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Unpopular opinion: most farriers get hoof angle wrong on purpose
I went to a clinic in Lexington last month and the vet running it showed us x-rays of 20 horses. Turns out the 'textbook' 50 degree angle is too steep for most of them because it ignores the pastern axis entirely. I've been adjusting my angles by 3-5 degrees on my last 12 horses and they're moving better. Has anyone else checked their angles against x-rays?
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avery_foster3129d ago
Well I'll be. That brings back a memory from when I was shoeing a old mare for a fellow back in Ohio. He swore up and down she had a sour back end, turned out her hooves were just a couple degrees off from what her pasterns wanted. I didn't have x-rays handy, but I did a lot of trial and error with different angles over a few weeks. She settled right down after I lowered her heels about half an inch. It's funny how something that small can make such a difference.
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paul_mason1229d ago
That lowering the heels half an inch bit is interesting, @avery_foster31. Did you ever have to tweak the toe length at the same time, or was it just the heel angle that fixed it?
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