soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
Finally had phone and horse in a suitable place for pictures.
Discuss trimming approaches with me...
- Thread starter soloequestrian
- Start date
paddy555
Well-Known Member
it is impossible to comment on your pics. The trimmer came on 3/4 your pics if I am correct are a week later and I would have expected to see a far better trim however from reading your first post the trimmer (not of a brand I would choose) was restricted in what she could trim based upon your criteria. To my mind he bottom pics show the horse standing badly but that could be the angle of the camera and the way he was stood. I would have expected to see a nice roll and some attempt to reduce WLS. The feet are unbalanced and need balancing to my mind
I think you have the choice of continuing to trim based on your own thoughts or get a professional trimmer and let them trim without telling them what to do. You cannot expect a trimmer to trim them a little to your instructions. The trimmer sees the feet, the horse and the movement, works out what is needed to be done and how to get there. As far a balance goes a trimmer is trained to balance the feet.
I appreciate this may not be what you want to hear but I think your trimmer was pretty tolerant. I would expect a professional to walk away if I told them what I wanted them to do to that extent. I would find a trimmer, look through their site to view their pics and see how they work, what they produce and try and get some references and proceed that way. Perhaps if you stated your approx location someone would be able to help with their own good trimmer.
I think you have the choice of continuing to trim based on your own thoughts or get a professional trimmer and let them trim without telling them what to do. You cannot expect a trimmer to trim them a little to your instructions. The trimmer sees the feet, the horse and the movement, works out what is needed to be done and how to get there. As far a balance goes a trimmer is trained to balance the feet.
I appreciate this may not be what you want to hear but I think your trimmer was pretty tolerant. I would expect a professional to walk away if I told them what I wanted them to do to that extent. I would find a trimmer, look through their site to view their pics and see how they work, what they produce and try and get some references and proceed that way. Perhaps if you stated your approx location someone would be able to help with their own good trimmer.
FieldOrnaments
Well-Known Member
I sort of agree with paddy555 but sort of do not; when you bring in a professional to do anything with your horse, it should be a collaboration bringing together the owner's knowledge of the individual animal and the professional's knowledge of their craft. Owner and professional should be working together to achieve the best outcome for the welfare of the horse.
soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
It would be lovely to experience having a choice of professionals!
I wanted help with the white line issues, which I think are clear on the pictures. The trimmer wanted to take the heels down - her training tells her that all issues stem from long heels. She thinks that will help the white line so didn't do anything directly to it.
I don't agree. I let her take a little bit of the inner heel off and all that seems to have done is encourage the outer heel to run under a little bit. I think the horse has built the hooves she needs and that the white line issue is related to some sort of infection which is how I am treating it at the moment.
The pictures are because someone asked for them and I'm interested in how her feet look in terms of 'high heels' to others. I have an hypothesis that the trimmer's training comes from lots of work on laminitic feet, which these are not.
I wanted help with the white line issues, which I think are clear on the pictures. The trimmer wanted to take the heels down - her training tells her that all issues stem from long heels. She thinks that will help the white line so didn't do anything directly to it.
I don't agree. I let her take a little bit of the inner heel off and all that seems to have done is encourage the outer heel to run under a little bit. I think the horse has built the hooves she needs and that the white line issue is related to some sort of infection which is how I am treating it at the moment.
The pictures are because someone asked for them and I'm interested in how her feet look in terms of 'high heels' to others. I have an hypothesis that the trimmer's training comes from lots of work on laminitic feet, which these are not.
paddy555
Well-Known Member
in theory I agree and the interests of the horse are the most important. In this case I think the owner feels the horse has built the hooves she needs ie a self trimming horse but some trimmers would see areas that could be improved and work on correcting them. Two different approaches. I work on the WL by trimming but that would be at variance with what the poster believed in. I think that before one could comment on heel height you would need to see the horse. I've seen many pics of feet that possibly look to have high heels but when they are photographed with the camera on the ground it tells a different story.
from what I understand I think this trimming method does work on low heels as standard practice so I can understand why she wanted to lower them. It is not a method I personally would choose.
Red-1
I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
I can't really comment from those photos. The phone/camera really does need to be ON the ground and square on. The angles can look so different when the lens is floating above and at odd angles.
From what I can see, the white line is likely being prised apart because the wall is so long it is being levered off. The heels don't look like they've been trimmed level. The sole view shows one long heel, one not. The off fore looks to have a sort of duck beak, whereas I would likely have followed the line of the inside of the foot all round. It looks like a crack is forming due to the differe=ing pressures and angles.
The frog does not look healthy. It looks rough and like there are a lot of places for thrush to get hold.
But, as I said, the photos are not taken so as to allow a proper look, plus a photo to also show how the horse is built, and is standing over the feet.
Reacher
Dishonourable Member
Unfortunately there is a wide range of competence both from barefoot trimmers and also with farriers.
I had a farrier achieve a similar result to the one in your photo.
OP I have been binge watching David Landreville ‘s videos (Hoof Builders - he is a former farrier who no longer uses shoes), he has a lot of free content on FB and YouTube, but his most helpful stuff is subscription content. Sorry as I’ve banged on about him before but I wish I had discovered him years ago and think everyone (owners / trimmers / farriers / vets!) wouid benefit from learning his trimming philosophy . For a few quid you could pay for a month subscription and binge watch his content, you can cancel any time.
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soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I'll have a look!