How much heel on a barefoot horse?

Can’t tell much without seeing the sole, but one thing’s clear - no need for another 1/2" of heel!

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Agreed on the heel! It is clearly fine. The back feet may be shorter but I will get more photos soon.

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Just by those pictures alone, you might be able to take off a little more heel. Certainly do not leave more!

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need to see the sole. there is some flaring on the front views, in that the hoof is growing differently for the first couple of inches below the coronet band? Or maybe some imbalance. It isn’t clear which is the inside and which is the outside of these hooves.

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Will try to get more photos tonight. There is flaring but no problems with the white line.

Flares = problems with the white line. What can happen sometimes is the whole thing migrates with the flare, so at the ground level, there doesn’t appear to be any white line stretching.

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Interesting, I always thought you could see the separation. She had major flares prior to this trimmer working on her and her feet look amazing compared to where we were a year ago. Her feet were looked like pancakes - they were a size larger and the soles were FLAT

Most of the time you can. But sometimes it all migrates, keeping a tight white line (that you can see) which gets too many farriers in trouble because they are using the white line as a guide, which is not how you do it.

Yet was she sound prior to this new trimmer?

Have you ever consulted with a vet and took x-rays of her feet?

Maybe she needs that larger size and flatter (not underun/crushed heels) shape of hooves. My 17h2 certainly did.

I would all but guarantee that if feet were flat, and bigger, but now are smaller but concave, even if the horse was “sound” before, it was not a healthy foot. If a foot is capable of having concavity, it’s not going to be better being flat.

Too many horses have “big” feet that are only that way because of flare, which will flatten the foot to some degree.

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Flare will flatten the feet. I don’t think I’ve heard that before and yet it makes perfect sense.

There’s flat and then there’s flat. Bigger and flatter doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any concavity or it’sjust made of flares…
With good X-Rays, we (Vet/farrier team) were able to determine what was good for my big old gelding. He was meant to have big flatter feet.

Trimming a horse in a “beautiful” way, with tiny cute concave feet, isn’t always good. Not all horses are meant to be size 2…

The horse has been unsound for the past 2 months (on and off longer then that) since this new trimmer came into the picture. How’s that better for this horse?

Changing drastically what worked for so long isn’t always the best thing to do…

The OP should consult with a vet instead of a forum.

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I didn’t say anything about how big a foot should be. I said if the Before picture was bigger and flatter, and now it’s smaller but more concave, the more concave foot is the healthier foot. Inappropriately making a foot smaller is not what makes it more concave. A well-balanced foot is what allows concavity to be whatever it’s going to be.

Trimming a horse in a “beautiful” way, with tiny cute concave feet, isn’t always good. Not all horses are meant to be size 2…

That’s inappropriately making the foot too small, and does not create more concavity. Beautiful feet can be giant or tiny. But allowing flare to make a bigger foot, just because the horse is bigger, is not healthy either.

The horse has been unsound for the past 2 months (on and off longer then that) since this new trimmer came into the picture. How’s that better for this horse?

She said she’s been using this trimmer for a few years, in the OP. Sole does not appreciably flatten in 2 trims, unless you’ve mechanically foundered the horse, and they sure don’t go from FLAT (caps because that’s what the OP said) to much more than “developing some concavity” in 2 trims. It’s taken longer than that to get to a size smaller foot with more concavity

Changing drastically what worked for so long isn’t always the best thing to do…

I don’t think anyone mentioned anything drastic going on

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@JB

Do you know the OP’s trimmer?
We don’t have “before” pictures, who knows what the big/flat feet really looked like…

Vet/Chiro thinks that my mare has good feet other than the soreness from the past 2 trims.

Yes, this trimmer has worked on her for the last 16 months. She has had some lameness on and off

Maybe I read it wrong but this trimmer is new, and the soreness didn’t started only 2 trims ago…

This new trimmer is, as per what the OP said along this whole thread, changing her mare’s feet for the past year. The mare has gone from technically 12 yrs of soundness to being occasionally lame, to 4 legged lame that stucks up.

Why are X-Rays not even considered? Why isn’t there a vet involved?

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I definitely agree a vet needs to be involved. There are more things to a horse’s soundness than the feet, and more things to hoof soundness than just the trim.

Mare was sore after this and the previous trim by barefoot trimmer I’ve used for a few years.

my mare has good feet other than the soreness from the past 2 trims.

mare has been lame after the last 2 trims.

You forgot the rest of the “lameness on and off” post :slight_smile:

She has had some lameness on and off that is believed to be related to her SI. She goes “off” when not worked regularly. Her feet have only been sore after the last 2 trims.

Of course, it’s an assumption that this lameness/soreness is the result of all 4 feet being sore. That’s what the OP says, but given the history of assumed SI issues, for all we know it’s a body issue and the feet are perfectly happy.

The pictures show feed with some flare - possibly still growing out. The one with the white shows a M/L imbalance, but without more information, there’s no way to know if that’s from the leg conformation, or if it’s a trimming imbalance that is now potentially related to this soreness.

The lateral view shows tall heels that are underrun, so definitely MORE heels is not needed, let alone another 1/2" (really??). For all we know, this trimmer has been leaving bars, which are now overgrown and impacting and bruising the sole. That’s why I asked at that point for solar views.

I see nothing that indicates these feet have been trimmed to be too small. So, developing concavity, whatever amount, from however flat they were before, it a good thing.

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