Correcting Long Toe,
Low Heel Foot Conformation in Horses
by Robert N. Oglesby DVM

Navicular disease or syndrome is a common problem in horses. With the recognition that many structures may be involved with this problem it in now more accurately referred to as "chronic heel pain" or "chronic palmar foot pain". No matter what you call it these horses typically have a slow onset bilateral lameness that improves with posterior digital nerve block...more. Often there is not a definitive diagnosis of the cause of the pain but many of these horses suffer from abnormal hoof conformation with long toes and underrun heels with a broken hoof pastern axis, more. This conformation is likely to contribute to increased stress of the palmar structures of the foot and therefore predispose to lameness or increase the pain of preexisting lameness.

Trimming these feet to return to a more normal conformation and to ease the breakover of the foot is integral to making these horses as comfortable as possible. And there are other conditions that may be more comfortable with improved foot conformation and easing breakover and would include degenerative joint disease of the lower joints, digital flexor tendonitis, and suspensory disease.

The chronic nature of the poor foot conformation often makes achieving a normal foot difficult with simple trimming and/or shoeing. This article uses case studies to address the common abnormal conformation and ways to assess and trim to improve foot function in conditions where improved foot conformation will help.