to think about when we’re training any of our horses, it could save a lot of frustration. In the next session the foal was taught to follow him around the stable. Then in the third 15 minute session the foal was being lead up and down on a slack rope, following him like a dog! This was even with his mum outside and all of us staring at him. Very impressive.
With some of the older horses--that had no manners, and insisted on walking through people--he would first work on getting them to walk back out of his space. He focused on getting them respecting his space before he ever asked them to walk forward and lead.
Even though much of what was taught was common sense, the results were fantastic. One thing very noticeable about Carl’s approach was his low energy. He moved really slowly at all times and never showed any change in his face or voice. Consistency was the key to the day. I might start taking a slower approach with some and see how that works.
Lesson of the Month
Natural Balance Shoes and the Theory behind them.
As you’ve heard me keep going on about these Natural Balance Shoes and how they are benefiting horses, I thought it was about time I gave you an explanation on the theory behind them, how they are fitted and how they work.
So what are Natural Balance Shoes?
In simple terms they are an early breakover shoe (see below.) They look a bit different as the front shoes don’t have a clip on the front and the shoe is positioned slightly further back on the foot as apposed to around the rim. Some people see Natural Balance shoes as a craze thinking it will come and go. Well they’ve been around for over 15 years now and there is a lot of science and research behind them proving the benefits--so it’s definitely not just a fashion that will disappear.
What is breakover? And why is it important? Breakover is the point at which the foot leaves the ground. There’s been a lot of research done on wild horses that don’t wear any shoes and travel over lots of land. These horses have shown how horses feet would naturally wear if we didn’t interfere with them. Interestingly, all the feet had rounded off the toes, bringing the breakover back. If you think about running trainers the toe is rockered up to make it easier for you to roll over, this is exactly the same for horses. By placing a traditional shoe around the rim of the foot we are giving them a big chunk of steel to wear away before it is optimal for them to move.
How are they fitted? First, I find the widest part of the foot, which is about 1 inch back from the point of the frog, and draw a line. I want half of the shoe in front of this line and half behind. The shoe will then be centred under the horses weight. I then place a mark 1 inch in front of the point of the frog--this is where the horse would naturally breakover if left to it’s own devices. I now have a guide to work from, and can position the shoe correctly. Natural Balance Shoes have rounded edges to make it easier for the horse to roll over and turn. I position the rounded toe of the shoe where the horse would naturally breakover and just round the horses toe off with my rasp. (I’ve shown this on a separate sheet.)
What horses would benefit from them? Natural Balance Shoes are good for many things: Stumbling, arthritis, back pain, crumbly feet, distorted feet, over-reaching, and even horses with good feet (to improve movement for example).
Conclusion. With the shoeing I’ve been doing at the vets, 99% of horses now get put into Natural Balance Shoes because this helps the most. We’re using them to solve most problems. But maybe we shouldn’t wait for the problems to arise in the first place. I’ve seen such good results with so many horses, I know if I had a horse I’d definitely use these shoes from the start to prevent problems developing.
Case Study
Vicky Bacon—Dolly
History. Dolly is a 6 year old miniature Shetland that lives in Steyning. I was shoeing at the yard and saw her over the stable door. I looked down at her feet and really wanted to get my hands on them.
Problem. Dolly had really boxy upright feet, her heels were equal in length to her toes. Dolly objected to having her feet trimmed. She would make a real fuss--sitting down, rearing and running away--so she never had them trimmed regularly.
The tendons down the back of her leg had contracted so much since she was born, that her feet had become very upright. I had to trim just a small amount off her heels each time to encourage the tendons to lengthen. Then we could work on getting her feet looking more normal. She had age on her side as she was still young, so it was going to be easier to make changes.
Outcome. The first time I trimmed her feet was April 2004. I did them religiously every 6 weeks, and 6 months later in October 2004 they were really starting to look good. It had to be a gradual process. Cutting too much off her heels in one go would mean her heels wouldn’t be able to touch the ground and it would pull too much on her tendons.
Dolly’s been really satisfying to work on with the changes in her feet. She’s now also a pleasure to trim.
Dolly in April 2004, the first time I trimmed her.
Six months later in October 2004.
A good example of how much you can change the feet with just the aid of trimming.
Questions & Answers
Q: What is the reason for the toe of the foot hanging slightly over the shoe on the hind feet?
Maggie Laker
A: Good question. Hind shoes generally have two clips, to help hold the shoes in place. As all the impulsion comes from the hinds they get put under more strain than the fronts. The toe of the foot slightly overhangs for a couple of reasons. Firstly to enable us to get the breakover in the correct place. And secondly if the horse over-reaches the toe of the hind foot will hit the front leg, rather than the sharp edge of the shoe, and cause less damage.
Q: I heard someone saying the other day that it’s wrong for Farrier's to trim anything off the frog. Is that true?
Lee Warman
A: The frog is there for a reason. It provides grip, absorbs concussion and aids the circulation back up the leg. So when it comes to trimming, if the frog is healthy and there are no tatty edges then I would leave well alone. But in most situations there are a few ragged edges to trim off, so I would remove these. Also if the frog is a little thrushy then I would definitely trim off the excess to allow the air to get to the frog. So it’s really just a tidy up where needed.
Feedback
“Beckie convinced us to try Natural Balance shoes on our big horse Rhoda the second time she shod her. Rhoda has quite big feet that would splay out. Beckie was convinced that bringing the breakover back on her feet would really benefit her. Amanda Kruger our instructor noticed the difference straight away--she only exercises Rhoda twice a week and it was really obvious something had changed. Amanda was just leading her to the school in walk when she first started to notice Rhoda moving better. Her movement was a lot straighter and looked a lot easier and more comfortable. Other things we noticed is that she was prone to stumbling and slipping which stopped immediately. She has become more comfortable walking downhill which is one thing she’s always really struggled with. Another thing is she has always moved very close in front which has definitely improved, there is much more room now when she moves.”
Pam Finch
Since making this change to Rhoda her feet have really come together well. I have even dropped down a shoe size as her feet don’t have the tendency to spread out anymore. All in all, much better quality feet.
Handouts that went with this Newsletter