The Immediate Effect of Routine Hoof Trimming and Shoeing on Horses' Gait

Immediate Effect of Hoof Trimming on Hoof and Thoracic Joint Angles in Mangalarga Mares

It is important to understand the effects of hoof trimming on hoof and limb conformation to maximize its benefits on the health of the appendicular skeleton of horses, thus promoting improvements in athletic performance and sporting longevity with regard to athletic horses. There is little information on possible changes in the angulation of the thoracic limb joints after hoof trimming and correlations between the angulation of the thoracic limb joints with hoof measurements. To that purpose, nineteen Mangalarga mares received routine hoof trimming. Visual recordings (photographs) were taken before and after the procedure. Differences (p < 0.05) were found in hoof length, toe angle, heel angle, medial heel height, and metacarpophalangeal angle. Before trimming, correlations were found between frog length and scapulohumeral angle (SH) (r = -0.457; p = 0.049), and between toe length and shoulder-ground angle (SG) (r = -0.553; p = 0.049). A correlation was also seen between the distance from the frog to the lateral wall and the SH angle (r = 0.690; p = 0.001). After trimming, there was a correlation between humeroradial (HR) and SH joint angles (r = 0.669; p = 0.002), and the SG and SH angles (r = 0.488; p = 0.034). This study showed an immediate effect of trimming on the toe angle and heel angle and on the metacarpophalangeal joint angle, in addition to correlations between the hoof and proximal joint angles, following trimming, thus evidencing the relevance of trimming not only in hoof morphology, but also in the conformation of the appendicular skeleton of horses.

Hoof Unevenness in Juvenile Quarter Horses During First 6 Months of Training

The role of hoof morphology is increasingly recognized as a factor associated with lameness incidence in performance horses. The primary objective was to evaluate effect of training initiation on hoof unevenness in Quarter Horses (n = 42; 29 2-year-olds, 13 3-year-olds) over 6-months (m) in training (m0, m2, m4, and m6). Horses were objectively assessed for lameness (inertial sensor system) and photographs and radiographs of feet were taken. Hoof measurements were taken (palmar/plantar angles, frog base width/length, toe length/angle, heel length/angle, heel/foot width, wall height/angle), and analyzed with regards to laterality. Front and hindfoot pairs were determined even if toe angles were within 1.5°. Statistical analyses were performed (Fisher's exact test, mixed-model linear regression, P < .05). There were no differences in distal phalanx palmar/plantar angle between lame/nonlame forelimbs (P = .54) or hindlimbs (P = .20). Unevenness between front feet was seen in toe angle m6 (P < .001), heel length m6 (P = .01) and heel angle over time (P = .006). Unevenness between hind feet was seen at m6 in toe angle (P < .001), heel length (P = .009) and heel angle (P = .02). Lameness incidence did not differ between even and uneven footed horses in forelimbs (P = .64) or hindlimbs (P = .09). In uneven feet, there was no difference in lameness between high versus low foot in forelimbs (P = .34) or hindlimbs (P = .29). Limitations include lack of control group not entering training, lack of consistency in timing data collection to previous trimming, and small sample size. In summary, differences in foot measurements and laterality were noted over time following training initiation in juvenile Western performance horses.

Effect of the trimming of the toe region of healthy horses forelimb hooves on morphology, distal angles and locomotion by cinematography

ABSTRACT Seven forelimb hooves from healthy horses were submitted to regular trimming and fourteen days later, submitted to toe trimming. Toe angle and length, lateral and medial heels, frog and sole length and width, distal, proximal, and metacarpal phalangeal interphalangeal angles were measured, as well as locomotion evaluation through cinematographic analysis. The measurements were performed ten, 14, 15, 30 and 45 days after the regular trimming, and at 14 days two measurements, one before and one after the toe trimming, were carried out. For cinematography, the sequence of supports and time spent in each support were taken. The comparison of the means obtained from the individuals regarding the variables, between limbs, limbs for each individual, time - points, moments for each individual and between limbs for each moment, as well as the time spent in each in the supports, was performed using ANOVA. Results lower than those of statistical significance (p<0.05) were submitted to Tukey’s test. The toe trimming promotes changes in toe length, angle, lateral heel angle, medial and lateral heel length, frog length, width, and sole length, and changes the pattern of the trot of horses.