11/06/2019
This isn't my photo, but it is a great illustration. Heels grow forward, not down. As farriers, we've all heard owners request (or in some instances demand) "don't touch the heels", or "take all the toe you can but leave the heel", also we occasionally hear some trainer or self taught farrier saying the same sort of baloney. Such a statement is a pretty good indicator that the person knows next to nothing about a horse's hoof and is just parroting what they've been told from some other yahoo. As heels grow forward, the base of support moves forward as well. This contributes to the development of the exact hoof type the "leave all the heel" genius is trying to avoid. I've followed farriers who were fired for allegedly taking too much heel, when in fact they were taking no heel, just as they were told, and that was the problem. (That and they decided it was easier to go along to get along rather than attempt to educate someone who was already so confident in their knowledge on the subject.) So this is like a PSA. "Leave all the heel you can" tells you the person knows as much about a horse's hoof as a person telling a NASA engineer they oughta attach a windmill to the next space shuttle to save on fuel. Just stop.
Photo credit: Andi Weishaupt
Text from Talbert Farrier Services, Pic from Huuf-ch - too good to not share