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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.