When scrolling through his social media timeline, Jim Quick can’t help but notice the increasing reliance on gadgets and gimmicks in hoof care. The result is farriers are unnecessarily complicating horseshoeing and straying from their most important job — balancing the horse.

“I have a fair number of lame horses that are brought to my shop a week after they’ve been shod,” says the Niwot, Colo., farrier. “Most of them have bells and whistles on their feet. When I tear all of that off, I find that the horse is out of balance. Nine out of 10 of these horses can be balanced and shod with a plain set of horseshoes and they leave a lot sounder than when they arrived. Farriers would do well to keep it simple and stick to the basics.”

Reflecting on his introduction to farriery, Quick remembers how easy it is to lose focus of the importance of the basics.

“When I first saw how to make a horseshoe, it blew my mind,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’m going to make clips and bar shoes, and I’m going to save every horse. Everybody’s going to love me. I’ll be rich and famous.’”

As Quick improved his skills and he honestly evaluated his work, he realized something was missing.

“I was a shoemaker,” Quick says. “I’d put some funky stuff on horses. Now, I realize that those horses weren’t trimmed right. They weren’t fit right. The shoes didn’t help. You have to fit and stick to the basics.”

Flares and Distortion

One element of effectively balancing the foot is the need to remove flares and distortion.

“New growth follows old growth,” he says. “If you don’t get the distortion off there right now, it’s still going to be there when you come back in 6 weeks. In most situations, I bring the horse’s foot to the peg first to remove the distortion and flare.”

To identify the distortion in the hoof wall, Quick advises using a straight edge such as a rasp.

“You can see the gap between the hoof wall and the rasp from the coronary band to the ground (Figure 1a),” he says. “I do not want to dictate the shape of the foot. Rather, I’m trying to match the projection of the coronary band and make a straight line.”

Quick urges caution when removing distortion from the hoof wall.

“We don’t have to strip the hoof wall and weaken it to get it reasonably straight,” he says. “I have not done anything to alter the shape of the foot (Figure 1b).”

It’s important to avoid falling into the trap of trimming a foot for a shoe. Rather, the shoe should fit the foot.

“I was learning how to make what we call a symmetrical shoe, and I was training to trim a foot to accept this shoe,” Quick recalls. “When I was done with feet, the horses looked great, classy and beautiful. When I came back in 6 weeks, though, the horse had grown over the shoe somewhere or something wasn’t right.”

The widest part of the foot is not always perpendicular to the centerline of the foot as the frog is.

When evaluating feet, you’ll notice that the widest part of the foot is not necessarily perpendicular to the centerline like the frog (Figure 2). It will be off a little bit because most horses are slightly pigeon-toed. The widest part of the foot will always be perpendicular to the horse’s spine, he says.

“Don’t push the quarters around and force the hoof wall to do something else,” Quick urges. “If you do push the quarters around and then use a straight edge to check whether the hoof wall is straight, it won’t be because you robbed it. The quarters aren’t straight across from each other and I don’t believe they should be.”

Although you have removed the flare and distortion, achieved anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral balance and the length is right, you might not be as pleased with how the foot looks. However, the horse will be better for it.

“I’m looking at a foot that’s asymmetrical,” he says. “The quarters aren’t straight across from one another. The feet don’t look as good. They don’t look like the classic fronts and hinds like they used to, but my horses are sound and their feet are definitely held together better.”

It’s Not the Horse’s Idea

Thirty years ago, Quick recalls that International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame member Dave Duckett told him that when he walked up to a horse with an idea in his mind that it’s important to remember that it’s not the horse’s idea.

“I did this for years,” Quick says. “Looking back, I think I wrecked horses feet during that time and I don’t like it.”

Quick points to a dressage horse that he shoes for an accomplished trainer as an example.

“While shoeing him, I notice that the quarters on both hind feet are straight across from one another (Figure 3a),” he says. “So I stand back and look at the horse standing there — he’s perfectly straight. His hind toes are pointing right at the heels of his front feet.”

The trainer walks by and Quick asks how the horse is.

“‘Oh, he is so dead behind, it’s not even funny,’” he recalls her says. “‘I hate riding that puke.’”

The horse might be what the old conformation textbooks would say was ideal because he’s perfectly straight. His other hind foot (Figure 3b) is quite different, though.

