Rope Walking

Horse is a dressage horse that is barefoot right now, but will likely go back in shoes when it goes to competing.

I'm a little stumped on this one. Sighting down the hock looks fairly even. Looking at the hairline appears medial high. There is some flaring on the lateral side.

He rope walks quite bad.

I'll put up pics when I get home. They are rotated sideways coming from the phone.

Kim, What conformation predisposes a horse to rope walking? Not a trick question.

yeah I failed the trick question.

This one.......




Base narrow a bit cow hocked?

Here are some pictures of the hoof.

AND where do the toes point?

You think that horse is cow hocked?
His hooves look to need some gathering up.
Compare the muscling on the right hind to that on the left hind. What do you see? What might that suggest?
Which leg does he bring further under, towards or over the centerline?

Toes point out.

Yeah I said a bit Cow hocked because the toes point out............. First time seeing the horse, hooves are definately out of balance. Broken back, flattened heel bulbs.


Right hind is brought further towards, bit over the centerline.

A horse that is base narrow and toed out in front will rope walk despite not having hocks in front. People do it too. It gets exaggerated with high heels . . . watch fashion models walk the runway. Very educational.

were those models wearing shoes? never noticed the shoes on the Victoria"s secret models....

LOL, well when he goes back in shoes. What is the best way to do so?

Little lateral support?

Brian I can appreciate how a true gentleman like you would be respectful and not stare at or call undue attention to a woman's feet if it is obvious that she can't see them herself.

How are his feet wearing while he is barefoot? Pay attention to that and shoe accordingly.

Why?

Cause he's so far under himself.

I believe they were happy with the work. This client when he called asked first what my qualifications were. I actually thanked him for asking that.

They had a really good farrier a while back and since he all but quit they've had trouble getting a good one. So the horses had a few issues, mainly looked like the last person took all the heel and left the toe.

So how would he go if you chopped off his toe back to the white line and boxed it?

Dunno. I took as much as I was comfortable with and he looked much better but still a little broke back.

Almost looked coon footed prior.

Try again but first review equine anatomy with a bent towards figuring out how a horse stands behind if it has no conformational discrepancies. ie: Can/does a horse without cow hocked conformation stand slightly toed out? Why or why not?

What did your review of the hind limb muscling comparison tell you? What is the import of that/those observation(s)?

Havent forgotten ya Rick. Just have not set down long enough yet.

Yes, suppose his base narrow confirmation has caused a lot of lateral flare which could be turning his toes out more.

That he's possibly favoring the right side and compensating with the left.

Try again Kim. This time include your direct observations of the hind limbs and what that implies or means, and, why. Also, how does a horse stands behind if it has no conformational discrepancies?

Thought I did.....

Since most I see do have conformation issues, I guess I will have to research correct ones.