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Steve McQueen -
13 year
old American Saddlebred gelding.
Stevie came to
live with us in September of 2001. He was very well loved by
his owner who knew he needed more in the way of hoof care,
than what was being offered to him. He presented a AAEP level
2 lameness at the walk, and level 4 at the trot and
canter. Steve had a history of moderate to acute lamenesses
for the previous 6 years. He had been on stall rest for much
of that time. He had a history of atrophied and bleeding
frogs with on and off acute abscessing. |

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Steve came to us wearing egg bars. His frogs were non
functional, with severely contracted heels. His hoof length
was 6.25 inches, and when we removed his shoes, his feet
measured a 33 degree hoof angle. His hoof wall grew forward,
almost horizontally out of the coronary band. The frog had
zero contact with the egg bar shoe. His heels were run
forward to what should have been the widest part of his
foot. He was well shod in a traditional sense, the previous
farriers recognizing that the foot needed to be shorter, but
limited by the lack of sole depth.
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We began with a Natural Balance trim to his sole plane, and
that brought the heels back to the frog buttress. Steve was
initially shod with a 3 degree wedge pad and steel Natural
Balance shoes, set back to achieve appropriate breakover. Then
we nippered off the excessive dead toe, undercut the rest
with a rasp and top dressed the foot back.
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Over the next several shoeings strong bars developed, and the
toe still distorted forward. We had to continue to bring the
heels back to the frog buttress, and diligently set our shoe
back to achieve optimum break over, and removed even more
excess, distorted toe.
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Steve was sound at the walk in 3 weeks, and sound at the trot
and canter in 12 weeks. Our daughter Laura, took him back
into the Pacific Northwest Saddlebred “A” circuit show ring 7
months later. Laura and Steve ended the year with 2
championships in Western Pleasure in the Snohomish County 4H
division, and also the Jr. Exhibitor Highpoint in Western
Pleasure on the Saddlebred A Circuit. |

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Steve stayed relatively sound for 2 years, but he was
completely dependent on the therapeutic support package on
his feet. If he pulled a shoe, he was back to a grade 2
lameness. You can see why, from this radiograph. |
Steve needed all the right ingredients each and every time
he was shod in order to stay sound. Natural Balance farrier
science provided those ingredients. It is simply looking to
mother nature to determine what’s different in our domestic
horses.
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Gene Ovnicek’s wild horse studies have taught us that Natural
Balance is not just a way of shoeing, it’s about
understanding healthy foot function, and providing the
appropriate support package that helps each horse achieve
this, for every shoeing. Sometimes that’s an EDSS system,
sometimes a NBS shoe, sometimes a Reverse shoe, or Double
Nail Pad system, or a squared toe Eventer. I look forward to
the day, that what we currently label as “Natural Balance” is
someday just simply referred to as good horseshoeing. Labels
create division, and unfortunately that division comes at the
horse’s expense. |
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Mission Farrier
School
Mission Equine, Inc.
17028 Trombley Rd.,
Snohomish, WA 98290 Phone: 360 862 1406
Direct E-mail
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