How much heel is left after a trim?

[Maybeapril]

I'm a little worried that my farrier is trimming my horse's heels too short. He seems to be all toe with very little heel. Could some of you post pictures of your horses feet with good trims? My horse is currently wearing shoes on all four feet. To get my point across to the farrier what exactly should I tell him? Just to not make his heels so short? I'm in a rural area with not many farrier options.

[caballus]

The heels should be trimmed so that the frog is passive to a hard, level surface when the horse is standing and active during loading of the hoof. Each horse is individual as to the height of the heels - one may be perfectly comfortable with 1/8" above the live sole at the seat of corn while some may need 1/4". It depends on the health of the shock absorbing parts of the hoof - the frog and the Digital Cushion. If they are healthy and well formed with the DC being comprised mostly of fibrocartilagenous tissue then the heels *generally speaking* can be brought a little lower than a horse with not-so-healthy frogs and DC's. (The DC, if not used properly and in poor health will be more FAT than fibrocartilagenous and therefore unable to properly dissipate energy and absorb the shock of hoof loading.

If your horse seems to be heel sore then not only do the heels need to be assessed but the entire hoof, as well. Long toes can precipitate low, underslung heels that, even though long in length, are very low and will not be able to do their job correctly, causing 'caudal heel pain' ... heels that are bruised, frogs that are bruised need time to grow and recover which may mean leaving the heels higher than what is deemed 'acceptable' for a time being.

There are other factors involved. One cannot just look at the 'heels' without judgement of the rest of the hoof and the hooves cannot be separated from the rest of the horse. So the WHOLE horse must be assessed as to overall health, comfort and movement.

www.barefoottrim.com has some information that might be helpful to you.

[Androcles]

Check out the bar thread. There are some other foot views too.

[Patty Stiller]

In general (the short version of the whole book....;)) the heels should usually be trimmed so the very back of them is somewhere near the level of the sole. In other words..short.
That may mean that the back of the heel is AT the sole, or extending 1/8" above it, or maybe 1/4" if the bare foot needs the higher angle, particularly for hind feet.

Leaving too much heel on the foot is one of the most common causes of a lot of other hoof problems.
If the heels have been trimmed enough but toe looks long, then perhaps there is stretching/ distortion ion the toe that needs attention

If your horse is moving freely landing heel first, then I wouldn't be too worried . On the other hand if he is moving short and landing toe first then something needs adjusting .