Dr. Koella continues with his passion for the horses foot. After many years of studying and sharing hands-on cases with some of the best in the world on the subject, he has much to share with you...his client and your horse.
PODIATRY...
This video is a great example of correct mechanics: heel, toe, foot landing.
Did you know....A lame horse today doesn't mean an acute trauma happened yesterday. It may be days, months or years of heading in the wrong direction and yesterday your athlete, best friend and companion met a threshold. So....knowing now what is going on inside...could be a turning point for your horse's future!
Shoeing Quiz...
My horse has great feet and holds a shoe just fine. Should I spread my farrier appointments out to save nail hole damage?
(see SHOEING ANSWER BELOW).
SHOEING ANSWER:
If shoes are needed... shoe on time! Trim according to growth. The inability for the hoof to wear naturally (because there is steel in the way) in between farrier appointments makes it important to do it fairly often. Why? If the hoof cannot wear... the toe tends to get long... longer than what would ever happen barefoot on an exfoliating type of terrain. The break over during movement now causes torque or stress on the hoof that encourages hoofwall stretching/separation.
Although a horse may appear to be sound, this occurring perpetually over years can actually change the internal structures, snowballing into a self preservation mode of altered foot fall and landing, which then snowballs into a plethora of pathology such as under-run heels, varied navicular changes, toe separation, diseased frogs and sulcus area cracks, cysts on the bone... the list goes on.
Barefoot Quiz...
My horses are barefoot and out on pasture. I like to do things as naturally as possible, do I truly need to have them trimmed?
BAREFOOT ANSWER:
The barefoot horse must be monitored by you the owner and trimmed according to growth. Many barefoot horses on grass and soft ground will overgrow to the point of detriment if terrain is not aggressive enough. If the hoof cannot wear...(this may sound familiar) the toe tends to get long... longer than what would ever happen barefoot on an exfoliating type of terrain.
The break over during movement now causes torque or stress on the hoof that encourages hoofwall stretching/separation. Although a horse may appear to be sound, this occurring perpetually over years can actually change the internal structures, snowballing into a self preservation mode of altered foot fall and landing, which then snowballs into a plethora of pathology such as under-run heels, varied navicular changes, toe separation, diseased frogs and sulcus area cracks, cysts on the bone... the list goes on.