When I got Seamus he'd been in the pasture for several months and really needed a trim. It seems that his shoes had been left on and let to fall off....these are just the assumptions of my farrier. In the first picture of a hoof you can see there were still some nail heads in the hoof. This hoof also had a piece of hoof wall "notched" out. My farrier showed me a scar that looks like he'd had a coronary band injury in the past few months. Nothing came up at the vet exam but I remember noting those back hooves being longer and one I did a double glance at thinking it was club.
The nails were removed and his hooves were trimmed not long after I brought him home. My farrier is a great barefoot farrier. Both my horses hooves have improved since I came to NC and found her. She's the farrier I suggest to anyone who wants a barefoot trimmer. She knows so much more than hooves too!
His back feet were the worst with big wall flares but they are strong since the wall didn't crack or break off. I'm still working with him on picking up his feet easily. I ask with poking his chestnuts but sometimes use the hoof pick as a hook to scoop up his foot from the area of the ergot....hope that makes sense.
His hindlegs are easier to pick up and each time he gets better. Below you can see the trimmed foot on the left and the untrimmed on the right. It's always nice to see freshly trimmed hooves.
The angles were off on all four feet, especially the back so my farrier got them trimmed up nicely.
Below you can see the trauma that had occurred to the hoof wall and the possible site of the coronary band injury. We'll see how it grows out.
Freshly trimmed back feet from the far side below,
Freshly trimmed back feet from the near side below,
Nice rounded edges of the wall. I'm sure his feet will expand some being 100% barefoot here. It will be interesting to get some comparative pics 6 months from now and a year from now. I'm glad he wasn't one of those Tennessee Walkers with the big pads on their feet. He just had been a little long between trims and my experience is that trims are different for a shod horse and I'm learning that there is still that old school thought that horses need to have long toes to gait.
It's so not true. For the longevity of the horse their feet should be trimmed for their conformation and have the best angles to keep their legs aligned properly. Too high a heel, too long a toe or compressed heels....these all lead to long term problems that don't just affect the hoof but the entire horse. Bad angles in the hoof and legs and add strain to ligaments up the leg and into the spine. Needless to say we have a chiropractor appointment soon so we can make sure he's not been thrown off kilter.
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