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Spent 45 minutes trying to get a shoe to sit right on a draft horse with a club foot
Had a big Belgian draft come in last week, near Lake Placid. That club foot was throwing me off bad, the shoe just kept rolling to the inside no matter what I did. Finally realized I had to tweak the heel angle way more than usual, like a 5 degree shift. Felt like an idiot when it clicked but man that was a frustrating shoeing. Anyone else hit a wall with draft feet that just dont cooperate?
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the_john4mo ago
Well now, that brings up something folks don't often think about. Those draft horses with club feet usually have a lot of tension running up through their shoulder and neck too. If you're only working on the foot itself without addressing how the horse is compensating higher up, you'll fight that shoe the whole time.
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miles5814mo ago
You mention "tension running up through their shoulder and neck" and that's a good point, but I think it's actually more the other way around. A club foot is usually caused by a tendon that's too tight, which pulls the whole leg up from the toe. That tight tendon starts in the deep digital flexor muscle, which sits behind the knee and lower leg, not really in the shoulder. So you can work on the shoulder all day, but until you release that specific tendon or muscle down low, the foot won't change much. I've seen vets do a tenotomy on that tendon and the whole hoof angle shifts almost overnight. The shoulder tension is more of a secondary thing from the horse trying to move around a stiff lower leg.
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