barefoot - what do you think of these hooves?

[mynutmeg]

This is my 7 year old cob mare's feet. She's always been barefoot apart from 1-2 sets of shoes. She's hacked regularly on the roads with no bother.

Can I get some opinions on her feet. She's due a trim about now. At the moment she just gets trimmed by a farrier who doesn't touch her frog or sole, just takes off any excess wall growth and tidies them up.

Sorry for all the photos (and the feathers in the way)

Right fore

Left fore

Right hind

Left hind

 

[mynutmeg]

bump
Really after some feedback on what people think, especially of her front feet

 

[TwoStroke]

I see fairly robust basic structures, well developed caudal hoof etc, but I'd say there are (or have been) diet issues. Some notable flare and rippling of the hoof wall indicate the horse may be struggling with sugars in the diet. Was she out 24/7 at all this summer? Grass is the usual culprit.

All that aside, the true test is how the feet perform. One of mine has flared front feet - though it's improving - but he's still 100% rock crunching.

 

[jhoward]

the fronts need a bit of flare taken off to rebalance the entire foot, i wouldnt want any length being taken as seems horse is self trimming and tbh looks like it has good strong feet.

left fore being the worse.

the backs to me look a little on the heel but overal not bad

 

[amandap]

I see fairly robust basic structures, well developed caudal hoof etc, but I'd say there are (or have been) diet issues. Some notable flare and rippling of the hoof wall indicate the horse may be struggling with sugars in the diet. Was she out 24/7 at all this summer? Grass is the usual culprit.

All that aside, the true test is how the feet perform. One of mine has flared front feet - though it's improving - but he's still 100% rock crunching.

Ditto. Especially the performance bit.

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

I find the straight thick vertical lines straight down the front of her right fore interesting.

I'm only learning though. I'm used to seeing the horizontal lines indicating the dietary concerns. This is different.

Terri

 

[cptrayes]

If she's sound and always has been then between them she and your farrier know what they are doing and you would interfere with that flare at your peril. People mess too much with sound feet to try to make them look more perfect. Pat your farrier on the back!

The lines are common and cosmetic ER. Those are the kind of feet which when shod often develop sandcrack in the front and quarter cracks on the hind. You can see the same verticle lines at the quarters in the back feet.

 

[Oberon]

I think they look like lovely, robust cob feet .

I could sit here and pic fault - but handsome is as handsome does, and if the horse is working happily then I think you should be damn proud of the hooves (and yourself for nurturing them ).

More work!

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

Thank you CP. Just trying to train my eyes as to what I need to be worried about and what not to be worried about. Obviously being sound is what matters most.

Terri

 

[amandap]

I have a cob with very defined tubules (vertical lines) they have improved a lot with me improving his diet but still evident. I'm wondering if the flattish 1cm approx vertical depression at the toe in the second photo may be due to something at the coronary band ? old injury.

 

[mynutmeg]

I see fairly robust basic structures, well developed caudal hoof etc, but I'd say there are (or have been) diet issues. Some notable flare and rippling of the hoof wall indicate the horse may be struggling with sugars in the diet. Was she out 24/7 at all this summer? Grass is the usual culprit.

All that aside, the true test is how the feet perform. One of mine has flared front feet - though it's improving - but he's still 100% rock crunching.

yeh she's out all summer - we do struggle with weight so they're on restricted area of grazing (the whole field is cobs) but the fields get fertilized so the grass can be kinda rich. Also she spent several months at stud on a huge field with tb mares - way more grass than I would have her on AND they had haylage out because 'there wasn't enough grass' lol. At the moment she's on a molassed chaff as I'm just learning about the whole sugars in the diet thing so as soon as she finishes this bag I'm gonna switch her to a non-molassed one

I guess I'm definately a worrier , I nearly lost her to choke/pneumonia over the summer so am even more protective now so was a little worried about the amount of flare she can get at the bottom/side of her front feet but we do mainly hacking with a fair amount of road work that she copes fine with. The biggest problem I've had with her feet was over the summer when she was at the stud and out of work she kept getting huge chips out of them cause they were growing so fast without being worn on the roads but now she's working again they are definately wearing down.

I have a cob with very defined tubules (vertical lines) they have improved a lot with me improving his diet but still evident. I'm wondering if the flattish 1cm approx vertical depression at the toe in the second photo may be due to something at the coronary band ? old injury.

She's never had an injury there whilst I've had her - I've had since a 3 1/2 year old but she may have done something prior to me getting her

Thank you to everyone for the answers