Submitted by David Landreville, Landreville Hoof Care
Many horse owners find themselves in a situation where their horse isn’t necessarily lame but they know that their horse’s feet could be healthier. They find themselves in the uncomfortable state of not wanting to settle for “what is” and not knowing how to achieve “what can be”. In my own opinion this is where change often starts and where I suggest:
- A change of footing.
- Then a change in trim protocol and diet.
- And finally to give the horse room to move because that’s where the real change occurs.
I recently had someone ask me what my take on frog contact with ground surface is. In my opinion, frog contact is the heart of hoof development and the key to bringing a foot back to life. One thing I will say to begin with is that it all depends on:
1. The stage of development of the foot
2. The type of footing that the horse lives on
Success will be limited unless you can control these two factors. The footing needs to be brought up to the frog or the frog needs to be lowered to the footing. One way or the other, or both. Sand/chat/pea gravel and/or boots with appropriate pads can be used to accomplish this.
I consider this (photo above) to be a well developed foot (eight years in a small track system and micro managed on a 1-3 week trim cycle). You can see that there is less heel height (ends of collateral grooves to ground contact points) and more heel depth (ends of collateral grooves to hairline). The frog is fully alive and in the same plane as the heels (blue line). This relationship doesn’t change much when the foot is weight bearing due to the strength of the back of this foot. This frog and digital cushion are well developed and they can take a lot of weight bearing. This, in turn leads to further development.
I believe the frog needs to make contact with the ground but it’s actually a very specific area of the frog and a very specific percentage of the horse’s body weight that it is supposed to support. It’s slightly different for every horse, in every environment, and for various stages of development. Proper frog contact provides proper stimulation to the digital cushion and lateral cartilages. These tissues are regenerative. In my experience this is true even in older horses, although this can be limited by the extent of the damage done over time. Once the proper frog/heel/back of sole relationship is achieved, development can begin and the frog can begin to gradually take a heavier load. When a foot gets to this point, development can be continual. The key to frog development is pressure. The frog thrives on pressure. It is like a muscle in that way. It can be developed at any age, just like an old man who decides to get fit in his 70’s. It’s not easy but it’s possible. Needless to say, starting younger is better, but better late than never.
The key to success here is in controlling the environment, movement, diet, hoof shape (trimming/wear) and especially movement. The horse should always be kept as comfortable as possible because it’s the proper weight bearing over the hoof structures while standing and during movement that build the foot.
Above is the progress on a hoof made over 5 months of trimming on a 2-3 week cycle. The heels have been properly lowered and shaped (for the stage of development) and brought closer to the level of live horn, following the contour of the growth corium. The goal here is to keep the horse comfortable while gradually getting the frog reactivated by making proper ground contact; bringing the living tissues that thrive on stimulation closer to the ground. This horse was living part time in a grass pasture and part time in a 12’X12′ stall bedded with shavings. The black arrow shows an abscess eruption that I used as a land mark to track the progress.
Here’s another photo showing the foot before, and directly after, a trim. Here, I set the heels according to the horse’s poor stage of development and the terrain she lives on, which is a 10 acre natural desert, grass pasture (dry and hard footing). My decision to “set the heel height” comes from carefully listening to the horse. By that I mean that she is untied and not being held when I trim her so she is free to leave if she doesn’t like what I’m doing.
I almost always trim to just above the live sole in the seat of corn (back of sole forward of the heel purchase) and use this as a gauge for heel height. I’ve learned to respect the live sole plane and wait for change. This is the horse’s response to readiness for change. The dead sole will exfoliate more easily when the horse is weighting the heels properly. Then I just remove the dead tissue and follow the same protocol for the frog. Removing the dead tissue on the frog exposes the live tissue that has feeling. When the toughened surface areas of the living heel walls, seat of corn, and frog are all in a proper tight relationship the back of the foot will become naturally more stabilized. This allows the horse to willingly set their weight into the back of their feet. When this is done correctly the horse will typically show signs of relaxation like licking, chewing, yawning, eye rolling, lowering their head, engaging with the trimmer, etc.
I work over time to close the gap between the ground and the frog until the frog is taking its fair share of the weight bearing. This can take a few years. These same techniques can be applied to horses that are being transitioned out of steel shoes with distended frogs.
Left: just out of steel shoes. Right: two years later after making all the changes mentioned above.
