Hoof critiques please !

My advice would be: If you have to ask on a forum of people you don't know whether you have made a reasonable job of your horse's feet you'd do far better to get in a decent professional. I ask the farrier to deal with both my shod and unshod horses.
 
you give the impression that you do maintenance trimming in between your farriers visits and on that basis I think you have done quite a reasonable job and I can see exactly where you are coming from. No doubt your farrier will be able to do a little more.
I think it is the third pic which shows the central sulchus, This looks pretty poor.
I would be having a blitz on the frogs to erradicate all fungal infections. Perhaps daily cleaning with hibscrub and packing with sudocreme for a week should start to improve matters. As you probably already know you won't be able to start improving the frogs until you clear the bugs. :D

Presumably you have the diet side all sorted.
 
Thanks for your comments Team Barney and Paddy555, they are greatfully received.

Yes i do a bit of maintenence on the others between trims (just a bit of bevelling the walls) but will be a few weeks before the Barefoot trimmer is out again. Thought the toe flare needed adressing as soon as possible. It looked like the lamina was being stretched with every step.

The heels were pretty long and frogs had no ground contact at all....now the heels are lowered the frogs are just contacting and have good ground contact when the hoof is loaded. Hopefully this will start to improve the digital cushion and the frog will plump up. She has gone from toe first landing to heel first landing straight after the trim. There was still a little chalky sole in the seat of the corn when i finished the trim but i felt if i lowered the heels too much when the digital cushion wasnt used to taking any weight i could make her sore.....a comfortable horse moves more and improves circulation in the digital cushion so i will leave alone till next trim.

The frogs are pretty smelly and are most definately harbouring some bugs in there....i normally soak with Milton...i love the idea of using Sudocreme on them Paddy555, relatively cheap and easy to find...so will have a go at doing that after i have meticulously dried them.

Overweight at present but now i have her she will be on a strict diet and exercise program :)
 
The frogs are pretty smelly and are most definately harbouring some bugs in there....i normally soak with Milton...i love the idea of using Sudocreme on them Paddy555, relatively cheap and easy to find...so will have a go at doing that after i have meticulously dried them.

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I have a similar problem with my horses hoofs as you seem to. My Trimmer reccomended redhorse products. the artimud for the hoof wall split/layering and field paste for the stinky frogs.
 
Well, I'm no professional but I also do my own maintenance trim and from what I can see you have done a good job taking away the overgrowth and flare, They look better balanced. Was she more comfortable afterwards?

The frog/heels will decontract in time and the frog it self will be stronger and not be so prone to infections.

I have use Pete Rameys thrush formula with immediate success before. Don't agree with greasy things in frogs! Milton much better...
 
Thank you for your comments tallyho!

She was standing a little behind her shoulder before the trim and after she is much more upright and under the shoulder (probably not very well axplained but think of the opposite of a laminitic stance) .... could this be a stance to alleviate heel pain or maybe pain from the yucky frogs ?? I beleive it probably was.
So to answer your question Tallyho! Yes i believe she is much more comfortable.... is landing heel first too now :)

Decided to stick with the milton for treatment of the frogs. What would thoughts be on sudocrem on wet days as a barrier for the frogs??
 
personally I wouldn't use anything as a barrier on the frogs. I find that frogs improve the best by dealing with the problem intensively and then stopping treatment.
I use sudo intensively as a "medicine" to deal with thrush. After a week or so I stop. Sort of on the basis I may take cough mixture if I had a cold but once it was cured I wouldn't take it as a preventative otherwise when I needed it next for a real problem it wouldn't work.

Once you have got the bugs under control any potential soreness will have gone on the frog so you can start conditioning it by working (gradually of course) on rougher surfaces. You will then find if you take him over stones they will "self abrade" the frogs and keep them healthy.
Sounds like you have got it all worked out :D:D
 
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