5 month barefoot check in photos

Red-1

Red-1

I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
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Hi,

Jay has been barefoot for 5 months now, and as he seems confident we have started to jump. I have taken monthly photos, and here are today's plus one photo of him on his first (rather fun) jump session.

Any observations on his feet welcome. They seem to be doing well, confident on surfaces and on smooth tarmac, not good on bis stones yet.

His white line seems quite deep, but I am guessing the recent wet weather has not helped.
Near fore

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Off fore
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Near Hind
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Off hind
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Playing
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a518/red-12/1K9A8760r_zpsv8enba7k.jpg
 
Well they look pretty lovely to me!

I would just be careful with the tight central sulcus on the frogs - franks are the same and I do have to do a bit of light management of them or they can get a bit grotty.
 
Yep, they look great (and super clean and grot-free!!). To improve them, I'd just want the heels a tiny bit stronger and the toe the tiniest bit shorter but the best indication of a good foot is how the horse manages. If its totally sound, foot sure and landing heel first, then whatever you're doing is working!
 
Thank you all. Heels are getting stronger every time, they have come back a lot already, and are almost at the right angle I think. Before his coronet had a dip at the back, whereas that is almost straight now. It is constant to keep the toes back on the front, he has good depth of wall at the front and it is epically strong there!

The frogs have shrunk back a bit with all the wet weather. They never looked grotty, but did get soft at the edges, and lost some substance. The white lines also got soft and he lost material there too. He now has some fancy French Hoof Ointment that seems to have sorted that out. Thanks to HHO for getting me a translation on how to use it!

Bonkers, he is on dry hay ad lib, Pure Easy (mainly dried grass) feed, Pro Hoof, Salt, and a Magnesium supplement.

When his shoes first came off we did a three months barefoot mainly walking in hand, literally starting with 100 yards and building up to 30 minutes. Then he had hoof boots for hacking, but I do pull these half a mile from home and walk in hand barefoot every ride, at least three times a week. They were just not quite good enough without boots for longer ridden rides.

He is great in a good arena barefoot, but on mine there are big stones, and he is OK to lunge barefoot, but for ridden work I boot up there too. The photo was in a good arena, barefoot.
 
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They are good feet and you've been doing the homework needed to get these good feet! Despite the wet weather, I'd say he's laughing at it. His feet are hard and healthy. The false sole is starting to come out and when the feet are dry, it will come out in chunks like this. I'm looking at the second pic down. The way the sole is exfoliating around the apex of the frog is a perfect example of how concavity emanates out from the apex.
Signs of imbalance are in the heels. See how one heel bulb on the left is slightly more pointed than the other? (pic near the last) It is taking impact harder on that side. The heels look good, but if you look at the bar ramp, you'll see that it is excessive. Just forward of the heel platforms, the run of the bar mounds up higher than the heel platform, making it an obstacle for the horse to get up over on the hoof's run forward. It dictates, making the bar your actual heel balance, instead of the heel. This bar pushes out to the side in its height, causing slight separation to the white line at the quarters to the side. When you look at the bar, look not at where it is concerning the surrounding material on the surface. Instead, look at how high the ramp comes up out of the groove. That will give you the truth of it. "The bars should merger up out of the sole 1/2 way back on the frog and ramp straight up to meet the heel platforms dead on and the surface of the bars should be flat to ground. No where on that ramp run should be higher than the heel platforms or the quarter walls to the side." When a bar ramp is too high, it becomes the new heel balance, jams down the ramp wall into the groove, migrated the ramp location outward, pushing sole/leaving dead air space behind, locks in false sole tight and preventing exfoliation at the back of the hoof. If you look just below the ramp on the right side, you'll see a bowed down area. That is tall bar jamming down the bar wall and into the foot. This force also has it starting to bulge into the groove. (back to 2nd pic) Both bar ramps are cracked, also showing impact. All these things say that the bars are too high. On the left bar, the crack has happened right at the end of the bar ramp 1/2 way back on the frog. The material in front of that is also excessive. This area should merge smoothly into the beginning of the bar ramp and not be a lump sitting there. There's a lot of descending weight coming down on that ramp and when the ramp ends, the support is gone and it will punch in right there, into the corium and is the start of an possible abscess. Another place where bars can bite is in the 10th pic. On the right, a good shape for a bar, as described above, but still high, still holding sole in from exfoliating. Its pushing outward towards the quarters and the leading edge of that bar is biting hard into sole and even though its lower than sole, is still holding it. (another abscess possibility) If you have anything going on in the back of the foot and lifts your eyebrows, check those bars. Tell the trimmer as well, otherwise they are definitely a keeper. Bars are growth and that's a good thing. They are a harder/more dense material as sole and don't slough out like sole. They have to be worn out, barring that, they just need to managed so they don't get excessive and start biting/jamming into the foot. Once the bars are managed, the sole at the back of the foot will really start come out and whole concavity forming and completing transition. As for the development with the walking on asphalt, I can see has really paid off as well and is good homework done as well. Development and toughness of the hoof also has to be earned, starting with asphalt and graduating to stones. My goal was to be able to ride the fist-sized quarry stone on the road, cause I was not going to be a prisoner on my own land. To get a rock crushing foot, I had the horses do their homework on rocks, by putting down gravel. (gateways, where they loaf, around the water trough) It works! Worked so well for me, that I filled my barn and my round pen with gravel. They are on it now, surrounded by a sea of mud, getting rock crushing feets with minimal thrush and they'll be ready for that harder ground in summer once things dry up...no set backs.....and that quarry stone road?.....not a blink of an eye, a twitch of an ear, let alone any misstep happening. I'd say you are very close to completing transition, getting over the hump and really shining with no boots in the picture anymore. Well done! I know its hard work with lots of patience needed.
 
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P.S. The next development you should look for once those bars are managed is no more pocket at the back of frog holding crud. Instead it will be full hoof shaped dirt donuts left on the ground behind the horse. The hoof has full function and flex and is spitting out dirt with every step. When you see a dirt donut, it is cause for celebration. The sole/white line/wall will also no longer be beside each other, laid out for you to see. They'll be tighter, more on top of each other and harder to see. I call this "concavity, right to the walls" (remember, it started way back at the apex) No longer is there a strip of flat sole near its edge. It goes straight down into concavity. This is definitely cause for celebration! Take even more pictures and keep a close eye out. Once things are optimal, the hoof will snap into shape. I've seen it happen overnight after a trim. Your faith and hard work are paying off and its "wow" time. Just wanted to say there are still exciting things in your future. Carry on and best wishes.
 
Wow, thank you missyclare.

I will set to with the bars, I did not understand WHY they had to come off, so have left them. I will sort them out.

A lovely positive finish to your communication. Sometimes I do think about re-shoeing as we are quite restricted at the moment. I am hoping once the ground hardens up it will improve again as we are on heavy clay soil, so he is only turned out on an arena for a few hours a day and so is stable bound a lot of the time, which I know is not as good.

I did take a video too, which I have slowed down. Not exactly heel first in trot, but TBF he had worked very hard the day before, including schooling and jumping barefoot, and visiting the gallops with boots.

The video will be live in a about half an hour on http://youtu.be/IPARWlDk8M4
 
Back in, and I have to say his bars are rock hard, and took some trimming! They are about 50% the height they were, and I will do some more as time goes on. I have done all trimming with a rasp so far, bars were trimmed with blunt tools, I think I need sharper tools!

I have also had another look at the video[video=youtube_share;IPARWlDk8M4]http://youtu.be/IPARWlDk8M4[/video]

I see that he is landing outside first behind in particular. Interesting.
 
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