Why "barefoot" isn't always the whole story

George arrived on Monday and it was great to finally meet him.  He's a horse I've known about for a while but never seen in the flesh - in fact he is the cover-horse for "Feet First" - that's George jumping on the front although he is much more handsome in person!

He has been barefoot for some years - in fact I am not sure he has ever been shod, apart from a set of shoes after he went lame recently - and his feet have been described by a reputable remedial farrier as "excellent".

So what's the problem?  Well, George is lame and of course thats why he is here.  He has been diagnosed with various issues including collateral ligament damage, DDFT damage and bone damage on MRI.  Looking more closely at his feet (and especially his LF, which is his lamer foot), you can start to see why he has had problems.

Its not all bad, of course - there is lots to like about his feet, which have healthy frogs, decent digital cushions and good quality hoof wall, bars and sole.  However, the red dots below show the height of his heels above his frogs and the red circles are areas of long hoof wall. 

Why are these interesting? Because how this hoof loads is critical. Because George has healthy hoof wall, thanks to his good nutrition, he is able to load his weight directly onto it without it chipping or cracking.

The problem is that loading the periphery of the hoof in this way weakens the frog and caudal hoof and also makes correct medio-lateral balance more problematic.   I've only seen George over the last couple of days of course but it seems likely that the way his hoof is loading has caused or contributed to his lameness.

Roughly, the areas he loads are shown in red - does that look familiar at all?  This isn't anyone's fault, of course, but it just goes to show that caudal hoof problems can occur in barefoot just as in shod horses.  Its less common, but caudal hoof pain is not simply the preserve of a shod hoof.  

George from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Its not surprising therefore that George is landing toe first on his LF and flat/toe first on his RF.  George has been barefoot and on a good diet for a long time and so he is fairly comfortable on hard, uneven surfaces but of course those sorts of surfaces are precisely what he doesn't need at the moment because that would further stress his DDFT and collateral ligaments.

What I am hoping though is that if we can help him start landing and loading more correctly, he will have a head start when it comes to going back into "proper" work.  He certainly has the right attitude and will no doubt continue to consult with Pocholo about the best way to improve toe first landings!

But the next time that someone tells you "I tried barefoot but it didn't help my navicular horse", tell them about how George's hooves were loading and landing.