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Expert
Posts: 1611
  
| Please share your stories about horses that are hard to get level by looks alone. Recently got a mare whose's hair line is level to the eye but x-rays showed outside was high on both fronts. The horse does not look high whatsoever and the owner's farrier had the same trouble when shoeing her.
I want to hear your stories. How did you discover they were hard to get level? Do you shoot X-rays every reset? At the moment that is what we are doing... |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | W...Wh?.. What??!?? As a farrier it was understood it was MY JOB to make the horse level... Rarely did I work on a new horse that was level.. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| LOL oh this may get good
This horse has been shod by 2 expert podiatry vets (to the use of $250 or more a shoe job!) one at Rood and Riddle and one in Texas (can't remember the name) for the owners. Basically she's extremely hard to get level by eyes alone and everyone has had to x-ray her since we figured out her problem was her feet.
Basically i'm asking for stories on very hard to shoe horses, that look right to the eye but they are not. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | komet. - 2015-05-08 1:14 PM W...Wh?.. What??!?? As a farrier it was understood it was MY JOB to make the horse level... Rarely did I work on a new horse that was level..
Komet is that you, LOL you look so different, did you get muged by a hair stylist  |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | astreakinchic - 2015-05-08 1:21 PM
LOL oh this may get good
This horse has been shod by 2 expert podiatry vets (to the use of $250 or more a shoe job!) one at Rood and Riddle and one in Texas (can't remember the name) for the owners. Basically she's extremely hard to get level by eyes alone and everyone has had to x-ray her since we figured out her problem was her feet.
Basically i'm asking for stories on very hard to shoe horses, that look right to the eye but they are not.
Well.... I remember white hoof-walls are hard enough to judge that everyone I know/knew (me included) had to actually Measure them to make it right... and even after that was done they didn't look right... Most horses you can measure with a casual glance at the growth rings... |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Southtxponygirl - 2015-05-08 1:41 PM
komet. - 2015-05-08 1:14 PM W...Wh?.. What??!?? As a farrier it was understood it was MY JOB to make the horse level... Rarely did I work on a new horse that was level..
Komet is that you, LOL you look so different, did you get muged by a hair stylist Â
Basically that's what happened... I walked into Super-Cuts one day last week when the place was empty.... She took $30 and most of my hair... |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | komet. - 2015-05-08 1:58 PM Southtxponygirl - 2015-05-08 1:41 PM komet. - 2015-05-08 1:14 PM W...Wh?.. What??!?? As a farrier it was understood it was MY JOB to make the horse level... Rarely did I work on a new horse that was level.. Komet is that you, LOL you look so different, did you get muged by a hair stylist Basically that's what happened... I walked into Super-Cuts one day last week when the place was empty.... She took $30 and most of my hair...
LOL, I think you look great  |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| Sigh I guess we shall be paying for x-rays every time. |
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 Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | Do they not have a little tape measure in their box.. they measure from the hair line down to the ground on both sides to see if they are the same? My farrier does this everytime he shoes mine.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 628
Location: Missouri | ACEINTHEHOLE - 2015-05-08 2:10 PM
Do they not have a little tape measure in their box.. they measure from the hair line down to the ground on both sides to see if they are the same? Â My farrier does this everytime he shoes mine.
Â
^^^^^ THIS! EVERY TIME! If not find a new farrier.  |
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  Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | I had a mare several years ago we had this same problem with. Started off with an acute injury and then after an MRI, 8 months stall rest, a second MRI to clear to go back to work, we still had a lame horse but couldn't find exactly where. Took her to the vet again and started doing nerve blocks. Blocked her right front, she went off in the left front, block the left front she went off behind, and so forth. Figured out it was her feet. Ended up shoeing her off x-rays the first time and she was literally 80% better right away. When I say this guy was meticulous, I mean he would pick the foot off and barely touch it with the rasp, set it down and look at it, do the same thing again, set it down, measure it. It took a long time and cost me $350 but my mare was lots better. Problem was, this was in TN and I lived in TX. So the farrier hooked me up with a guy in my region that studied under the same guy he had. Said there are only a handful of people in the US that have studied under this guy and learned this method.
The way he explained it to me, it's all about the digital cushion and it being a sponge that is full of liquid as a opposed to an old, compressed dried out sponge. (Picture the difference in walking on those two things). I didn't have to re-x-ray my mare every time after the first couple, but I did have to haul her to wherever this guy was at in North Texas, which was often 2 hours or more one way, and pay $300, but he got my mare 100% sound.
