6 Steps to Balancing the Hoof and Horse for Sound Shoeing STEP 1
by Ralph Casey
These steps are shown on the Grammar School of Trimming and Shoeing Horses DVD. Please see our Home page for ordering information.
A balanced diet, balanced riding, balance your truck tires or balance your budget. Balance is a common word in our lives as well as when riding horses, but how about balancing those hooves? This is usually the last concern and really should be your first. Balanced hooves. What does this mean? The basis for balancing anything should always begin at the bottom, working your way up to the top.
In the farriers world, there are 6 major steps to achieve balance on a horse. Here at the FNRC, we refer to this as the “6 Steps to Balancing the Hoof and Horse for Sound Shoeing.” One of the biggest mistakes made that I see, is not allowing for the first step, which is Proper Leg Length. This is something very easily achieved but can be easily overlooked.
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So Let’s start from square one to achieve Step One; the Proper Leg Length:
A hoof grows from the hairline down to the ground and not always evenly on all four feet. An improperly shod, trimmed or ignored horse can eventually come up with one leg longer than the other. And yes, this is very common. We already know that one heel can become higher or lower than the other. And one toe length can become longer than the other. Achieving proper leg length is the first very important step AND by simply making the toe lengths the same does not ensure proper leg length. So let’s continue.
A horse has three soles. Dead sole, live sole and sensitive sole.
photo 1 We are showing you the dead sole of the hoof, immediately after removing a shoe that has been on for six weeks. |
photo 2 You can see we have pared out some of the dead sole just around the outer edges with our hoof knife, just down to live sole, which is the clean white area. A lot of the dead sole in the center will remain which will act is a protective coating when the horse steps on rocks and pebbles. (We will continue to pare out the dead sole around the frog area later.) It is always necessary to begin at the toe region when paring out the dead sole down to live sole. |
photo 3, The farrier can then seat the hoof nippers correctly at the live sole beginning at the toe region for the first nip as pointed to. By starting the nipping at the toe region down to live sole on all four feet, then the farrier has achieved the correct leg length from the tip of the toe to the spine. |
Now, this is not to be confused with the other five steps to balancing which are natural angle, symmetrical, toe lengths, medial & lateral and bone in the center of the shoe, because without all six steps, the complete proper balance cannot be achieved. As we have said before the primary reason for shoeing a horse is “To keep the bony column of the leg in alignment, wherein when the foot strikes the ground, the entire bony column, including the spine, equally absorbs the concussion.” In order to achieve this, we must balance the horse first and foremost. To simplify these 6 steps, the farrier is trying to keep your horse just like it was when it was born.
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