[Video] Palmar Angles and Other Mysteries of the Coffin Bone-Hoof Capsule Relationship

Palmar angles of the coffin bone have fascinated the podiatry world for a while.

In his session, Cortona, Italy, veterinarian and farrier Hans Castelijns doesn’t think that a low or a high palmar angle is a disease but that it is part of a limb’s conformation, each with its own shoeing challenge. It is fascinating that most hind limbs present a lower plantar angle of the coffin bone than the palmar (front feet) angles of the same horse, although the dorsal wall angle is usually higher on hind feet. 

This suggests that hind limb coffin bones must have a higher angle between their dorsal and plantar aspect than front limb coffin bones. In his podiatry consulting practice, Castelijns has become aware that there are a lot of horses which present lateromedial displacement of the coffin bone relative to the hoof capsule, observable on dorsopalmar (plantar) X-ray

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