LOTS OF PICTURES : Opinions on these hooves anybody.

[MDB]

Hello everybody,

So these pics are of my barefoot rescue mare. She is about 15. History unknown, but was unshod when we got her 10 months ago. At this time her hooves were full of event lines and ridges like I have never seen before. Anyway, I discovered about a month ago that she had awful thrush in all four hooves *hangs head in shame*. I am still fairly new to horse ownership, in my second year, and as much as it embarrasses me to admit it, the frog was just that thing that was there, I never paid too much attention to it. We had such a dry summer here, and with not riding my mare because of her fistulous withers I wasn't really picking her feet out. They live out and the farrier was coming every 8 weeks for a trim, he never mentioned anything, and in my ignorance was unaware. Feel awful. I started doing some in hand hill walking to build fitness and thought I better start paying attention to their feet. Then I nearly keeled over from the stench of rotting flesh. Her front right was worst and the frog was like soggy, tatty leather that had been left out in the rain.

Anyways, 6 weeks later, daily treatment and a heap of reading and learning for me, and things are really improving tremendously. I found a barefoot trimmer who came out two days ago. I had to wait several weeks for her to come out. She trimmed the bars, heels, rounded off the wall to give a mustang roll. Didn't do a great deal to the frogs. Anyway, I have a question. Yesterday her soles were pale yellow, and today all but one have turned dark blue. What is this? I would also be grateful for opinions on the look of these hooves, quality, shape, etc etc. Also, how do barefoot folks on here address the bars and heels... do you leave the bars alone, or trim them? Same for heels... trim them to the height of the sole, or trim them to slightly higher than the sole? Just trying to understand why people do what they do as I have read lots of different opinions online. Also, to me it seems that her front right heels (the one with worst thrush) are quite contracted. Would this be as a result of thrush? How long does it take to decontract, assuming I get on top of thrush. She does still have some event lines growing out at the bottom of the hoof wall. This seems to correspond with the her fistulous withers which lasted from February to August this year. She also seems to have a new event line about a centimetre from the top. I think this correlates to about 6 weeks ago when I moved them to a greener field for more grazing. So will need to bear that in mind for future.

Well, don't want to ramble. Her hooves are currently being picked out, washed and scrubbed, disinfected and treated twice a day right now with warm water and diluted betadine, sulci filled with Pete's goo, then stuffed with cotton wool to stop dirt and manure getting in.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Much appreciated.

Front left foot.

Front left foot.

Front left foot.

Front right foot. This was the worst foot 6 weeks ago. The central sulcus was a deep, deep crack. This is improving slowly, although we still have quite a bit of thrush in the both the central sulcus and collateral sulci.

Front right foot.

Front right foot.

Back right foot. The sole is yellow. All soles yesterday were yellow. Today, the rest are blue-black.

Back left foot. It looks like there is a crack at the toe. This wasn't there yesterday, and appears to be a superficial flap rather than a crack.

 

[ester]

She's definitely got some unfolding to come in those front frogs so keep at it! I also think that from the top event line you can see that a steeper angle wants to grow down from the coronet band.

Re heels and bars- mine has a fair amount of bar at times and we'd still like his heels to come back a bit more in a perfect world. Some time ago my trimmer experimented with rolling his heels back a bit, he didn't appreciate that and he also didn't appreciate having his bars removed. So bars and heels are not touched at all, they manage themselves. I just take his toes back (inclined to get long however much roadwork we do ) and rolled.

I too think that is a flake rather than a crack. I can't help on the colour change, I do remember it being mentioned before but can't remember why!

 

[MDB]

She's definitely got some unfolding to come in those front frogs so keep at it! I also think that from the top event line you can see that a steeper angle wants to grow down from the coronet band.

Re heels and bars- mine has a fair amount of bar at times and we'd still like his heels to come back a bit more in a perfect world. Some time ago my trimmer experimented with rolling his heels back a bit, he didn't appreciate that and he also didn't appreciate having his bars removed. So bars and heels are not touched at all, they manage themselves. I just take his toes back (inclined to get long however much roadwork we do ) and rolled.

I too think that is a flake rather than a crack. I can't help on the colour change, I do remember it being mentioned before but can't remember why!

