Right! I’m excited about it.
His front feet are also very hi-lo. The right front is super duper low in the heel, and we’ve been putting a thick pad under it to help it out. New carrier wanted to try just trimming differently like he did for his hind feet…normally I would have been too nervous, but I saw such a difference in the hinds I said screw it let’s try!
It just baffles me that we see so much NPA, underrun heels, long toes, and bull nosing (often related to NPA). Who is teaching farrier’s this and why are they thinking it’s OK? I am rather uncomfortable with how common it is (not just on here).
Me too-this top photo is from last year, but we didn’t start correcting his angles this aggressively until around July of this year. The top pic looks horrendous to me now!
As a European living in the US, yes. Farriers are uh not very good here. I’ve had some good ones but it is very hard to find them and to get in as a new client.
And is it just me or is NPA the new buzzword or acronym of the week? Before this every horse had kissing spines and then ECVM. Not saying this isn’t a problem or that the horses presenting this way don’t have NPA, just that I’ve noticed a recent uptick in online diagnoses of NPA.
I think a lot of it is that people are becoming more aware of it.
When we know better we do better
Radiographs don’t lie. I just took my hunter to a lameness specialist. We did a full lameness exam as she has a previous diagnosis of suspensory branch strain, and neck arthritis (via radiographs).
However, after the exam, the vet was very concerned about her feet. We shot multiple views and even I could see that they aren’t right. Bullnosed hinds, long toes/low heels in front. I knew here feet were changing with my new shoer, but now I feel awful for not speaking up. It’s hard when as an owner, you aren’t always there when your horse is shod-- I live 50 minutes from the barn, work full time, and farrier shoes during the day. I’ve shared my radiographs with the farrier and my trainer, and suggested a call to the vet (he encouraged that if the farrier, who does work with vets, has further questions). If all else fails, I’ll haul her to my previous farrier (which will be incredibly inconvenient).
Well it’s tough to speak up. With my late ottb another farrier that was at my barn pointed out the issues with his feet. Once it was clearly shown to me, I asked/talked to my farrier about it. He came back and supposedly trimmed him but the other farrier (she had a horse there so was there in the evening when I came out) took a look and confirmed what I was thinking…nothing had changed. I called my farrier again and the next time he was out (had other horses there to do), I hung around for as long as I could so I could meet up with him in person (said he would be there early morning) but had to leave to go to work. When I came to the barn in the evening, there was a note on my stall door from him saying he thought my guy’s feet were fine, didn’t see the problem and that it was time for me to find another farrier.
It was probably just as well tbh, I think my boy would’ve gotten progressively worse.
As others have said, a lot of it is about new awareness of the issue. I think it’s also because of the whole “no hoof, no horse” reality.
I’d argue that my horse is a bit of a special case in that NPA truly was the driver of basically all of his issues and fixing it really has fixed him, but it can exacerbate so many other problems that I feel it’s worth looking at even if it’s not the core of the onion.
Also, as far as diagnostics go, a few hundred dollars for films of something that can (hopefully) be fixed by a competent farrier over the course of the normal shoeing process is a lot cheaper than many other options (I unfortunately learned this the hard way).
Farriers are very significantly worse on average than they were 25 years ago. I think that’s why
Are they though? I don’t think I knew enough about what my horse’s feet should look like 25 years ago to accurately compare. I do know that my current farrier is miles ahead of a lot of other farriers in the area and I still have minor complaints.
Or are some owners more educated and seeing the problems?
I think it’s a combo of “all of the above”.
I see a lot of atrocious feet. I’m in the process of rehabbing a set myself. I think in general, most owners want to leave a check and go on their merry way, they don’t know any better and trust their pros. Then, we don’t start digging into farrier issues until something breaks. That’s why NPA is becoming such a buzzword - people rarely start asking about their horse’s feet and backs until something is wrong.
Agree with alllllll of this. I often think back and wonder if the grumpy/sour/naughty horses of my youth 25+ years ago were actually just in pain but no one found it or even tried very hard. I wonder about the same with my late mare.
Personally, I kept seeing NPA discussed on the forum and went “hmmm I’m glad I don’t have that problem! I have a great farrier and my horse has great feet!” and then when he had consistent trouble with hind end soreness from work the last few years, I tried all the things that made sense (bodywork, lameness exams, radiographs, physical therapy, joint injections, IM injections, saddle adjustments). They all helped to a degree, but it was still way too easy to make him sore at a level of work that everyone around me said should not make him sore.
I asked multiple vets if we should x-ray the hind feet to look for NPA and they all said no, his feet look good. Finally we did the x-rays and found the NPA.
Without the NPA being found, I easily could have carried on like this. He was never lame-lame. But now he feels sooooooo good under saddle and his lingering “always” bit of reaction to palpating his SI and lumbar area are gone. He’s easier to ride and feels stacked up over his hind end. Time will tell if this was “the thing” but I feel certain it was “a thing.”
My girl had her feet done by my current farrier, who used the set of radiographs I just had done by vet. Very different from any previous trim/shoe by him!! The funky pads certainly collect rocks.
She was still off a bit but it’s only one week since her coffin joints were injected (after exam, blocking and radiographs). Definitely left front which vet felt was where the ouchiness was. Hoping that time and the new approach to the NPA will make her sound and more comfortable.
Glad to hear this.
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