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An introduction to Natural balance.

 Step forth into the light and let Nature be thy teacher

William Wordsworth.

This article is intended purely as an introduction to the background and principles of Natural Balance, more detailed information is available in the book New Hope for Soundness by Gene Ovnicek.

Many researchers have been looking towards the shape and form of the hoof prints of the wild American equine.In an effort to achieving a greater understanding of how these animals reach a level of self maintenance and soundness, apparently without the need for Farriery.

Softly spoken Montanan Farrier and researcher, Gene Ovnicek came up to this same point in his shoeing career that most farriers reach, despite all our skills there are some shoeing jobs that don’t go as well as we would like and the ultimate goals are so frustratingly elusive.

Whilst shoeing one of these same animals, Gene heard the approach of horse and rider, he knew from the sound that it was un-shod. Frustrated with his shoeing he restrained from making contact with the rider, not wanting to shoe another animal, at least for that day. Good manners eventually eroded Genes’ mood and he enquired if the rider wanted some shoes for his working pony? with a smile the rider replied "no they were doing just fine" and looking at the near perfect unshod feet naturally balanced, questions began to form in his mind.

Some time passed before Gene was invited to attend annual round up of the wild horses that exist on the plains of Montana. He decided to make a study of the feet of these semi wild animals, trying to understand how they managed their feet and try to answer the questions he was looking for. This research was extended over a period of several years using photography to record and document cases and with inkpads to monitor the weight bearing points of the feet.

Initial Findings

Common features and visual landmarks soon became obvious

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• Wild horses rely on a large portion of the sole to bear weight and to support P3, with little contribution by the wall. Ground surface mass in wild horses is 1/3 in front of the widest part of the foot and 2/3 behind that point.

• A consistent pattern of four imprint marks (the four points) was present on every foot (medial and lateral toe and heel). The imprint marks at the toe were primarily on the sole side of the white line. A hard callused area extended across the sole between the two toe imprint marks. This callused area extended across the sole between the two toe imprint marks. This Callused area of the sole was the point of breakover, since the hoof wall was worn away ahead of this ridge
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• The distance from the frog apex to the point of breakover ranged from approximately one inch on small feet to one and a half inches on larger feet. Whilst the heel height differed due to terrain, no correlation between enviroment and point of breakover was noted.

• Dorsal toe length ranged from 2 5/8" to 3 1/4" the shorter lengths were present on the horses from harder, more abrasive terrain, the longest from soft sand environments.

• Dorsal hoof wall angles ranged from 57° to 68° (soft), 54° to 62° (medium) and 51°to 57° on hard surfaces

Although the length of heels varied between environments, the functional hoof angle was very similar

The hoof wall had surprisingly little contact with the imprint board. Horses from the softer sand environment had the deepest concave soles with most hoof wall contact occurring at the heels and the medial and lateral toe. On the other hand, the horses from the rocky environment had virtually little or no hoof wall contact, however the frog, bars and toe callus all bore the ink pad marks.

The equine hoof achieves the most comfortable and optimum form through a process of self maintenance due to it’s environment, critics argue that there is no comparison between feral American desert horses and their European domestic counterparts. All photographs were taken in the United Kingdom. The unshod feet belong to a 14h pony, which is ridden daily in the summer by her teenage owner.

Transponding the information.

Ovincek continued his research by mimicking the layout of the naturally balanced feet and modifying shoeing techniques to encompass the basic layout. During this work other factors were recorded,

The frog has two hard and callused points and their height aligns with the height of the heels of the hoof working as a sensory mechanism, (with slight exceptions being due to different terrain or the thickness or height of a shoe).

P3 can be very easily displaced due to inappropriate loadings, leading to self-modification and distortion of the hoof capsule. The frog height can vary quite quickly as any farrier who has fitted graduated shoes will know that you can artificially raise heels but the frog will ultimately always "fall through the bottom" and return to it’s position at the same height as the ground bearing surface of the shoe.

Material impaction in the frog clefts was a common factor in the initial findings and left un trimmed the frog forms webs designed specifically to help gather material and ensure impaction. This process may serve an important role in dispersing weight-bearing to the entire sole and may be an important link to the life cycle of the equine foot

The relationship between the frog and P3 is established. The use of the frog plane is acknowledged as a visual aid for P3 alignment. Although the relationship between the frog and the sole plane had not been thought significant, it is!

Shoes placed too far forward, thus artificially extending the point of breakover distance, causes hoof distortion and quite often localised lamintis indicated by a reddening in the white line at the toe. In the wild hoof models the point of breakover was always close to the point of the frog.

October 1999 Natural Balance/EDSS Course

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May 1999 UK Natural Balance Master Class

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Natural Balance - The Big Debate UK

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Dominique Falisse European Farriers Journal

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