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Hind Leg Conformation and Balance

Speaking at a farriery and lameness seminar at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in May, Dr. Jay Merriam remarked that, for most horses, the hind feet are not under the hocks. They are inside the hocks, indicating what would be traditionally called a "base narrow" conformation. He remarked that the conformational trait is so common that on most horses, the outside walls are shorter. Applying geometric balancing goals to such hind feet would be a disservice to the horse, he stressed.

Merriam's field research with radiography has shown him clearly that evaluation of the leg bones can explain a great deal of a horse's foot asymmetry. Using a protractor on a radiograph, he illustrated that the outside of the cannon bone on a client's horse was longer than the inside, a common condition. "The defect starts there, in the leg, not in the foot at all," he said, "And all the lower joint spaces could be affected."

This article originally appeared in Hoofcare & Lameness: The Journal of Equine Foot Science and is available for your personal use only. Re-publication is prohibited without the express written permission of Hoofcare & Lameness.

Detailed information on this and many other hoofcare topics can be found in Hoofcare & Lameness publisher Fran Jurga's award-winning guide to hoofcare, "Understanding the Equine Foot".

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