What I find fascinating are the hooves that grow long but stay upright. 5stridelines photos are kind of like that. They’re a much easier “fix” for all involved. So much better then when the heels just say “f it” and try to run away with the toes. I haven’t ever looked in to the why of it, perhaps it’s conformation.
I let my gelding slide for half a minute and his heels are halfway under his foot. It is maddening - though the composites seemed to help so I’m hoping they’re the solution 8 months of the year.
I think you’re probably on the something. 25 years ago I heard discussions with farriers altering hoof form to slow leg action on quarterhorses. This was before the thought of ever being a farrier crossed my mind, so I didn’t have context for it at the time.
The farrier that did the horse in my pics also shoes saddlebreds… so I don’t think it was intended for any WB action improvement but rather just “normal” for this individual’s business. They used to be a sporthorse farrier and then picked up an ASB barn, which is when things got weird apparently. The pictured horse is NOT a saddleseat anything, but a hunter.
Conformation, both of the hoof and the leg, and just general strength of the genetic hoof
My old WB, and my current WB x TB, had/have feet that just grow taller. The WB was the tallest, maintaining an excellent HPA no matter how long it had been since I trimmed him. The WB x TB is just slightly less, his heels still grow tall, but crush juuuuust a little compared to the WB. The cross’s mom is full TB (also mine) and her front heels do grow mostly tall, but the bit of crushing is actually to curl under, rather than forward. She’s done that since I got her a few months OT as a late 3yo, 20 years ago
All 3 of those horses have good/normal/functional pasterns both in length and slope, the mare has hard-ish feet, the other 2 boys have quite hard hoof horn.
My TB x Percheron has long and sloped pasterns, so even with a perfect trim, his entire foot is still out in front of his leg much more than it should be. His hoof is also softer than the other 3, and it doesn’t matter what I do, his heels crush along the growth cycle. He’s managed at best, and thankfully, since I’m able to trim him as frequently as I want, his feet are actually quite nice, great frogs, round fronts, good HPA, even as the foot’s still too far in front of the leg. But he’ll get a broken back HPA quickly if I go too long between trims