Thanks Ester. Yeah, I did think her fronts are quite contracted. I assume this was due to thrush. Can thrush do that? I think it is a bit of an optical illusion with her hair at the coronet band re new angle of growth. I have thoroughly checked them from all sides and there doesn't appear to be a change in growth angle. So you leave bars and heels alone based on trial and error in the past and your horse was more footy? Or lame? What happened? Thanks

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I do NOT like removal of bars under any circumstances, and the coarse rasp finish to the mustang roll looks very amateurish.
I would find a good barefoot friendly farrier and pay him to come every six weeks, make it clear he gets paid to inspect, to report, and to advise, only balancing if needed.
You should supplement the diet with minerals and cut out any source of sugars, you may have to soak the hay/haylage to remove sugars. Keep to max 5%sugars in diet.
Walk out on tarmac in hand, ten mins twice a day and build up over six weeks, by which time the feet should have recovered from the trim and the thrush.
You want the digital cushion to develop and work, press them now and every week, they should improve steadily. The most important thing is to strengthen and thicken the sole, thin soles will make walking on any rough surface very painful. As the feet work, the concavity will increase, NEVER allow anyone to carve out the sole with a knife..
The soles will change a lot, concentrate on the frogs/thrush and let the hooves recover.
The idea is to get her to stride out and land heel first, something she will find difficult if there is pain/discomfort. If the grass is lush it may pay to stable for a few hours offering soaked hay, this will keep her tummy full so she won't gobble sugary grass.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

If you long rein uphill she will develop muscles in the right place, this is how I make a mouth in a young horse and develop self carriage.
See Rockley Farm blogs, all you need to know is on there, you need time, patience, the correct diet, and the correct management routine.
As long as she is comfortable let her walk on tarmac, do not ask her to walk on surfaces which are sore for her.
Add some salt to the diet.
She may need 25gms salt and 25-45gms minerals for hooves, lo in iron, hi in magnesium.
are you in the UK?

 

[MDB]

I do NOT like removal of bars under any circumstances, and the coarse rasp finish to the mustang roll looks very amateurish.
I would find a good barefoot friendly farrier and pay him to come every six weeks, make it clear he gets paid to inspect, to report, and to advise, only balancing if needed.

You should supplement the diet with minerals and cut out any source of sugars, you may have to soak the hay/haylage to remove sugars. Keep to max 5%sugars in diet.
Walk out on tarmac in hand, ten mins twice a day and build up over six weeks, by which time the feet should have recovered from the trim and the thrush.
You want the digital cushion to develop and work, press them now and evey week, they should improve steadily.

Thank you Bonkers! You have confirmed my thoughts. It took me a while to find this person. She seems to be the only barefoot trimmer in my region of Spain which is very rural. She covers a vast area in Spain and only comes to my area once every 8 weeks. There does not seem to be any body else at all. The rest are all farriers who seem to trim in they way they would for shoeing but then without the shoes.

I have been reading so much lately, and I was really looking forward to somebody coming who would observe and analyse the hooves and bring lots of information to the table. But when I asked why she was doing what she was doing, her answers were always that this is the "barefoot trim method". I have read a lot about the Hoof Guided Method and I know this advocates for leaving the bars and is a very minimalistic approach. I expected her to look at the horses posture and hooves in standing, maybe look at their gait and give me an assessment, but she didn't, so I was a bit disappointed. She was very lovely though, but not quite what I was expecting.
As for sugars, apart from what is in the grass and hay they don't get much else. They have about 500g of a local hard feed because it has added vitamins and minerals. That's it. They are mostly on hay and have grazing on short grass during the day. Actually, I just remembered, about 5 weeks ago I discovered that one of my neighbours was feeding both of them apples, like the whole family, kids etc chatting and feeding them all the fallen apples from the orchard nearby. I nearly fainted and told them politely to stop. They have had a minerals block all summer but didn't touch it. Do you have a minerals supplement that you would recommend?

 

[MDB]

If you long rein uphill she will develop muscles in the right place, this is how I make a mouth in a young horse and develop self carriage.
See Rockley Farm blogs, all you need to know is on there, you need time, patience, the correct diet, and the correct management routine.

