Sonny Pistilli has been shoeing horses since 1967. As you’d expect, he’s seen a lot of clubfooted horses during that time. But for the last couple of years, he’s been dealing with a horse that presents the biggest clubfoot challenge he’s ever faced.

It all started when one of his oldest clients got in touch with him from Europe. He and a young female rider were looking at a big German warmblood, a Trakehner breed. The horse had good bloodlines and what was more, they could get him at a good price. He had some conformational issues. He was “a little upright.” But the sellers were saying with the help of a good farrier, the horse could be a top competitor. He was already showing at Dressage Level 4.

“I asked him to tell me how upright he was, on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being as bad as it could be,” recalls Pistilli. “He told me maybe a 3.5. I said I could deal with 3.5.”

He pauses and then chuckles.

“He never mentioned we were talking about all four feet.”

Upright Everywhere

Big Al, as the horse is known, arrived on this side of the Atlantic standing 19.2 hands high and weighing in, Pistilli estimates, at around 1,450 pounds. He was also wearing #6 Werkman hind-pattern shoes — on all four feet.

That’s right — including the fronts.

And that 3.5 club? Pistilli only needed one look to tell him the right front was really more like a 5 (using the scale developed by equine veterinarian Ric Redden).

Another look told him that the left hind was a 4.5 — and that the left front and right hind were each about a 3.5. All in all, Big Al was the most-upright horse Pistilli had ever encountered.

Both front feet were dishing in the toes and when he moved, his gaits were very short. He grew heel, but no toe. His frogs were shrunken and never touched the ground. He needed a good farrier all right — probably more than good.

Drawing on his decades of experience that started when he was working with the late Hall Of Fame farrier Seamus Brady, Pistilli immediately knew that trying to match up the feet would be a losing proposition. He watched the horse move and came up with a trimming and shoeing strategy he thought might work for Big Al — although he’s quick to point out that it’s not one he’d recommend for less radical situations.

Trimming And Shoeing

“My approach on the very upright feet was to trim the hoof wall evenly all around the foot, from heel to heel and including the toe,” he explains. “When I hot fit the shoes, I use a marker to draw a line across the foot 3/4 inch in front of the apex of the frog.”

That line becomes his marker for where he’ll rocker the toe of the shoe to ease the breakover and reduce the tension on the horse’s suspensories. He fits the shoes right to the heels.

Big Al wore hind-pattern shoes on his front feet because of how narrow they were. Pistilli found that on the left foot, he could rocker the toe from just behind the clip to the toe. But on the right, he needed to rocker the shoe from just in front of the clip. If he tried to rocker both toes from the same point, the horse would rest its weight on the right foot on the toe, which could exacerbate the upright problem. By rocking the toe to a lesser extent, he was able to get Big Al to keep the weight back on his heel.

With any shoeing, it’s the results that count, of course. And over the last 2 years, this type of trimming and shoeing — with some adjustments — has worked.

“Since I started trimming and shoeing Big Al this way, he has not had a big concave in his toe or any lines in his feet,” says Pistilli. “I think this method of shoeing also relieves stress on the deep flexors and extensors.”

Big Al’s front feet had widened a bit as well. Pistilli says he probably could wear front patterns now, but the owner doesn’t want to change what seems to be working.

“They’ve been more than pleased with the way he moves,” the farrier says. “He lands beautifully and his dressage training has advanced.”

Although that additional training may actually create more work for Pistilli.

“It does seem that the more they ask of him, the more upright that right front and left hind want to become,” he says.

Careful Management

Among the tools Pistilli uses to deal with this are frequent appointments. Big Al is shod every 5 weeks and sometimes every 4.

“Now he grows foot all the way around,” the farrier says. “It’s all straight on down, almost like a tube. That tells me what I’m doing is promoting better blood flow.”

Pistilli believes the keys to keeping Big Al sound continue to be even removal of the hoof wall, combined with the rocker toes. For one thing, the shoeing and trimming is the one thing he’s able to influence.

He’d like to see how the horse would react to having a veterinarian give it a muscle relaxer right after he was trimmed and shod. But again, the owner and trainer don’t want to change what seems to work. The horse works in the arena for 45 minutes to an hour, 6 days a week, but spends the rest of the time in his stall.

Pistilli wonders if a little turnout time might help improve the feet, particularly the frogs, which continue to be shriveled.

Pistilli keeps careful records on Big Al. Measured with a Ruidso hoof gauge, his right front is at 61 degrees and the left front is 57. The right hind is 57 degrees and the left is 61.

“I have to write all of this stuff down,” he says. “Even when we’ve tried minor changes, like lowering the heel a little, he’s not the same horse. Try to match his angles and he definitely wouldn’t be the same horse.

“But trimmed and shod like this, if you watch him work, you wouldn’t have any idea he was so upright. Not unless he stood still and you walked right up to him.”

 Sounds as if Big Al has that good farrier he needed.