High-Low Hoof Syndrome: Unlock the Underlying Secret to Balanced Hooves

In this episode of Holistic Horseworks Talks, we explore the complexities of high-low hoof syndrome, a condition that has long puzzled vets, farriers, and horse owners.

We'll discover what contributes to high-low hoof syndrome and reveal a hidden underlying cause that often goes unnoticed but plays an extremely important role in the condition: the misalignment of the first rib.

Learn about the importance of early detection, regular hoof care, and practical solutions that can help your horse achieve better balance. This will be a game-changer in managing high-low hoof syndrome.

Resources Mentioned:
FREE Yoga for Horses Video
ENROLL NOW: Equine Musculoskeletal Unwinding

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Transcript

Hi, this is Lillian. I'm here with April Love. April, you always talk about the high-low hoof syndrome and I'm wondering if you can tell me more about what that is and what people can do about it.

00:00:43 April

And that is a great question! All the vets and the farriers have been chasing that for years. And then the answer came to me in a roundabout way.

00:00:53 April

When I do my bodywork program within six weeks to about 3 months, the owners report back to me that the farrier wants to know what changed because he can now trim and balance the feet the same angles.

00:01:08 April

And you know what changed? They've been trying to wedge, and everything. And if people don't know what high and low hoof syndrome means, it means that if you squat down.

00:01:19 April

Beside your horse's front legs and you look at the hairline, the coronary band, and you compare them and the left front to the right front or whatever side that you're on, you'll see one slopes more down to the ground.

00:01:35 April

That's called a low angle that can be anywhere from 50° to 53°. If they put the hoof angle on it, and if you look at the other hoof, it's more parallel.

00:01:49 April

You know more even to the ground, not sloping to the ground. So, there's actually more heel there and that would be like 55, 56, 57 degrees sometimes as steep as 60 degrees .

00:02:01 April

 if they put the hoof angle iron on it, and then if you think about that, it looks like, yeah, well, my horse has that, but he seems to be OK. Sometimes they'll wedge the lower foot, which means putting a pad on that's thicker. That's thin by the sole and thicker by the heel to bring that up to be the same.

00:02:23 April

Angles and the reason that that is important.

00:02:26 April

Is think about if you were standing all day and walking and exercising and your left foot had a flat tennis shoe and your right foot had a wedge heel.

00:02:41 April

How is that angle going to shift in your ankles, your knees and your hips?

00:02:47 April

And if one hip is higher, how is that going to compress in your lumbar spine area L4, L5 because one hip is always higher and then how can your spine and next stay in alignment if your hips are at that angle? So, people don't think it matters

00:03:07 April

as much in a horse. But think about it. One shoulder is higher and the side that is got the highest heel.

00:03:16 April

If you actually watch them walk slowly, the low heel usually strides out and lands heel to toe and the high heeled side usually strides out and lands toe to heal so you have biomechanical imbalances higher up in the neck and shoulder not allowing

00:03:37 April

both front feet to land even.

00:03:40 April

And the long term ramifications of this is the foot that's jamming and loading is creating more heat and the body sends calcium to heat to lock it down, and that's arthritis. So that side bone, ring bone, arthritic knees and shoulders because that whole leg.

00:04:01 April

can't move correctly.

00:04:03 April

And this cause of all that what we have found is the first rib misalignment not allowing that shoulder to move correctly. So, if it's on the right side first rib alignment is going to make that side land toe to heel.

00:04:20 April

And the horse is going to put out the left front foot when it grazes as a foal, young horse, older horse because the right shoulder can't move forward as freely past that first rib impingement. So, the horse that always has one front leg.

00:04:39 April

Out forward like the left one is going to be the low heel and the foot that's always back is going to be the high heel.

00:04:47 April

The horses hooves grow.

00:04:50 April

You know, it's a live thing, the pressure, how it lands, you know? So, if they're not standing on it correctly when your horse is tied to the trailer and it's stall or standing in the field or the cross ties, pay attention to how they're standing. Both front feet should be side by side when they're at rest. If you always have.

00:05:10 April

One foot in front of the other when they're in the pasture, you know not in cross ties, not in riding mode.

00:05:17 April

Then you have issues higher up in ribs and withers, and that's going to create how the hooves are going to grow.

00:05:24 April

If a horse has a really tight sternum and pectoral muscles and it's pulling the heels with the front end, that's going to create the underslung inside heel that jams, and you can never grow an inside heel and the farrier will try to leave extra shoe to protect the heel to grow down. But if you don't change it.

