Found out a wild stat about hoof angles in Thoroughbreds

I was reading through a study from the University of Kentucky equine department last night, and it said that a 1 degree change in hoof angle can add almost 200 pounds of force to a horse's suspensory ligament at a canter. That's a lot more than I would have guessed for such a small adjustment. Made me think twice about how precise I need to be with those toe lengths on racehorses... has anyone else seen that paper?

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3 Comments

craig.mila4mo ago

Definitely makes you realize how tiny changes can mess with the whole chain. I always figure a little quarter inch on a hoof trim isn't a big deal, but sounds like it adds up way faster than you'd think

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wells.olivia4mo ago

You're way overthinking this. A quarter inch on a hoof trim is basically nothing. Horses have been walking on uneven ground for millions of years without a farrier with a tape measure. The real issue is people looking for problems where there aren't any. That tiny change gets absorbed by the horse's natural movement and the flexibility of the hoof wall. I've seen horses with trims all over the place go sound for years. The biomechanics argument sounds good on paper but in the real world horses are tougher than that. Most of the time it's not the quarter inch that's the problem, it's the person staring at it trying to find a problem.

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wendyg434mo ago

Did your buddy ever find out if that quarter inch was the actual cause? My friend had a horse that kept throwing splints and after three vet visits someone finally checked the hoof angle and found it was off by almost exactly that much. @wells.olivia might be right that horses are tough, but sometimes those tiny differences are what push them over the edge.

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