“When assessing the horse’s hind-end conformation (Figure 3c), I tried to position the camera so I’m straight in front of the limb,” Quick says. “If you can see the flexor tendons, you’re not in front of it. The limb that has the quarters that are straight across from one another is on the left. When we look at the other limb (Figure 3d) you can see why his quarters are out of whack, if you will. That’s the way he stands. A line projected through the quarters is 90 degrees to his spine.”

It’s in this instance when a farrier should resist the idea to straighten the quarters.

“I promise you if I pushed one quarter up and pushed one back and made a symmetrical shoe, when I come back in 6 weeks, he’ll be grown over the shoe because I didn’t get the shape right,” he says. “The horse has the right shape already. Then I come along and say, ‘No, that’s not right. I’m going to alter it.’ I did it for years and I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”

Jim Quick wants the horses he tends to still be in their shoes, using the shoe correctly, standing on it and correctly bearing weight at the end of a 6-week shoeing cycle.

The lateral radiograph, which is seen more often than any other, allows the farrier and veterinarian to assess anterior-posterior balance.

At the end of a 6-week shoeing cycle (Figure 4), Quick wants the horse to still be wearing and using its shoe.

“The horse should be standing on it and still bearing weight correctly,” he says. “I don’t want any flares or distortion developing. This is my goal. This looks reasonable and I like it.”

Anterior-Posterior Balance

Among the most common radiographs that farriers see are those that show AP balance (Figure 5).

“We want to create AP balance,” Quick says. “We have to establish some sort of baseline and we have to create it while the horse is standing there quietly in the cross-ties and on the block to get the radiograph.”

It’s important to keep in mind that a lot of things happen when the horse is moving.

“We want to keep the phalanxes — P1, P2, P3 — all in alignment,” he says. “But how often is the horse performing? The horses I shoe are almost entirely show horses. If I can keep the horse sound for the 23 hours a day that it’s in the stall, the hour a day of riding it does will take care of itself. Why? Because weight bearing affects the horse’s feet, its hoof capsule, etc. I don’t want to leave a horse so that it can’t even relax, stand in its stall or sleep comfortably.”

A lot of attention and discussion is often given to the low-heeled horse — to wedge or to not wedge the horse. Quick reminds that farriers are looking at a radiograph that just shows the bottom 1 ½ hands of the horse. He suggests looking at the whole horse.

“The horse will let us know because it points,” Quick says. “The limb points to the height of the foot. That means we want to see our limb perfectly plumb when viewed from the side, and ideally perfectly plumb when viewed from the front. The limb will deviate from the plumb to where the excess height of the hoof is.”

When looking at a lateral radiograph and the farrier sees that a horse has a low angle and standing slightly back, the horse is telling you one of two things — its heels are too high or its toes are too short, he says.

“I don’t think its toes are too short,” Quick says. “This horse is sound and works well, but I wouldn’t dare put a wedge on it because it’s already slightly higher at the heel. Let’s say we wedged the horse up, get the package nailed on, clinched and polished. Everyone says, ‘Yay! Thank you! Happy, happy!’ Everyone goes about their business.”

But how does the farrier know the correct choice was made?

“We have to keep in mind that the hoof capsule is a hydraulic system,” he says. “The coffin bone moves in there. We bring its stance back, we load that foot a little more, and the coffin bone sinks a little bit. I think we need to do more post-shoeing radiographs. I think a lot of times we will find that we haven’t really changed the relationship of the angle of the coffin bone to the floor. Instead, we’ve just changed the horse’s posture.”

When a horse bears too much weight medially or laterally on the limb, joint spaces will appear compressed.

Medial-lateral Balance

Another radiograph that farriers see a fair amount is taken from a dorsal-palmar/plantar (DP) angle to allow the evaluation of medial-lateral balance (Figure 6). When a horse bears too much weight medially or laterally on the limb, the joint spaces won’t be even.

“I trot horses up sometimes before I shoe them,” Quick says. “The number one reason is so I can watch for lameness and inform the client. If a farrier doesn’t call it out and it’s lame after you shoe it, you can be accused of causing it. Business-wise, it’s a good idea.”

Once in a while, though, a crooked horse will fool you.

