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Will hoof trimming help?

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I have a yearling miniature horse who is very correct in every way..except his hind pasterns look a little loose/low to me, can this be helped by trimming or is excercise the answer?? Thanks in advance :love

accphotography Thu, 07/16/2009 - 23:08

It depends on the current state of the hoof. If the hoof needs to be trimmed (or a corrected trim) then yes, it could help. Has the horse been trimmed before? As a yearling it should have been, but I know some people don't.

Morgan Sun, 07/19/2009 - 12:37

both imo. mainly the excercise though but the regular trimming helps them excercise more if you're keeping the breakover correct and wont exacerbate it by putting too much strain on the young tendons. One of my first colts was born with very loose hind pasterns and he tightened up to very straight by the time he was weaned and I don't even think I was trimming him enough. I think it was just the running around and maturing. Just wait for the bones to grow into the tendons :)
I did have a funny discusion about pastern angles with another young farrier once. He was told at school to [i]allways[/i] match the hoof angle to the pastern and that the angle they are born with is what they have for the rest of their lives. He kind of blinked and agreed with me when I pointed out that most foals have totally bizarre pastern angles that straighten or lower as they grow up and that you should just trim the hoof itself normally. They do have a genetically set angle but it can take them a while to get there. I think most healthy yearlings are more upright than they are as adults.