Above I have drawn three dramatized pictures of hooves to show some common
problems I often see in this area. These problems will keep your horse from being
comfortable barefoot. The first picture gives you an idea of what a
healthy foot should look like, the hoof wall is well connected to the Coffin
bone from the top down and there is adequate sole thickness below the Coffin
bone. The Coffin bone is at a 3 to 5 degree angle to the ground.
Picture two shows a horse with a long toe and short heel, even though the hoof
wall is fairly well connected to the Coffin bone the toe is too long and the
heel does not have adequate sole thickness, this is giving the Coffin bone
a reverse angle. With this horse I would leave the heel alone and trim the
excess off the toe, over the course of few trims we could rebuild the heel and
bring the toe back to a more natural break over point. This would put the horse in more
natural position. Picture 3 shows a foundered horse. The first half
inch or so of hoof growth shows where the correct angle of the hoof wall should be, but
then it flares out and turns into a ski ramp. There is not adequate sole
under the toe. The Coffin bone is rotated downward and is sunken into the hoof
capsule, this is refered to as distal descent. Even though there is too much heel you cannot trim the heel
shorter because you would cause the horse to be sensitive in the back of the
foot. With a horse like this you really need to investigate and find out
what is causing the hoof wall to pull away from the Coffin bone. Possible causes
are diet, poor trimming or shoeing, stress, Ect. Ect.. Usually with a horse like
this I would begin with proper trimming if he does not show signs of
better hoof growth in 3 to 6 months then I would look for other health related
problems that could be causing the unhealthy growth.
This picture is from Pete Ramey's website and gives a view of a horse with
distal descent.
This picture is also from Pete Ramey's website and show a healthy foot with no
distal descent.
Distal Descent is important to understand because many people trim based on toe
length, with a horse with Distal Descent a horse can have a 4 inch hoof
wall and if you trim it back to a 3 1/2 inch hoof wall you could easily hurt the
horse. Having a good understanding of the Colateral Grooves well help you
from making this mistake.