How do you get a horse to grow heals?

[Fharoah]

@J-Lu

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.

The longer shoe what my vet had recommended after radio graphic assessment. I had put the exact shoe on the vet had wanted but horse was sore in that shoe so I ended up pulling those shoes. Horse has chronic issues but is managed comfortably with great farrier work. After this vet advised radiograpic guided shoeing.

[J-Lu]

Huh. Thanks for your explanation of why this didn’t work for your horse. It does seem like radiographic guided shoeing is the next step. Please update us!

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Pictures would really help us see what’s going on.

[S1969]

@Fharoah

The longer shoe what my vet had recommended after radio graphic assessment. I had put the exact shoe on the vet had wanted but horse was sore in that shoe so I ended up pulling those shoes. Horse has chronic issues but is managed comfortably with great farrier work. After this vet advised radiograpic guided shoeing.

Well, again, it’s not the shoe, it’s the trim. Just putting a longer shoe on the horse isn’t fixing the problem if it’s not done in conjunction with a plan to change the angles, and this often has to be done gradually. Just extending the shoe behind without changing anything else might definitely make things worse.

[Fharoah]

@S1969

Well, again, it’s not the shoe, it’s the trim. Just putting a longer shoe on the horse isn’t fixing the problem if it’s not done in conjunction with a plan to change the angles, and this often has to be done gradually. Just extending the shoe behind without changing anything else might definitely make things worse.

agreed.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@S1969

Well, again, it’s not the shoe, it’s the trim. Just putting a longer shoe on the horse isn’t fixing the problem if it’s not done in conjunction with a plan to change the angles, and this often has to be done gradually. Just extending the shoe behind without changing anything else might definitely make things worse.

Agree 100% If the heels are already too long (which they are, just in the wrong direction) extending the heel of the shoe is just going to crush them further and cause more discomfort.