The Renegade® Hoof Boot was specifically designed for hooves which are maintained with natural heel heights. Natural heel height is often deemed to be “low” when compared to what is the norm for traditionally modern hoof care practice. An examples of a heel within the range of “natural” is shown in the photo below #1.
Shown above #2 is a hoof with an unnaturally high heel which is not desirable for use with the Renegade Hoof Boots.
And below #3 is the same high heeled hoof inside of a size 0 boot shell. Notice how the boot bulges out at the green arrow.
And above #4 is the natural heel shown inside of the same boot shell.
And above #5 is a “cut and paste”, side by side comparison between the two hooves with differing heel heights. Unnatural heel on the left, natural heel on the right.
High heeled hoof form often results in less than maximum possible boot performance.
If your horse exhibits high heels you can expect problems with boot retention, increased wear and tear on the cables and cable guide-ways and increased tread wear at the toe resulting from forward-shifted weight-bearing and poor “heel first” landing.
It should also be noted that “high heeled” hoof form and it’s often associated steep pastern angles, greatly reduces length of stride and diminishes the leg columns ability to properly suspend the weight of the horse and absorb shock which may lead to a shorter useful life of the horse.
If your horse has high heels, what should you do? If you have not yet noticed, the two hooves shown in the above examples are the very same hoof with the photos taken right before and right after a natural trim with considerable heel reduction. Through proper trimming practices, most high heeled horses can achieve a lower and more natural hoof form but sometimes the horse may have only one high heel (usually the right fore) which is usually deemed to be a “club foot”. These horses will usually require the horse owner to perform interim heel maintenance in order to keep the heel height in check between regular trims. Consult with your hoof care professional for advice.