12 Weeks in - Barefoot

[HufflyPuffly]

So 12 weeks in, we're much the same still footy over the stones though I'm sure we are starting to get a little better. She's starting to develop a bit of concavity to her feet, so I think as this improves so will the footiness. Her frog on her off side is suddenly starting to open up a little more and look less pinched. Her heel on the near side is still proper funky, but she seems fairly happy about life .

Near fore:

Weird inside , it's kind of developed a bulge any ideas if this is to be concerned about or just how she wants her feet?

Off side:

Trimmer will be back out in the next couple of weeks, think we may loose the nail holes this time will be weird seeing her without them . Might get some extra pics of her feet from the front too, see what that inside edge looks like!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

The hooves will look pretty bulgy and odd while the new angle grows out. Don't worry about it, they are after all trying to recover from a deformed shape to a better shape.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

The hooves will look pretty bulgy and odd while the new angle grows out. Don't worry about it, they are after all trying to recover from a deformed shape to a better shape.

I hope so, I'm hoping that as it's her poorly foot thats extra weird then she's making changes to make it more comfortable .

 

[Tiaan]

New growth always comes in at a tighter angle, this is a good thing!

Not much frog there so I would treat for thrush but otherwise looking on the right path imo

 

[spookypony]

What a dramatic change in angle already! Frogs don't look especially thrushy to me; just a bit wimpy as yet, but that should change over time. Frogs often shed around this time of year, too, so may well look a little raggedy.

 

[Andalucian]

Excellent photos . These will take a long time to recover from the very underrun shape they were, don't expect to be doing stones happily anytime soon. But everything looks positive to me, just stick with it, and use hoof boots for comfort/protection as needed. Good luck.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I'd be inclined to ask trimmer if she should come now, seems to me the horn quality is good but the old hoof slope is terrible, new growth is good.
Personally I would walk [in hand if necessary] on a tarmac road to rasp off the toes, or rasp them myself.
With spring grass it will be difficult to reduce hoof sensitivity, if you can feed soaked hay for a few hours this might fill her tummy and reduce grass intake.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Looking good.

It's taken my Welsh D 10 months to be good on stones (also coincided with me stopping micronised linseed interestingly) and she didn't have any issues so I wouldn't worry about that for a long time yet.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

New growth always comes in at a tighter angle, this is a good thing!

Not much frog there so I would treat for thrush but otherwise looking on the right path imo

Not thrushy currently but I treat once a week as a precaution, Her new angle is fab, but her whiteline and frogs are also much improved from when shoes came off even if still not the best yet .

What a dramatic change in angle already! Frogs don't look especially thrushy to me; just a bit wimpy as yet, but that should change over time. Frogs often shed around this time of year, too, so may well look a little raggedy.

Cannot wait for the new angle to have grown all the way down, we're very excited, well me and mum are Doodle is varying degrees of irritated by us looking, poking and taking pictures of her feet . Aww wimpy frogs , they have improved honestly but yes more to come, her off side has suddenly opened up quite nicely so I'm hoping more beefing up will happen! Frogs are shedding, but I'm leaving well alone she needs all the frog she can get.

Excellent photos . These will take a long time to recover from the very underrun shape they were, don't expect to be doing stones happily anytime soon. But everything looks positive to me, just stick with it, and use hoof boots for comfort/protection as needed. Good luck.

I'm hoping that once the new angle has grown down and we have a little more shape to the underside she will feel happier, don't mind sticking with boots for hacking but I am keeping my fingers crossed for a bit more to come. She's starting to improve now so maybe in another 3 months we will be even comfier.

I'd be inclined to ask trimmer if she should come now, seems to me the horn quality is good but the old hoof slope is terrible, new growth is good.
Personally I would walk [in hand if necessary] on a tarmac road to rasp off the toes, or rasp them myself.
With spring grass it will be difficult to reduce hoof sensitivity, if you can feed soaked hay for a few hours this might fill her tummy and reduce grass intake.

Slowly slowly with regard taking that toe back we need her to be as mobile as we can so need to balance getting the hoof balance vs taking too much off and making her sore. She's doing a little in-hand work, plus hacking in boots, and must be wearing them a little herself as the nail holes are almost gone . Not sure I would be confident to rasp myself though will ask the trimmer to advise and show me how.

*Touching all wood* I'm hoping she wont be too sensitive to the grass but it is my number one worry currently, as she's 23 and dropped so much weight over the last year we need as many calories as we can get, the spring grass has always done wonders for her condition but I will have to be very careful this time round... We're still on the winter field and only out for a limited number of hours so, so far all is fine, but when we move fields next month I may have to rethink things.

Looking good.

It's taken my Welsh D 10 months to be good on stones (also coincided with me stopping micronised linseed interestingly) and she didn't have any issues so I wouldn't worry about that for a long time yet.

Thanks I'm please with her progress.

Very interesting about the linseed, I'm happy to give her a fair few months yet before I panic about the footiness on stones, she is getting better at only 3 months in so hopefully we will continue to improve.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I think magnesium is the key mineral in the UK, I would keep on with 25-50[due to age/loss of condition] gms micronised linseed as summer progresses, I have no doubt i is good for skin and hoof, obviously there may be exceptions.
Don't worry about rasping yourself, it took me about 12 months to become confident, about the same time as to actually become competent in rolling the edges, at first you will be lucky to get any off. Using the proper rasp, makes you look at balance, concavity etc.
I found that rolling every 2 weeks did the job, not suggesting major surgery here!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

She's on a micronised linseed (not weighed but two 'mug' fulls split between three feeds) and Pro Laminea+ from progressive earth, will check out the mag levels in it!

