Här skriver han om hovbenssänkning och hur vanligt det faktiskt är hos våra hästar idag, särskilt när många hästar är skodda året runt utan viloperioder. Han skriver också att hopphästar är särskilt drabbade. Kan det vara att det är en grupp hästar som ofta skos ofta, och ofta året runt, tillsammans med det faktum att hovkapseln utsätts för stora påfrestningar vid varje nerslag vid hoppning?

Dr. Bowker and his team of researchers at MSU have confirmed what many insightful farriers suspected all along. The horse was never intended to hang from the laminae. The hoof walls, soles, bars and frogs are supposed to work in unison to support the horse. Trimming and shoeing practices that force the hoof walls to bear all of the force of impact create more constant stress than the laminae were ever intended to withstand. Add to this the constant stress of landing from  jumps, or toe first landings throughout life caused by weak, underdeveloped frogs and digital cushions: The result is a gradual downward movement of P3 (relative to the coronet) over time. This is remarkably common, but seldom recognized until the horse finally becomes lame.

That’s why so many horse’s hooves seem to get longer as they age. Our predecessors knew this at some level. It’s hard to find an old shoeing text that doesn’t recommend barefoot periods in the “off-season” to “drive up the quick”. What they were actually doing was driving up P3, relative to the coronet. As we have shifted away from this old standard and back to back shoeing has become increasingly common, it has gotten very difficult to find mature horses that do not have much of the pastern buried within the hoof capsule.
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