Toe Grab Study (cont'd) low (4 millimeters), regular (6 millimeters) and high (8 millimeters). The odds of any type of fatal musculoskeletal injury were found to be 3.5 times greater for horses shod with regular toe grabs compared with horses shod without toe grabs. Horses shod with low grabs had a six-time greater risk and horses shod with regular toe grabs had a 16-time greater risk. Q: Is the correlation between height and incidence of injury to be expected? A: Absolutely. The higher the toe grab, the greater the influence on the angle and the greater the influence on the entire limb. What Dr. Kane\s study does is look at the toe grab and ask, "What does it influence just by the fact that you have them on?" What we always knew was that it changes the functional angle of the foot. You can trim a foot to "x" degree, the proper angle for that individual horse, but when you add the toe grab, you\ve raised the toe and changed the angle of the foot. Q: Why is angle so important? A: Basically, at any given stride, the fetlock drops a given distance to absorb the shock of impact. Picture a horse landing perfectly straight like a broomstick, a 1,200-pound athlete doing 40 mph. It would break. But the leg can flex and absorb the shock of impact, like a paratrooper is trained to land with an angle to absorb the impact of landing. If he didn\t have the proper angle, his heels would be in the back of his ears before it was all said and done. What Kane\s work has shown, as well as Noah Cohen\s research here at Texas A & M, is what we have suspected for years that the suspensory apparatus is the most commonly involved tissue in breakdowns, and it is tissue that is influenced by foot angle. Q: The highest incidence of breakdown attributed to toe grabs involved the ...

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