00:05:45 April

Higher up into how the body is loading the. If you're never gonna actually change the hoof. One of my endurance clients had gotten.

00:05:55 April

an endurance horse of impeccable bloodlines, but all the high tech professionals had passed on him because he had high low hoof syndrome, they said. As a 100-mile horse, he'd break down, wouldn't last. You know those kind of things because the front hooves are not in balance and when you're trotting downhill.

00:06:14 April

Doing all those miles, your feet have to be in balance. So, we did all the body work and all of a sudden she was in the top 10s and getting best conditioned horse and the friends and people in community that had.

00:06:30 April

Known about this horse as a young horse and passed on him and she got him for a very affordable price.

00:06:38 April

They're like, well, where did the high low go? And she goes, oh, soon as April started working on them within six to eight weeks, the farrier said he could trim the hooves evenly now.

00:06:48 April

And all my clients reporting back to me that the farrier said the feet have totally changed in six weeks. I've heard this hundreds of times and I'm like, wow, so what's going on up above really does matter and how the blood flow is how the horse is landing on that hoof.

00:07:09 April

Unfortunately, nowadays I don't know if it's mineral deficiency in the hays and grains, but our horses seem to be weaker.

00:07:18 April

Somehow and not holding their alignment in the past six to eight years when first rib misalignment used to only be on one side of the horse, we're now seeing it on both sides of the horse. By the time the horse is three years old. So, if you watch my videos and read my books, you'll see that first rib.

00:07:39 April

This alignment comes out in horses. If the foal tumbles in the pasture.

00:07:44 April 

They're running through a mud bog when they're on that lead and that front leg gets sucked down as the body's going forward. It tweaks that rib. It's not that the ribs poking out, it's just that it's moved and shifted and is not allowing that shoulder to come through freely anymore.

00:08:05 April

That's a horse that if he's on the right side first, your misalignment doesn't want to take the right lead canter.

00:08:12 April

On a barrel racing horse, that would be two awesome turns to the right, but he can't come around the barrel to the left because he can't get that shoulder around the rib to make that left turn. Unfortunately what we're seeing nowadays is a lot of kissing spine, and when I released both.

00:08:32 April

First ribs and the owners keep up the body work and do the yoga.

00:08:37 April

We've had vets say with X-rays at the kissing spine has gone away.

00:08:43 April

So that's showing me that both first ribs misaligned is making both shoulders harder to come up to canter, and that's going to change your gaits. It's going to be a lumbering canner, and they're having to use a rhomboid and trapezius muscles to pick up and move the shoulders. So, both front feet.

00:09:04 April

Are landing toe to heel instead of heel to toe, and that can actually act like navicular in a horse like heel pain

00:09:12 April

When it's actually coming up from the neck and shoulder and you'll notice if you really look at the profile of your horse, your horse's neck seems shorter and the back seems longer because they have to throw all the way back to the psoas muscle under the rear of the saddle that ties into the hocks to pick up the heavy front end for the rider.

00:09:34 April

So, if your horse is heavy on the front end, you might want to do my diagnostic video where I teach you for free on YouTube.

00:09:41 April

how to check for first readiness alignment and then in my level 1 equine musculoskeletal unwinding video that is a digital download. You immediately get the video, you immediately get the workbook and it comes with the 8 page distance reading report from me where you e-mail in left and right.

00:10:02 April

Side picture.

00:10:04 April

And I tell you everything that's going on with the horse, skeletal wise, what side needs to be released. Is there any bacterial and viral issues, autoimmune health issues, environmental issues. It's a really intensive, like medical intuitive reading of your horse. And people are amazed.

00:10:23 April

Horses that were told to be put down by the vet, the owner fixed it themselves within six weeks, just following my program and the protocols that we do, which is detox the horse, balance the body, get their energy and healing turned on, and then just main.

00:10:40 April

Paying it so while your first session might take an hour or two to get through, it really should only be 5 to 6 minutes a day of maintaining before you ride your horse. If we can catch everything before we tack up and ride the horse, then you're going to have less compensations that.

00:11:00 April

create the arthritic changes that shorten the horses usable riding years.

00:11:06 April

If we start working on foals by the time they are 5-6 months, when the feet are already starting to change because of the first rib and which foot they put out, you can have a horse that's right able all the way up to like age 40. So, I have a free e-book.

00:11:25 April

www.horseacademy101.com my website is holistichorseworks.com and my YouTube channel is HolisticHorseworks.

00:11:37 April

So, I hope you'll visit me. Call me and e-mail me. Thank you.