The Problem Pt6 Balance

The balance of the hoof capsule is dependant upon the weight passing through the leg. i.e. the horse is held up by it's bones, so the pedal bone ( inside the hoof ) carry's the most weight of the horse. The pedal bone therefore is the perfect shape and density to support the horse, the bone is made up from Cortical and Cancellous bone. The Cancellous bone is like a honey comb texture, this gives strength but lightness to the bone. The second type of bone is Cortical bone, this is solid bone, where ever Cortical bone is found, pressure passes through. When you look at the Pedal bone cut in half, the Cortical bone is thickest one third back from the tip of the bone ( in line with the green arrows) then two thirds behind the Cortical bone.(green arrows) Thus anything you place under the hoof must mimic this ratio, if you expect the horse to walk over the hardest of grounds, concrete.

Does Rim shoeing take this into account?

No, quite the opposite:-

The pictures to left are of horse shod first with rim shoes then after with Cytek horse shoes.

The ratio of balance varies between the hoofs when rim shod, because there is no taking into account the balance of weight, so every hoof is different when rim shod. But not only different but the ratio tends to be the opposite of one third in front and two thirds behind the green line.

This opposite makes the horse throw it's limb forwards, and the hoof lands heel first resulting in Chronic injures. With the horse over-reaching,forging,slipping and tripping more injuries occur.

The Cytek shod hoofs all have the ratio of one thid and two thirds, because the bones are the common denominator, from pony to horse to Shire it doesn't alter .

Not forgetting that two of the hoofs are hind feet, it still doesn't change, yet in rim shoeing the extra long toe on the hind feet, causes the horse to rip it's shoes off by over-reaching.
Horses always wear out the toe of a rim shoe first, Why?

Because it was never meant to be there!

But what about Medial - Lateral Balance?

The Pedal bone is pretty symmetrical, some differences can be seen but mainly the bones two sides are the same.

However when rim shoeing, the shoe follows the hoof wall which isn't stable. So after a time period the wall distorts or breaks away, as a result of this, the hoof changes shape and you need an anvil to keep altering the rim shoe to keep up with the shape changes of the hoof.

	The hoof to the left is a classic example of a hoof distorted by rim shoeing.
	The outer edge of the hoof has continually followed by a rim shoe, the result is wall pulled out from the sole. Dirt fills the void which leads to infections and white line disease, and once the wall has weakened enough it will break away but not before damaged has occurred.

( Hence why the hoof of a rim shod horse continually breaks away )

The cross section of the hoof, shows how the weight presses down ( blue arrow ) and the hoof which when rim shod isn't supported.

This sets up a torsion effect, the red arrows pulling out and the green arrows pressing in on to the wall, crushing the laminae.

You can try it on your own finger, as you pull the finger nail the bottom of the skin goes red and the top is pressurized turning white.

How will this effect my horse?

By not following the horses own ratio of 1/3 and 2/3, the horse has a imbalance which at first might not effect the horse visually, but after time ailments creep in.

This will have a huge impact later in the life of the horse ( some horses only months ), i.e. :- water dripping on a stone no problem, years later a hole. If you use the horse more than most then its more like a pressure washer.

Below are just two of the most common problems.

First Problem:- Corns - simply put, the long toe that rim shoeing produces, along with the lack of support. It might look that the rim shoe supports the Pedal bone, but unless the heels are lowered fully then you can't support the Pedal bone.
Here in this picture the heels are fully lowered, so now the Cytek shoe can extend underneath the Pedal bone and give support. The toe is removed so that the horse can now trim it's own toe, thus the shoe won't be pulled forwards like a rim shoe and balance is retained.

 Second Problem:-

Collapsed Heels - with rim shoeing the heels are left long to hide the true length of the long toe, i.e.:-

The horn tubules are a bit like drinking straws, the longer you leave them the weaker they get. The longer the heel the less support it gets from the sole, until it folds over creating a collapsed heel.

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