I try to document as much as I can, especially with my clients who are in composite shoes.

While trimming is a subtractive method, shoeing is an additive method. When adding the vertical height of shoes, reducing (or adding) leverage, we can change the way the hoof grows and the way the horse moves. It’s important to keep an eye on growth and document changes including adjustments in biomechanics, such as noting heel first, toe first, or flat landings. Poor landings can indicate hidden problems before they become more serious.

I also make a point to document changes coming out of metal shoes so both myself and the owner can see how their horses hoofs are changing. Contracture results in atrophied internal structures, or caudal failure. Not all open heel metal/nail shoeing jobs result in contracted heels, but it is very common.

Thanks to Dr. Robert Bowker’s force plate studies, we know the frog is part of a hemodynamic system. The frog has high elasticity, and when compressed places pressure on the digital cushion - the shock absorber of the hoof. These two features act as a pump allowing blood to flow in and out of the hoof. This is the concept behind Dr. Robert Bowker’s hemodynamic flow hypothesis of energy 7 dissipation (Bowker 1998).