i would like to hear different opinions on how to best encourage a horse to grow heals?
thanks in advance!
Well, with no background or pictures, I’d say that a good farrier who can give a proper, balanced trim is key. It can be work to find a good farrier, I know. Shoes can support the heel esp if the horse is ridden in sand, but you’ll have to wait for several shoeing visits to see a big difference. IME, this isn’t easily done without shoes.
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A great farrier and flip flop shoes can help. But really a good farrier. I know my previous farrier used to float the heal and really focus on keeping toes backed up.
Is there a certain shoe that takes the pressure off the heals and allows them to grow?
Any shoe that extends to at least the end of the hoof (slightly more) will take the pressure off the heel and allow it to grow more or grow more parallel to the front of the hoof (as much as it can). Does your horse normally overtrack? That might be tricky and your horse may have to live in bell boots to help protect from stepping on that shoe (mine does and does without problem). My farrier is excellent and works with my horse. If your horse doesn’t readily overtrack, that gives a little bit more room for your farrier to put on a shoe up front that extends a little beyond the hoof and provides heel support for whatever your shoeing cycle is. Unless your horse moves narrowly behind, there is often a bit more room to provide a shoe that extends ever so slightly beyond the hoof. The farrier can grind the inside edges so there isn’t a hard edge to step on and pull off the shoe.
My mare had very underrun heels and shoes helped her heel angle, support and way of going tremendously. She was barefoot until about 6, when being barefoot didn’t help her feet, including heel angle, at all. Her bulbs were prone to hitting the ground. Shoes helped her reach FEI in dressage.
If you have pictures that would be great. If you haven’t taken any yet it’s best to set the camera on the ground so that we can see the angle and stand the horse up square.
The biggest mistake I see farriers make when they trying to grow heel is not trimming the heels at all and short shoeing them to try to keep them from pulling shoes. This horse probably has the dreaded long toe/low heel that I see a lot. The heels are there, but are too long and instead of growing down, run forward. The long toe contributes to this by pulling the heels forward as well.
New growth follows the old, the toes and heels need to be taken back as much as possible without making the horse sore every single time. Setting the shoe back to improve breakover and supporting the heels is also important to relieve heel pressure.
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Well, the heels are growing already. It’s not an issue of growing or not growing. It’s an issue of trimming so that the hoof is balanced properly.
Most likely problem is that the heels are growing forward - underrun heels and long toe are common farrier mistakes.
Unless you’re the one doing the trimming - if your farrier doesn’t know how to fix this, you need to find a new farrier.
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The problem is I live in a beautiful area with very limited choices. But after a year of asking the farrier to have him grow more heal (based on X-rays) new X-rays shoe the same low heals. Vets are suggesting radiographic guided shoeing I just haven’t been able to trailer him back to the clinic. The vets too busy to come to our area until the dead of winter. Of course my regular vet comes I mean the specialist.
Where do you live?
Does your vet have any other farriers to recommend?
Can you share the xrays?
HEELS, the back of the foot. A noun. Heals is to restore physical or mental health, a verb. Not the spelling police at all but that’s the wrong word. You need a farrier who can heal the heels.
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I’m not an expert by any means, but I’d be willing to bet that your horse already has long toes and underrun heels. As a poster above said, the horse is (undoubtedly) growing plenty of heel, it is just that the heels are running forward.
There are lots of websites that will give you photos of properly trimmed hooves, as well as sites that have pics of poorly trimmed hooves. This website provides some good pics and explanations of balance:
http://www.ironfreehoof.com/hoof-balance.html
If the horse does have long toes and underrun heels, it may take several months and several trims to get them where they should be. Basically the toes will need to come back towards the center of the horse.
It would be great if you could post some photos. It would also be interesting to compare your horse’s front hooves with the back ones.
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I’m not sure why you need x-rays to see that your horse has bad heels. It’s generally retty obvious just from looking at the horse. Anyhow, we do need photos.
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i’ve had luck with frog pads. can’t do it if the horse has navicular. is too much pressure. but it works well on some. each horse is different.
I agree with the posts that said you should consider finding a new farrier. A farrier that does know how to look at x-rays. Two of my guys have had that problem. Proper farrier work solves it and it does take months for it to correct. Do ask your vet and the clinic you mentioned for farrier referrals in your area. If a farrier doesn’t routinely come to your area - perhaps he/she does go to a farm close enough for you to trailer your horse there.
You might want to join some Facebook groups. There are a lot of very experienced people there who can give you in depth advice and pictures.
Taking shoes off helps. Lifting the heels with shoes and pads is a bad idea and makes the problems worse. Taking pressure off the heels does not help them grow. As said, the basic idea is to back up the toe and make sure the heels and bars are trimmed properly so that it can grow correctly.
That can vary from indvidual horse to horse. There’s no one size always fits all every time all tne time.
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With a good farrier and time. Lots of time depending on the horse and conditions.
Also a lot of bad and dangerous advice as well 
Taking shoes off helps.
Might. Might not. Heels aren’t the only structure to take a look at when deciding to remove OR add shoes
Lifting the heels with shoes and pads is a bad idea and makes the problems worse.
Many, many LTLH feet have been fixed faster in shoes and wedges, than barefoot, when that setup is what’s needed to immediately correct the HPA, while the trim is creating a healthier foot that’s more aligned on its own.
Taking pressure off the heels does not help them grow.
Farriers who have succesfully corrected unhealthy heels via shoes and floating the heels, would disagree.
As said, the basic idea is to back up the toe and make sure the heels and bars are trimmed properly so that it can grow correctly.
Yes, that is the basic idea. But it’s not always that simple.
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^^^
The top farrier would gladly take this horse on if he I could trailer the horse to him the location is tricky. The horses feet were normal alignment on 2016 X-rays with a different farrier. Current farrier has lots of experience but my vet feels the shoeing job could be improved upon. Because of limited options for farriers to consider I am trying to make it it and will try radiographic guided shoeing since with the equine surgeon possibly within the next few weeks. I am limited by location. I had always used the farm horse trailer in the last but that is not currently avaible at this and it’s expensive hiring a professional hauler because of our location it ends up being a private run.