Those horses are so tricky and it does take a dang near genius to get them right.
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| My thin soled 4 year old LOOKED unlevel all the time. Just weird how his foot grew. But over the last 8 months my farrier has gotten him looking normal, and lots of hoof growth. |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | astreakinchic - 2015-05-08 2:03 PM
Sigh I guess we shall be paying for x-rays every time.
I don't know why you think you need x-rays to put shoes on a horse...  |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | mlh0972 - 2015-05-08 2:13 PM
ACEINTHEHOLE - 2015-05-08 2:10 PM
Do they not have a little tape measure in their box.. they measure from the hair line down to the ground on both sides to see if they are the same? Â My farrier does this everytime he shoes mine.
Â
^^^^^ THIS! EVERY TIME! If not find a new farrier.
It's pretty simple really.... Hairline level... pastern angel straight... shoe in the middle of the leg... |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Ther is a farrier my cousin fuses, and he says that majority of farriers cannot trim a horse level.
He also says no farrier should depend on their eyes alone, as the eye always lies.
He uses something called a t square made specifically to level a horse.
Now I am going to tell you my experience with feet
I have a mare who is a horrible founder 2 yrs at the vets, brought her home sound coming up 2 yrs ago, when she stepped off the trailer she sloughed her sole off. We have been battling abscesses ever since.
So short of long is we xrayed last year to see where coffin bone is and her foot was very unbalanced.
Reason she is unbalanced via xray is due to her weight distribution due to the abscesses she wasn't travelling properly.
Vet actually wasn't concerned as he said once the abscesses clear up she will level herself out.
You need to read how the foot grows.
Short is the lamania actually detaches from the coffin bone and reattaches while growing so if the horse in my case was putting pressure on one foot more then the other the uneven pressure in the one foot causes the foot to grow level.
So if the outside of the foot is balanced, and the xray shows unbalanced, I would be looking into soundness issues.
If you have questions feel free to message me |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | Google the Dynamic hoof level! pretty cool new tool. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| Herbie - 2015-05-08 3:28 PM
I had a mare several years ago we had this same problem with. Started off with an acute injury and then after an MRI, 8 months stall rest, a second MRI to clear to go back to work, we still had a lame horse but couldn't find exactly where. Took her to the vet again and started doing nerve blocks. Blocked her right front, she went off in the left front, block the left front she went off behind, and so forth. Figured out it was her feet. Ended up shoeing her off x-rays the first time and she was literally 80% better right away. When I say this guy was meticulous, I mean he would pick the foot off and barely touch it with the rasp, set it down and look at it, do the same thing again, set it down, measure it. It took a long time and cost me $350 but my mare was lots better. Problem was, this was in TN and I lived in TX. So the farrier hooked me up with a guy in my region that studied under the same guy he had. Said there are only a handful of people in the US that have studied under this guy and learned this method. Â
The way he explained it to me, it's all about the digital cushion and it being a sponge that is full of liquid as a opposed to an old, compressed dried out sponge. (Picture the difference in walking on those two things). I didn't have to re-x-ray my mare every time after the first couple, but I did have to haul her to wherever this guy was at in North Texas, which was often 2 hours or more one way, and pay $300, but he got my mare 100% sound.Â
Those horses are so tricky and it does take a dang near genius to get them right.Â
Â
Same scenario here woman. I shall message you for the TN guys number but I think I kno who it is and my regular shoer with X-rays everytme would be cheaper! lol Dang weird ailment ponies! |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | equussynergy - 2015-05-08 3:12 PM
Google the Dynamic hoof level! pretty cool new tool.
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| komet. - 2015-05-08 4:41 PM
equussynergy - 2015-05-08 3:12 PM
Google the Dynamic hoof level! pretty cool new tool.
Oh komet when it comes to you and hoof posts I feel popcorn is needed ;-) |
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 Veteran
Posts: 241
| My horse had a collateral ligament tear and this caused a joint tilt on the radiographs which made her look unlevel, even though she was balanced in every way on the outside. Once we finally found the injury (which can be hard to diagnose we were lucky we could see it on ultrasound, but sometimes you have to get an MRI), we allowed her to heal and everything is level on radiographs now...just a thought but there may be a injury that you are not seeing, she was only slightly off in a left circle, she was never really very lame! |
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