At last winter’s International Hoof-Care Summit, there was considerable dialogue among farriers in one of the 24 Hoof-Care Roundtables regarding the role that the center of rotation (COR) plays in effective footcare. While this article deals with the bends in the bars of the hoof, the COR plays a key role in this discussion.

This article is based on some of my thoughts and research dealing with the bars of the hoof that took place about 4 years ago.

Since then, little progress has been made on researching this subject, as the significance of the bends that occur in the bars has yet to be fully explored, as I pointed out during a recent presentation at The Northeast Association of Equine Practitioners meeting.

Even so, this article illustrates one of the significant factors that supports the need for future research to fully explain and appreciate the shape, angles, position and referencing of the bars

Two Important Bar Bends

Figure 1. The center of rotation bend runs from the heel to the front leading edge of the bend.

The first bar bend is the one closest to the heel, which I will refer to as the wing bend. The second is a straight line running from the heel to the front leading edge of the bend and will be referred to as the COR bend (Figure 1).

The wing bend is soft tissue created by the bending or leveraging of the hoof that takes place around the wings of the coffin…