Feet page 2

		A low heel, shod short, puts excessive strain on flexor tendons and ultimately on shoulder and back muscles - an example of antero-posterior imbalance.

		The "long toe / low heel" foot once favoured for racehorses.


This horse's hind foot has been fitted with too small a shoe	Now reshod correctly	A comparison of old and new shoes

		It is difficult to believe that anyone would imagine a horse could function like this! It does graphically illustrate however how unbalanced feet can cause musculo-skeletal problems
		Imagine if you had to walk around for a few months with one heel two inches higher than the other!
		Now correctly shod the feet look much better, but the horse will have to re-adapt muscles that have been coping with the previous "shoeing", and will probably suffer a further period of shoulder & back discomfort before settling
		The horse was shod with a "rock'n'roll" shoe, which is designed to allow rotatory movement of the foot. Such a shoe encourages mobilisation of arthritic pastern and coffin joints
		The "rock'n'roll" shoe old and new illustrating the wear pattern.
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