Horse Lameness, How It Creeps Up on You


by John Silveira - Date: 2007-03-17 - Word Count: 539 Share This!

Your horse comes up lame, he limps, bobs his head, is obviously in pain, won't run and all you can do is wonder just how serious will this be, will we ever ride again. Not your best case scenario.

Maybe the horse put its foot in a hole, maybe it just tripped, but many times lameness creeps in over time as a result of incorrect horseshoeing practices. Your horse's foot is not balanced, the hoof wall is not level, the heels have been left too short, and too much toe on the foot stretches the tendons. Maybe the horse has pigeon toes that have been left untreated. All of the above over time can lead to lameness and permanent lameness.

If the toe of the foot grows too forward the foot labors before breaking over which stretches the deep flexor tendon and can rotate the coffin bone. The same holds somewhat true for too low heels. The uneven hoof wall puts pressures into the joints which through repeated riding wears away normal function of the joints. The pigeon toes cause a foot to break over its side which also stresses joints and ligaments.

Any of the above issues all by itself can lead to lameness but when joined with all the others the odds of a lame horse increase. All of the above issues can be present on a horse's foot at the same time. Shoeing and trimming a horse must be correct.

The horse might very well have "all" the issues present and yet not immediately come up lame. In fact the horse may continue for months of riding even years and stay sound even with the problems. But don't be lulled into a false sense of security. You'll be setting yourself up for a fall if the above conditions of improper shoeing are not addressed and taken care of.

The repetitive use, the constant little need for adjustment, the little bit of wear that's occurring because the joints aren't lined up correctly, the little bit of stretch that turns into too much stretch over time, and this is how lameness creeps into your life and the life of the horse. If ligaments tendons or a bone of the horse blows there may be no coming back from it. All your months possibly years of training gone- a huge setback possibly with no comeback. You can blame your Farrier but what about yourself? Shouldn't you have known- after all isn't the horse your responsibility?

You can save yourself a lot of heartache, save many hours lost and save a lot of money in veterinarian bills by getting some simple facts and understandings about how to prevent horse lameness. Then you won't have any guilt, won't have to place blame, sidestep all the sadness and best of all you're horse will be sound. The right information is available, it's not taught in the farrier schools or textbooks but it has a 100% 16 year track record of "Not One Single Lame Horse". Without this information you're only "Playing" in a world with serious possible consequences.

Just click the link in the author bio to take yourself where you can make a difference.

Take care, safe sound riding and remember to Care4Horses

Reprint rights allowed providing nothing is changed.


Related Tags: foot, horses, western, saddle, equine, equestrian, riding, shoe, showing, pigeon, lameness, hoof, toes, navicular

Author Bio: John Silveira, Farrier, Aikido practitioner, spiritualist, born and raised in San Mateo California the bay area. For information on his shoeing method and the 100% track record just go to http://Care4Horses.com and leave contact information. thank you and remember to Care4Horses

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