No foot... No horse.

Here again we have considerable overlap of therapeutic shoeing with lameness, orthopedics, and sports-medicine. People such as Ric Redden, Stephen O’Grady, and Scott Morrison have in recent years drawn much deserved attention to the mechanics and physiology of the horse’s hoof. The recent advent of MRI has opened a whole new box of Pandora, laden with multiple possibilities of lameness as related to the hoof and distal limb. Equine podiatry, while relying heavily upon physics and mechanics, seeks to relate those perspectives with the physiology and dynamic relationships that exist not only within the internal structures of the foot, but also between the hoof and the more proximal limb and body.

 

While we have a professional passion for this aspect of equine practice, this is no way replaces the invaluable relationship owners share with their farriers; in fact, many situations find the vet and farrier working together in a productive, symbiotic relationship wherein all, most importantly the horse, benefit.