You’ll get very different opinions on this depending on who you ask. Most of the horses at my barn are shod all around and in group turnout, we haven’t had any issues which isn’t to say that a freak incident can’t happen. As long as the herd dynamics are stable and everyone has enough space I don’t consider it very high risk, especially compared to the downsides of limiting turnout or not meeting a horse’s shoeing needs. Some barns don’t allow it at all and I can understand the reasoning, but it wouldn’t work for my horse.
4 Likes
Thank you. We’re going to be looking for horse #3 at the end of this year probably. When that time comes, should I pull her hinds until everyone settles in? Hoping that her angles will be better by that point and she won’t need hind shoes. But this is new territory for me so I’m not sure how these things normally progress.
I can upload pics of her hooves if there’s interest. I don’t think there’s a ton of toe but it is the very end of her cycle.
Can hooves bullnose even with a flat angle and not a negative angle? For months now I’ve been questioning whether there’s even the slightest degree of bullnose. Upon further inspection I’ve been able to talk myself out of it but now I’m wondering…
2 Likes
I’d love to see images of the hinds!
My mare is the same age/foaling date and struggling with posture, discomfort at the trot/canter, blah blah. I have a thread on it 
I’ve been thinking about doing rads of her hinds and kicking myself that I didn’t get them done last week when the vet came for a lameness work up. Mine doesn’t look bad, and my farrier is really aware of NPA issues, but something about them makes me wonder what the rads might say…
I hate this. The counter, get yourself educated on feet and go right back at them. That is a silly response when the horse is having issues because of it.
Yes. My mare’s did. She was 0 degrees so not negative by the number. She was badly bullnosed.
1 Like
Yeah definitely get films of her hinds. I’ll get proper pictures tomorrow when it’s not raining but this is a (poor) shot of her hind left. Not a hoof that jumps out as bullnosed to me, though it is a bit.
I bet when she’s standing on flat ground, she’s definitely NPA with what looks like very low heels. Thanks for sharing!
1 Like
I can’t tell from the pic how she is standing but in the picture, she is very much broken forward on the hoof pastern axis. My iPad won’t let me mark the picture but the pastern to hoof h ground) should be a straight-ish line. She has two lines…pastern to coronary band for one the coronary band to ground for the other…she is not in alignment.
Could you include a body shot?
1 Like
As far as I can tell, she is broken forward on all four feet. I really can’t stress enough how terrible her feet looked when I bought her (Dec 2022). They’ve improved but backslid a bit last last summer for a few months (farrier problems, moving). My current farrier has been working with her since June 2024 and I think they’ve improved a lot. Don’t HPA take 12+ months to improve?
I can DM you pics of her!
Yes, not sure how to help the heels. I thought having her on a short cycle and keeping her toe back would build them up. Like I mentioned, all of the professionals I’ve asked about it (4 vets, at least 4 farriers) have all said that’s just how she’s built. 
If you can get really good pictures, X-rays, and your farrier to cooperate, most vet schools have farriers on staff you will consult and help you build out a plan for your farrier to follow.
3 Likes
I did not know that!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!! Is there anyone specifically you recommend?
Are those rasp marks (the fine diagonal parallel lines) almost up to the hairline? If so, it’s impossible to see how much of the hoof wall is being removed. The tendency toward a bullnosed appearance may be altered by the way the farrier rasps the hoof.
4 Likes
I learned an absolutely insane amount about hoof angles and correct trimming from Progressive Equine Services on FB! He doesn’t post much anymore but if you scroll back through his posts, they are a gold mine. I believe he has a Patreon too?
Yes indeed it is possible. My mare will trim up nicely positive, and in 5 weeks she’s at 0 again. I wish I could afford to take rads as frequently as I wish, it would be a great case study.
Yup. My mares hind feet - both of them run negative, but the one with the worst bullnosing actually is the better of the 2. Go figure.
Sometimes this is true. Think about humans, some of us are just built NQR … and nothing we do will every correct it completely. Best we can do is maintain and manage and provide needed support to the area in question.
5 Likes
Now, unless this is my uneducated eye, I think the new pics on level concrete show how I could talk myself out of her hinds looking bullnosed. And the HPA on her fronts are definitely not aligned but they never have been. But we will compare to tomorrow’s pictures!
If you’re concerned about turnout with hind shoes (I would be, although as posters with more experience managing turnout have pointed out above, with proper precautions it’s low risk), could your farrier put plastic on the hinds? Can shoe types be mixed and matched front to back or is that a scheduling/management no-no? Just a thought.
This is at 5 or 6 weeks correct?
IIWM, I would not be happy with this farriers work. The fronts are underrun, long, and look short shod to me. The hinds are underrun (as you know) as well.
5 Likes
It’s really hard to find a good farrier and sometimes you have to work with the best of what is accessible but I’d be unhappy with those feet. The toes on the front are long and I’m guessing a front on view would show a lot of flaring. The lack of heel all around can create a ton of body soreness and compensation.
1 Like