I'm a scardy cat but will ask my trimmer, she's had such a hard 12 months I do not want to mess anything up for her by not knowing exactly what I'm doiing . Will see what the trimmer thinks, and see if he wants to come out more regularly or if I can be let loose .

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Well, easy enough to grab the scales out of the kitchen, you will be feeding about 200-250 +gms at the moment, you should know by times you have to replenish the stuff,
Luggage scale are fine for haynets, but you really should weigh and record feeds plus condition, management etc, monitor weight weekly with weightape, averaging out every two weeks weights, it will help tremendously, believe me

 

[HufflyPuffly]

She's not the only one on the linseed so cannot measure just on usage of the bag unfortunately. Shamefully we are more of the look at horse and know its work level and feed relevant amounts, never weighed anything (they are all fed ab-lib forage so don't weigh nets either ).

Her weight has come up nicely with three feeds a day, ribs still felt but has a better covering now, really she needs to build some muscle back up now for her to look better. I think she will feel a lot better too when she's built up a little more, box rest with an oldie does nothing for their legs . If we can sort the feet out and have a summer of 24/7 turnout I think she will look a different horse again, but as with most things something is probably going to have to be comprimised somewhere...

 

[FfionWinnie]

I stopped everything because once there is grass she isn't interested in bucket feeds so no mag either.

I think it depends on your area as well. Neither of mine get mag because it makes my other one have mallanders symptoms and both are extremely good on their feet. Come to think of it so is daughter's pony and she get grass and hay. I mention the linseed because that's twice I've removed it from two different horses and got an immediate improvement.

Don't be scared to experiment and I highly doubt you will do any damage rasping a mm off here and there. Look at the damage the professional has done to let these angles get to this stage after all! Your approach is working and it's clear to see.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I stopped everything because once there is grass she isn't interested in bucket feeds so no mag either.

I think it depends on your area as well. Neither of mine get mag because it makes my other one have mallanders symptoms and both are extremely good on their feet. Come to think of it so is daughter's pony and she get grass and hay. I mention the linseed because that's twice I've removed it from two different horses and got an immediate improvement.

Don't be scared to experiment and I highly doubt you will do any damage rasping a mm off here and there. Look at the damage the professional has done to let these angles get to this stage after all! Your approach is working and it's clear to see.

Wait you have a horse who will refuse bucket feeds , think mine would have to be dying for that to happen .

I'll be keeping a close eye on them as we also feed Alpha A which can also be a bit hit or miss with skin and feet, the linseed has made a cracking improvement on Doodle's coat and weight but I'm not sure the additional balancer has made any difference so far...

However we've just put Topaz on the Pro Platinum+ and she looks absolutely amazing so far. As she's such a good do'er she gets a token feed, but her skin and coat looked rubbish (good feet though), so thought we'd try a balancer with her to see if it made a difference and not only has she lost a bit more weight (a good thing!) but her coat looks fantastic as it grows in (she is sporting the patchwork look at the mo ). So Topaz must have been lacking something from the grass and forage, though I guess if we could feed her hard feed like we do with Doodle maybe she would look better?

I keep thinking I should get our forage and grazing analysed but not quite got round to it yet!

Very good point about trimming her, will dip a toe in and see what happens, but think I will talk with the trimmer about it first.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Yes. The D is a total pain in the ass to feed. If she will eat it it makes her nuts and if it won't make her nuts she isn't interested. She's currently guzzling the grass in my lambing field but will have to come out of there soon because I don't fancy lambing sheep with her special brand of Welsh "help".

Don't think of it as trimming. It's polishing, maximum.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Bless she wants the good stuff , we have to be careful with Topaz a wiff of cereals and she goes off her rocker but thankfully she's just so happy to get a bucket she will eat the more bland stuff, though anything new has to be introduced very gradually otherwise it is posion .

Doodle will and does eat anything it belies her sweet little angelic face when she steals mouldy carrots out of the bin or sneaks a mouthful of supplement (very expensive supplement) out of the tub...

Aww can we have lamb pictures please, they are so cute and I think D would be a great help as a midwife to the sheep .

Polishing her feet, now that does sound like somthing I would do , ok what rasp would you recommend? I can order it before the trimmer comes so he can then show me what to do.

As an addition Doodle scared the bejesus out of me last night, just finished her bed and she got down to rolll as she always does (only rolls on clean white shavings ), but she didn't get up... Thought thats a bit odd, she then lay flat out and went to sleep, so thinking this was super odd behaviour for her, checked all feet for signs of lami (obviously the first thing to jump to ) finding no outward signs of illness, listened to her tummy for gut signs which were healthy, panicked and woke her up and made her get up, to then have a very grumpy, sleepy Doodle , she was fine, not ill, just tired apparently lol. Poor Doodle I'm a terrible parinoid owner .

 

[FfionWinnie]

Ha ha so she slept through you doing your examination?!

I just have a bog standard rasp off eBay. Was about 11 quid I think. I literally rasp ahem polish a mm off as a tidy up very very occasionally and nearly never once they are in hard work as they do their own polishing then. I will do Peaches and take pics for you this weekend.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Yep pretty much, she did open her eye at me but otherwise managed to just look annoyed , I thought she was at deaths door! She did forgive me when I gave her a carrot though .

Yes please to the pics and I will peruse Ebay for rasps, thank you .