Finally got that tricky front hoof balanced right after 4 tries

I've been working on this one mare in Salem since last month and her front left kept throwing me off. Yesterday I took a step back and realized I was overthinking the angle. Has anyone else had a horse that just won't let you nail the balance no matter what you adjust?

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piper1754mo ago

You know, I hate to be That Person but I wonder if you might be confusing balance with something else. At the clinic in Eugene last spring, I watched a farrier spend almost 45 minutes on a horse's front foot because he kept chasing a "balance" that was really just the horse's natural asymmetry. That mare you've got in Salem, could it be she's built a little crooked in the shoulder or has a weird hoof wall shape? I've had two horses where the "balance" I thought I needed was actually causing more problems, and once I stopped trying to make the foot perfectly level and just matched the horse's actual structure, everything clicked. Just something to think about before you drive yourself crazy on try number 5.

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the_val4mo ago

I've been exactly where you're talking about, @piper175. That mare in Salem, I trimmed her myself for two years before I realized her left front has a slightly rotated shoulder that makes the hoof look crooked no matter what you do. I finally stopped trying to make it look right and started fitting the shoe to her actual foot shape. The lameness cleared up in about three weeks. Sometimes that natural asymmetry is just how the horse is put together, and fighting it only gets you a sore horse and a lighter wallet.

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