What is your approach to the widest part of the hind hoof on a normal horse? Do you try to make your quarters staight across from one another? Is your inside quarter closer to the heel then your lateral and if so how do you fit the inside heel for everyday work? For this discussion let just talk about jumping horses if that is ok. Does anyone fit aim to fit their heels square across from each other or are you always a touch shorter on the medial?
My theory is that the distance around the half-perimeter of the foot from heel to centerline at the toe is the same on the medial side as it is on the lateral. In order for this to work out, the medial quarter (toe pillar) would be slightly more forward of the lateral toe pillar. In the medial branch of the shoe the toe-bend would be tighter vs. the toe-bend in the lateral branch being more relaxed. When I build a shoe, I don't offset the center mark in the stock, but the end result "appears" to have a slightly shorter medial branch - it appears shorter until you measure the stock length around the perimeter on each side.
I drop a symmetrical shoe on it, box off what sticks out and hunt for the shoe with the rasp where the foot overhangs.. Make sure the inside heel is devoid of sharp edges....
Are you worried about it cutting itself when fatigued, or standing in his stall? do you fit your heels perpendicular to the ground when sighting down the foot with the shoe on?
Smitty, I am really reevaluating what I have been doing. I had the opportunity to work with a very skilled farrier the other day on my horses and he got me to question my thinking. I have been trying to trim the foot to where the quarters are straight across from one another and fitting my inside heel without much length. I also think I have been pointing hind feet up to much. I have been trying to shoe feet and not necessarily the limb. Im not sure how I got to that point but I has become obvious to me now in my everyday work... I have alot of things I need to improve on and one of them is definitely fit. I think I have been pushing my medial quarter to forward for a typical horse
I have been trying to figure out what I'm missing with hind feet. So I sure can't tell you. My current observation is that most toe out and the quarters are not straight across. So I need to stop forcing that into my feet And change my shoe shape some.
A friend made the observation that the widest part of the foot will be in a 90 degree angle to the spine.
I don't think it was set in stone for all horses. But on most horses if you draw a line for the spine and a line through the widest part of the hoof to the spine it will generally be a 90 degree where the lines meet
Inteesting in that if the quarters are not aligned as in Donies pic then I feel the capsule has rotated round P3 a touch. In truth I will go away and think about it but I think that the make up of the limb would preclude this, but I may be wrong.