“Generally speaking, I think we all hope the horse lands pretty flat, but pay attention to your joint spaces,” he says. “Balancing a horse medial-laterally helps it land flat. There are cases when you trim a horse so it lands flat but you’ve compromised the joint space.”

Farriers can judge a good DP radiograph when the extensor process is lined up right in the center of the joint. If it’s not lined up, it’s not a valid radiograph.

“I was shoeing an old, crippled, crooked horse in California and we had the radiograph shot,” Quick recalls. “We determined that the lateral side was 4 millimeters higher than necessary. OK, piece of cake. I rasped about 4 mm off the lateral side and we shot another radiograph. It’s still 4 mm higher.”

Stymied, Quick cut a big, thick piece of plastic wedge pad and nailed it to one side of the foot.

“I shim up the other side a bunch and we snap another radiograph,” he says. “What do we see? It’s still 4 mm off. The hoof capsule is a hydraulic system, and this old horse is telling us, ‘This is how I stand. I don’t care what you say.’ I think the horse is far more comfortable with these distances being slightly off than his joint spaces being correct.”

Quick stuck a thumbtack in the hoof wall and the veterinarian shot another radiograph for another measurement.

“With all of the different shims and stuff we put on there, you could see that change,” he says. “We were shifting the hoof capsule around the coffin bone, but we couldn’t change the way the coffin bone related to the floor at all.”

How does Quick assess medial-lateral balance? Most farriers pick up the limb and look at it.

When assessing medio-lateral balance, the limb should be hung in a comfortable position. The surface of the foot shouldn’t be perpendicular to the horse’s spine.

“When I do that, I don’t want to see the surface of the foot perpendicular to the horse’s spine (Figure 7),” Quick says. “I’m frequently pulling up a limb. I’m looking at the horse’s right front, its hinds; I’m even looking at its belly. I’m trying to get an idea of where is the centerline of the spine. I’m also trying to determine where is this surface in relation to the centerline of the spine? Most horses turn just a little. Most front feet are slightly pigeon-toed and they’re usually pretty sound. When you get one that’s slightly toed-out, you usually have a train wreck on your hands.”

Most horses breakover slightly outside of center, he says. Old, worn out horseshoes can usually indicate whether it’s a left or a right.

“If you dangle the limb, then you have to feel whether it’s in a comfortable spot,” Quick says. “If you’ve been shoeing horses long enough, you can feel when you pick up the limb whether you’re pushing or pulling it. I just want to find that spot where the limb wants to hang there comfortably.”

When assessing medial-lateral balance, Quick’s line of sight is a plumb line right through Duckett’s dot.

“It will intersect the center of breakover every time,” he says. “Sometimes, I have to get my head clear under a horse’s belly. I try to make sure my line of sight is perpendicular to the floor. It’s vertical to the plumb.”

As a point of reference, Quick will place a carpenter’s square on the floor and hold up the left front foot.

“I want the vertical part of the square to be in line with the horse’s spine, and I’m trying to trim this surface so it’s 90% from the horse’s spine,” he says. “I visualize that carpenter’s square on the floor when I’m assessing medial-lateral balance.”

When shoeing a horse that needs help with its stance and posture, Quick suggests focusing less on the shoe and more on the trim.

“We see a lot of fancy, super-duper, whiz-bang shoes that are going to fix a horse’s stance and posture,” he says. “I have a crazy idea, let’s use a rasp. If you want the toe up on top of the ground, or you want the foot to tip back a little bit, you can put on a fancy $43 aluminum shoe with a big, fat toe and low and narrow heels. Or, you can just trim a little more heel and get the same result or maybe a better result.”

Shoes often get the credit for helping horses when the difference maker was balancing the foot.

“Somebody will say, ‘Yeah, this horse is a real cripple. They asked me to put those shoes on the horse. I did, and it got much better. I love those shoes,’” Quick says. “I think the horse was terribly trimmed. You trimmed it correctly and then you put those shoes on the horse. Now it’s better. I think it was your trim and not the shoe. If magic shoes existed, I’d be a billionaire because I’d be the guy making them and nailing them on. I thought they existed when I was younger. The thing is, they don’t. Now, 36 years into my horseshoeing career, I’ve found out that I need to learn how to trim. Isn’t that funny?”

July/August 2019 Issue Contents