Geometry of the Hoof continued... deformity like club foot can sometimes be corrected or improved, but many times is just something you have to work with and adapt your trim around. The Hoof Print Trim is a great starting point for those learning to trim because you can measure and draw where the healthy hoof should be and then train your eyes to “read” the hoof and evaluate using both sets of clues where you should trim. This method starts with evaluating the baseline. The baseline is the rearmost part of the hoof, where we will trim our heel height down to, as well as where we take our measurement from heel to toe after establishing the width at the fulcrum. To find our baseline, we measure from the back of the heel bulbs at the hairline to the collateral groove exit. On most a v e r a g e - Identifying the fulcrum (green sized horses, line is fulcrum, blue is baseline) this measurement equals 1 ¼ inches. It varies for ponies or smaller horses and the taller horses and drafts, but this is just an average and, again, not a measurement from which we would simply just cut without “reading” into the rest of the hoof first and accounting for any deformities or pathologies, etc. After establishing the correct baseline by evaluating the frog health, the periople wear marks, the heel surface, and sole thickness in switchback at the rear of the hoof, we can measure our fulcrum to establish our toe length. The fulcrum is simply the widest part on the bottom of the hoof. It is almost always about ¾ inch behind the apex of the frog occurring at the mid-point of where the coffin bone sits inside the hoof and is not usually distorted by flaring or stretched lamina. We measure the fulcrum from the golden line on one side to the golden line on the other side, not from wall to wall. If the measurement was 4 ½ inches, we would then measure from our baseline forward 4 ½ inches and mark where our golden line should be at the toe. In a balanced hoof that HCBC 2010 Business of the Year
has been trimmed regularly and correctly, this mark will line up with the golden line at the toe. I just want to reiterate that this is also not a cut line; we still have to add our wall thickness to determine where the cut line will be. We also must “read” Establishing 2/3 to 1/3 balance the hooves’ wear patterns and toe callous before deciding where to cut. Now that we have determined the circumference of the hoof we can establish the 2/3 to 1/3 balance. The baseline to the apex of the frog should be 2/3 of the overall hoof length. Frogs can get stretched forward into the sole’s 1/3 and occasionally need to be trimmed back. This measurement will determine if the
frog has migrated forward. However, all of our measurements to this point would be inaccurate if we had measured our baseline wrong, so caution must be taken to measure correctly and confirm we are right by “reading” the clues and wear marks in the hoof. Part 2 of this article will be continued in the May issue of Saddle Up. Kristi Luehr is a natural trimmer and founder of the Okanagan School of Natural Hoof Care (www.oksnhc. com). She holds certification with the Canadian Farrier School as well as the Oregon School of Natural Hoof Care. Her focus is to educate horse owners about hoof anatomy, hoof mechanism, and the importance of a natural trim based on the wild horse model. (See their listing in our Business Services section under FARRIERS & SUPPLIES)
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