Pictures-advice please

havingfun · Pictures-advice please

Hi all. I am going to attempt to post Navonie's hoof pictures from when we first pulled her shoes in December 08 and last week, September 09. I finally found a farrier that seems to know what he is doing to show me how to keep her feet healthy rather than just relying on the web. He has explained how her left front heel grows a little faster than the right front heel and how to accomodate for that. Other than that she is a healthy 15 year old Arabian mare with no lameness issues. She does land toe first and moves heavily on the forehand. I was hoping she would be landing more heel first by now. She wears Renegades when I ride her on the trail but otherwise is always barefoot. In the September 09 pictures it has been 2 weeks since I trimmed her. Notice how long the front heels have grown. We have been doing modified hill therapy on rocky trail and sandy arena and round pens for 15-60 minutes a day. I would love feedback in trimming her especially how to get her to land more heel first.

Right Front Sept 09

Right front Dec 08

Left front Sept 09

Left front Dec 08

Right Rear Sept 09

Right Rear Dec 08

Left Rear Sept 09

Left Rear Dec 08

Left Rear Dec 08

Hope you like the before and after picts. I am very pleased with how much better she is moving and am always looking to improve.

appellativo

I see some bars that really need to be trimmed! I also see where wall needs to be taken and made equidistant from the white line, and I can't really see, maybe because of the tiny pics, much of a roll/relief on the outer wall? She appears to have decent concavity in most of the pics (no oblique shots and tiny pics is hard to tell). I'd say trim those bars and keep the outer wall passive with plenty of free motion on terrain similar to what she's ridden on (as much as you can provide) and time will improve her. My own mare is making improvements, but they are slow (to me. I am impatient!) but her hoof has gained concavity and gone down a size since I've begun taking her toe back. Good luck.

havingfun

Thanks Appellativo. I don't know why the pictures are so tiny or how to fix it from photobucket.

The bars were trimmed down to the sole 2 weeks prior to when these pictures were taken. I don't do anything to the sole, I leave that to the farrier & he even takes very little only near the heel. She grows hoof wall & bars fast, especially in the front. The toe is the only part I don't need to use nippers on. I see what you mean about the wall not being rolled equal distant to the white line. I am impatient about wanting her to land the feet differently. I am very pleased with the change in concavity, toughness of the frog, and thickness of the hoof wall.

Karie

Perhaps you are trimming the bars down too far? Pete Ramey says that if you trim too deep, the hoof with see that as say an injury and will grow that area back faster than usual. Which is usually what happens when people try to cut concavity in to the sole or take the heels down way too much, it just bounces right back.
Of course, he also mentions that if the hoof continues to grow back a part of the hoof, it could be because the hoof needs it.

Have you read any of his stuff? He has an article on his website about bars.
http://www.hoofrehab.com/thebars.htm

appellativo

I concur. Maybe right now, that horse needs a bit more bar than some horses. It will be interesting to see how her hoof continues to change and grow. Please update every six months at least! I love hoof studies! Don't be impatient...boot and pad the hoof if needed to facilitate a heel first landing,....keep playing with it until you get the heel first landing, then ride the tar out of her....the hoof will change and develop quickly, then! I highly recommend watching the Under the Horse vids, the Tools of the Trade vid (about padding/casting to facilitate heel first landings that enables developing the hoof faster), and the 'That's My Horse' OTTB case study for more info on this.

havingfun

When first barefoot I left the bars & heels alone causing too long of heel and bars laying over. When I finally found a trimmer he showed me what I was doing wrong. She moved much better after his trim so I continued to trim the way he showed me, taking the bars to the sole plane. I think I went from one extreme, not touching bars & heel, to another, taking off too much. I'm going to play with keeping them somewhere in the middle. I'm thinking on the longer side but not so long they lay over.

The hinds are fine. I just lightly rasp the heels and round th entire hoof wall. It's the fronts that grow so fast. In hind sight it shows what was going on when she was shod. She always started tripping at 5 weeks and had to be trimmed at 6 weeks or was unridable. Those front heels must have been massive under the shoes at 6 weeks throwing her off balance.

The article was excellent. It will take a few readings to sink in. I have Under the Hoof but admit to not totally understanding all of it. There's a lot there. I plan to rewatch it. It looks like Pete has added more info since I was last on his site in the spring.

carefreegirl

havingfun could you label your pics better? I am having a hard time telling which ones are from December and which are from September, from what I can tell the pics with the long bars that need trimming are the pics from December, but maybe I am wrong.

havingfun

Done