| Archive for It's About The Horse The Free Forum for those Doing Parelli - and a whole lot More! "Anything forced and misunderstood can never be beautiful." Xenophon (430-355 B.C.), |
| thebundychick |
Long Toe / Neglected horseI really don't understand some people
I've watched this horse that is agisted in Sante's paddock, for the last 12 months. In the 12 months he's been there, I've seen his owner three times. One of those times, was because her horse ran into a tree & split his head open, and they had to get the vet out. Other than that, i've seen her feed him, and put him back in the paddock twice. Thats it. I've resigned myself to not looking at her horse, because he has the longest toes, and it breaks my heart watching him in the paddock. He trips on nearly every step. So i got a friend request from her on facebook last week. I've always thought her a bit odd, so I never added her. Well.. a few days ago, I got a message from her, introducing herself, and wondering whether I'd be interested in trimming her horses feet, as she's heard i can trim. I was thrilled to peices to be asked. She offered to pay me, and I accepted. I just wanted this horse to be comfortable again. So - that afternoon, I went to the paddock & caught the horse. Super easy to catch due to all the UDT I've done with Sante. But the owner said "He's a bit funny with his feet". A bit funny?!?? The horse was semi feral. Its been sooooo long between his human contact, he was just nuts. Couldnt' stand still, snorted at teh rasp, the nippers, wouldn't let me past his shoulder, damn near jumped on me when a plastic bag flew out of my car.
Major major claustrophobia - could only spend 5 seconds at a time trimming before he snatched his foot back & reared. And if the lead rope touched him he nearly flipped!!!!! I realized quickly that I was flirting with death here, and decided to go back to basics. I spent 45 minutes just playing with him. I grabbed the plastic bag that he reared at, and scrunched it until he stood still, 5 minutes lateri could rub it on him. I grabbed my stick & string, and walked up and down the laneway slapping the ground with it, whilst he tried to rear behind me, once he could lead without a problem, then we workedo n touching him with it. He kicked the stick every time it went past his hip, but with a little bit more work, he was able to accept that. After trying to brush him (just for something different) and having to introduce him to a hairbrush, and let him chew it and snort at it, I decided to try his feet again. With a hell of a lot of approach & retreat, never nevern ever making him wrong, and giving him all the release in the world, I finally got his fronts done. (nipped the toe off & rounded as best I could without a hoofstand) I saw him again today (2 days later) to put a mustang roll on the toes. Spent 10 minutes introducing him too the hoof stand, and to my total surprise, he stood stock still and let me finish both feet. So - before & after photos. Please forgive the angles of these photos. they are aboslutely terrible. But I was proud of the fact that I was able to trim him without getting killed - getting him to stand still while i took photo's seemed asking to much. Basically I took about 4cm off the toes. But left the heels. THe heels are SERIOUSLY underrun, they are nearly half way along the frog!!! So I cleaned them up a little, but left more length on the heels, took more off the toe, and next trim, If the angle has fixed itself, I will trim the heels properly, but we will see - the whole hoof capsule was "running away". Not 100% happy with the length yet - toes still seem a bit long to me, but I want him to be comfortable, and also - he wasn't the easiest horse to trim.... So.. photos.. FL 
FR 
And after.... don't want to take anymore flare off than I already have, or seriously... there won't be any wall left.. 
The horse is sound - which is really good - means i didnt' take off more than he could cope with. But it was funny watching him walk around. took 15 minutes for his head to stop "bobbing" with every step, and for him to re adjust his stride so that he wasn't sticking his foot out in mid air before realizing there was no toe there to climb over and he could put it down. It was amazing to watch. So now, I will work with him some more, until I feel he's OK for me to look at his backs. |
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| appellativo |
So glad you are able to give him some relief and improvement! 
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| PasoBaby_CarolU |
Kudos to you...the before and after are amazing. He will enjoy being able to break over his step again.
Also, for taking the time it takes at the beginning to work with his feet. So many people would go straight to ropes and tying legs up to force the horse. Way to go. |
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| ForgeNHammer |
Doesn't look like there was a ton of toe, just looks like it needed to be gathered up just like what you did. Nice job! | ||
| thebundychick |
Thanks everyone
I'm blushing !!!  
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| Chablis |
Well done. 
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| thebundychick |
Forge - can you give me your professional opinion on how long you think its been between trims? The horse is spelled, not worked at all. not ridden. not fed any hard feed. Is on unimproved pasture. Looking at the toe length, and the evidence of self trimming, how long do you think its been since this horse saw a farrier? The reason I ask, the girl told me how long its been since her horse last got a trim, and I don't agree with her account. |
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| ForgeNHammer |
Considering that there are rasp marks on the before pics it can't have been too long between trims but, it's tough to say. Looks like the foot was just rasped down the dorsal wall one too many times, thinned it, and now its shelly because of it. Again I don't feel like the toe in itself is excessively long but, the toe quarters are blown out and that is what you gathered back up. I think if you keep doing what you do did, in 3-4 trims it'll look completely different. These feet are prime examples of what happens when you rasp the crap out of the toe and all that gets done is thinning the hoof wall. So I'd just keep doing what your doing. | ||
| RickB. |
Big improvement, well done. Don't be afraid to take those heels back some. Leaving them where they are only encourages them to migrate further forward.
Also, consider lightly rockering the toe rather than leaving it as pictured. |
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| bit |
I was afraid to look at this because I thought it might just be another story about a horse not getting what he needs. Whew! I'm wondering if that horse would LET anyone trim him. Ya know? Rearing tends to send a farrier back to his truck, or gets the horse beat up. I'm so glad you used horsemanship to gain his trust and were able to help him. Can you keep posting? I'd love to follow his story and see his feet recover. | ||
| babs |
Brava, my dear, Brava!!! | ||
| thebundychick |
I visited this wonderful little challenge again on the weekend - with the owner, and together we did the backs. I revisited the fronts & took a little more off the heel. My intention was to ease the heels back, so as not to leave him really sore, but not only that - I was concerned that by trimming excess toe & heel at the same time - I wouldn't actually correct the fact that the hoof appeared to be "running away" slightly, and that the heels were very underrun. Thoughts? I am hoping to drop in and see both my horse, and this guy again today and will get a few photos for comparison. The backs were a MAJOR challenge, and they are nothing but seperated wall. |
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| thebundychick |
She said 9 weeks. Honestly - I'd swear the last farrier just came out, threw a rasp around the toe and got out of there quick smart - the foot is attempting selft trimming - you can see where its snapping off, chipped, flaked & uneven - that why I didn't understand the rasp marks, cause i can't for the life of me think of what the hell he actually rasped!?! Anyway I've laid down the law to the girl who owns him. Told her that I'm happy to trim him - but it has to be done every 4 weeks, and she needs to see him EVERY weekend, and work on his feet - I've also offered my assitance on a weekend basis free of charge. Am hoping by making the trimming more regular, and the weekly visits a routine thing, he will begin to be easier to trim - here's hoping 
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| merle |
I was thinking the same thing when I saw the feet. A friend of mine has a team of Percheron mares. They have not had their feet trimmed in 4 years - no joke. But, their feet are fine. They move around in a 100 acre pasture and keep their feet wore down. In the pasture with the Percherons are two paint horses and a riding stock mule. The paints feet will get fairly long before they break off, not pretty but they are sound. The mule needs her feet done, but part of that is because she had been trimmed like a horse - the guy trimming her had tried to turn her nice little mule feet into big round horse feet. That caused a lot of problems. |