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Discussion on Bulging quarters
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 25, 2004 - 1:24 pm:
How do you treat bulges at the quarters caused by a very long heel?
Do you shape the shoe to accomodate them, or do you just rasp them down like flares?
I feel that rasping them down will significantly weaken the quarters, as half the wall thickness will be removed to 2/3 of the height.
Will they simply remodel if I shape the shoe to fit them and just lower the heel from the 63(!) current degrees?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2004 - 8:01 am:
It depends Christos and really any decisions should be based on evaluating the whole foot. However if these bulges represent a distortion of the horn caused by a inconsistant trimming history and allowing the feet to get too long, yes rasping them away is a good choice unless you think it will weaken them to a dangerous degree. If so you might just try decreasing the weight bearing in this area: "floating" the solar srface of the distorted wall. Without weight bearing the flare in this area will correct itself over the next 8 months.
DrO
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Monday, Jan 26, 2004 - 8:22 am:
Thanks, Doctor,
I think I will just trim her for barefoot and let the hoof show it's tendencies over two-three weeks.
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Member:
Presario
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 10, 2004 - 4:56 pm:
Christos - wouldn't you want to take care of the too-long heel? That would seem to be the logical place for the flares to be originating.
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 10, 2004 - 5:28 pm:
Yes, Jordana, of course. I was just thinking of the best way to fit the shoe because after the heels were lowered, I was left with a funny shape of a hoof.
They were not flares, the wall was bulging outwards on both sides right behind the last nail hole. Kind of a vertical bulge 2/3 the height of the hoof, not the concave flare shape.
Anyway, I trimmed her barefoot and the hoof seems to spring back into shape now, it may be ready for shoes in a couple of weeks.
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Member:
Penner
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 - 12:29 am:
Hi,
We shoe every 6 weeks. I finally got a great shoer - worth their weight in gold! The way my (new) shoer corrected this is:
1. low heels = put shoes with trailers on (corrected the low heel in 6 months). & this horse had been wearing down his bulbs (with his shoes on!!!) with the old shoer's methods.
2. Bulging quarters: I feel this is a harbinger of a quarter crack. He put a larger shoe on. Ie: the horse went from a zero (0), to a size one. Again, took 6 months to 1 year to grow out. But it did fix it.
Hope this helps.
PS: the way some people shoe quarter horses with those little shoes makes me want to scream! It reminds me of the old Japanese culture, where women had their feet bound as children, so they would have more pretty small attractive feet. Never mind they were crippled as adults & couldn't walk. (sorry, I had to rant!)
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 - 3:55 am:
Thanks, Penner,
She's ok now, I guess it was just the long heels that were pushing the quarters out of shape.
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Member:
Suzeb
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 - 10:58 am:
Hi Christos,
I will agree with what Penner says about shoeing. I have a horse with low heels that benefits greatly from a larger shoe and the heel extensions in the back. They put the support back in the right place and soon you will see a more normal hoof.
Susan B.
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