Watching a horse move on a soft track made me rethink my whole approach to trimming for balance.

I used to just level the foot to the ground, but after seeing how a mare at the Lexington show last month moved so much better with a slight medial adjustment, I started asking owners about the horse's job and footing first. What's the biggest change you've made to your trim after watching a horse work?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily_stone7617h ago

Wait, you actually saw a horse paddling and tried to fix it just with the rasp? That's wild. Ngl, I'd be scared to do that without a vet check or something. @black.jordan is right about losing the big picture, but that sounds like a whole different level. Honestly, I just try to support what the foot is telling me from the ground up. Chasing a gait with tools seems like a fast track to a lame horse.

wright.michael20h ago

Honestly, I've gone the opposite way. I got too caught up watching movement and trying to trim for it, and I ended up overcorrecting. I mean, I saw a horse paddling out and kept trying to fix it with the rasp, and it just made things worse. Now I focus way more on just getting the basic foot shape right from the sole and frog, and let the movement sort itself out as the horse builds better tissue. For me, chasing perfect movement with the trim just led to a bunch of guesswork and sore horses. Maybe it's just me, but I had to step back and keep it simple.

black.jordan20h ago

It's a solid point from @wright.michael and I see it everywhere now, not just with horses. People get so focused on fixing one small thing they see, they lose sight of the whole picture and make it worse. It happens with diets, fixing cars, even training dogs. You see a tiny problem and start messing with stuff you don't fully get, and next thing you know the whole system is out of whack. Going back to the simple basics usually works better than trying to be a surgeon for every little issue.