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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Can long toes & under run heels be fixed? My horse has bad case & farrier has been working on it for years. I don't see improvement. Vet says it's the way quarter horses are bred now. I've had this horse 5 years. Used the same farrier for 10 years & consider him a friend. This is a small community & if I switch, I'll still run into old farrier. Sounds like high school, lol. I hate conflict, but realize I have to do what's best for my horse. Question is can this be corrected? |
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Member
Posts: 42
| Why doesn't he just cut the toes off. Not going to hurt anything. |
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 Don't Wanna Make This Awkward
Posts: 3106
 
Location: Texas | I completely understand, we spend a lot of time with our farriers and it's hard telling one they aren't doing what you want, but if he's a decent person he will understand. |
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Member
Posts: 42
| Why doesn't he just cut the toes off. Not going to hurt anything. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| just tell him a lameness vet siad it needs to be done like...
Are the feet landing correctly? Im guessing not. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| nance - 2015-10-19 7:40 PM
Can long toes & under run heels be fixed? My horse has bad case & farrier has been working on it for years. I don't see improvement. Vet says it's the way quarter horses are bred now. I've had this horse 5 years. Used the same farrier for 10 years & consider him a friend. This is a small community & if I switch, I'll still run into old farrier. Sounds like high school, lol. I hate conflict, but realize I have to do what's best for my horse. Question is can this be corrected?
Yes but it will take atleast 18 months, as you have to change the angle of the new hoof growth.
I have all quarter horses, and not one is underslung.
The key is you need to trim every 4 weeks, pull the toe back, and trim the heels down to practically nothing |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | A certified Natural Balance shoer can take care of this problem. There are all kinds of good info on you tube. I will go find a link. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | If you really want to get some answers...Here is a good start. Gene Overnick has a lot of great videos out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yb8umYSGn0
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| You can take the toe off but as someone said it takes time. I was using a farrier and my horse was getting worse and worse. My trainer said first of all my farrier would not be very receptive but I needed to tell him how to correct the long toe. Well, the farrier cussed me out and left. I started using the farrier that my trainer uses and he told me that my trainer had told him how to show barrel horses. He corrected the problem but it took awhile. It can be done. One thing that is essential in bringing the toe back is to make sure that enough of the heel is taken off too.
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | Yup my filly has been struggling with this and my farrier is working on it. She's getting attention every five weeks and it's amazing the difference in just a couple jobs. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Thanks for responses. My vet actually talked to farrier about this. He put him in aluminum wedges and we did that for a year or so. But heels still under run. Went back to steel on front & back this spring. Told farrier again, every 5 weeks when shod, pull the toe back. His heels have no support at all. This is ridiculous. What we're doing isn't working so got to try something different. Guess I'll have to put on my big girl panties. Vet xrayed feet this summer, I'll get copies and look for someone new.
Would love to try barefoot but I don't know anyone around here that does more than pasture trim.
Thanks again.
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I AM being nice
Posts: 4396
Location: MD | It can be a difficult deal when you have someone who you consider a friend also being a service provider. We went through this a few years back. The people that owned most of my horses at the time had a guy who had been trimming and shoeing their younger horses at the house for years. Things were being let slide here and there. I tried several times to ask him to take more toe back, etc... He just wasn't getting it done, no matter how I asked, or explained. There was no choice but to use someone else. He doesn't answer any of our calls and barely speaks if we see him out and about, but honestly the horses' soundness is far more important |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| What state do you live in?
Im sure someone on here could find you a farrier locally that can figure it out. The guy we used paired with an awesome vet got our horses feet fixed in in just a couple visits. Our horses went from landing toe first to flicking their foot out in front correctly after the first visit, its crazy what a good vet and a farrier willing to listen can accomplish.
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 Ima Cool Kid
Posts: 3496
Location: TN | good luck with that one!!
I switched farriers after the second time my DVM told me I needed to make changes...... Husband and i still argue about it. ( it was his friend).  |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | Yes you can and as stated it takes time, absolutely do not allow someone to agressively do it all at once. In my ignorance I allowed someone to do this to my horse and it was worse and took longer to rectify than the long toes and underslung heels. Also do not allow them to pull the toe back more than the natural angle of the horse's hoof allows or you risk lameness issues of a different sort. I know first hand what both issues can do and it can be lameness either way or diminished performance. All horses hoof shapes are different, get a good farrier that realizes this and works with you, your vet and most importantly your horse!
Edited by ampratt 2015-10-20 8:41 AM
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BHW's Simon Cowell
Location: The Saudia Arabia of Wind Energy, Western Oklahoma | Some horses are just going to be underslung, especially with the bad footed horses they are leaving as studs. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| It sucks.
My old farrier is gruff and abrasive and hates taking toe off.
You need to do it though. My gelding blew out 2 quarter cracks this summer because of poor trimming. We patched the first one and inside a month the second one blew because the foot still didn't have enough support. At that time I threw up my hands and had every intention of yanking his shoes and turning him out at my boyfriends an hour away to just grow foot and we'd go back to it i the spring. Did that and when the time came to get him trimmed down there the boyfriends farrier was fantastic, walked through a plan for him, trimmed and shod him correctly and we are back making some of our best runs ever. I suspect that the poor trim was uncomfortable for him all the way around (like running in a poor fitting shoe, it might not give you blisters but you might be more sore the next day than if it fit well).
I'm estatic and now haul my horse an hour to get his feet done. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| ksjackofalltrades - 2015-10-21 11:00 AM
Some horses are just going to be underslung, especially with the bad footed horses they are leaving as studs.
I disagree with your comment.
The angle of the foot can be changed for the good or bad with a trim. Each trim contributes to this.
This is why the natural balance trimmers have been advocating for trims every 4 weeks. |
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