Thanks Bonkers, yeah I have actually just found their blogs about a week or so ago. Lots of great information there.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Minerals are expensive because they are heavy, try Progresssive Earth or Forageplus,
The ordinary mineral blocks may or may not be for horses [sheep blocks are bad, and even cattle blocks are not good], you must feed minerals if you want to get optimum quality growth, so it is worthwhile getting a big, tub, start off with 10-15gms and build up, Hoof Pro from progresssive earth is the best, but also most expensive. She needs to be getting magnesium, the eqivalent of 10gms MgO per day, this is based on UK, where most soils are lo in Mg. You can buy MgO straight, but untill the feet are good, use a balanced mineral, it is the quality and the balancing that is vital.
Ask the company if they know about your area. Your horse should excrete any excessess, but she want a lo iron diet [so not seaweed]

 

[MDB]

Minerals are expensive because they are heavy, try Progresssive Earth or Forageplus,
The ordinary mineral blocks may or may not be for horses [sheep blocks are bad, and even cattle blocks are not good], you must feed minerals if you want to get optimum quality growth, so it is worthwhile getting a big, tub, start off with 10-15gms and build up, Hoof Pro from progresssive earth is the best, but also most expensive. She needs to be getting magnesium, the eqivalent of 10gms MgO per day, this is based on UK, where most soils are lo in Mg. You can buy MgO straight, but untill the feet are good, use a balanced mineral, it is the quality and the balancing that is vital.

Thanks that's great. I will have a look now at those products.

 

[MDB]

Thanks that's great. I will have a look now at those products.

I should add, she is absolutely fine on Tarmac and on the rocky trails around our house. She has a heel first landing on all four feet and never looks uncomfortable.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I should add, she is absolutely fine on Tarmac and on the rocky trails around our house. She has a heel first landing on all four feet and never looks uncomfortable.

Well then, just go for self trimming, buy a proper farriers rasp and round off / rasp the front toes every two weeks.
You can do it yourself with many horses, as long as you don't alter work dramatically day on day, week on week., her feet are quite good tbh.

 

[MDB]

Well then, just go for self trimming, buy a proper farriers rasp and round off / rasp the front toes every two weeks.
You can do it yourself with many horses, as long as you don't alter work dramatically day on day, week on week., her feet are quite good tbh.

I must confess.. I already bought one! I had to wait three weeks for the trimmer, and her toes were getting quite long. I started to notice bruising in the white line on the toe. So I decided I couldn't wait three weeks. I was so nervous, and it took me about 3-4 days doing little bit by little bit until I rounded off the toe. I have watched so many YouTube videos you wouldn't believe!! Anyway, when the trimmer did her stuff a couple of days ago I got a good look at the white line. No bruising at all. So I think I will just do what you suggest and every couple of days round off the toes. I am already caring for the frogs and gently trimming off any flaps which may harbour bacteria. She is only a happy hacker, once or twice per week, and never for too long as she has a bit or arthritis. I am just very aware of my limitations, but at the same time I don't want to be bringing in people who aren't necessarily doing a great job, or at least able to justify what they are doing with good reasoning.

 

[ester]

If she's sound and comfy I wouldn't worry too much. And yes, thrush and lack of use can do that to frogs, if she is landing heel first though that will help them come out a bit too.

Fwiw I do my chap, it was done with the support of my trimmer to start with but essentially he was at the place where he looked after everything apart from his toes tendency to run forwards and his tendency to put his breakover to one side. Because of his previous issues we want to try and help it so he can breakover straight and also need to keep the toes shorter.

I had spent a fair bit of time watching and I'm not sure I'd want to do anyone but him as I know his feet very well! I literally take a rasp to them every 2-3 weeks to put the roll back on. Start from underneath and rasp front half of hoof at a 45 degree ish angle, and then bring his toe back from the top, - all using a car axle stand I've gotten braver with practice and even own a pair of nippers now :eek3: though only use them sometimes, I could do with hydraulics as his walls are so thick! For him it works much better this way at it keeps them more the same all the time rather than waiting 6 weeks then ending up having to take quite a bit more of them. It also means when I think they sort of need doing I can time it around hunting etc - I'll leave them a bit longer for that and then tidy up after.

I don't understand why your trimmer has left the rolls with those rasp marks, it might not make any difference but it only takes a couple of goes with the fine edge to get them smooth.

 

[MDB]

If she's sound and comfy I wouldn't worry too much. And yes, thrush and lack of use can do that to frogs, if she is landing heel first though that will help them come out a bit too.

Fwiw I do my chap, it was done with the support of my trimmer to start with but essentially he was at the place where he looked after everything apart from his toes tendency to run forwards and his tendency to put his breakover to one side. Because of his previous issues we want to try and help it so he can breakover straight and also need to keep the toes shorter.

I had spent a fair bit of time watching and I'm not sure I'd want to do anyone but him as I know his feet very well! I literally take a rasp to them every 2-3 weeks to put the roll back on. Start from underneath and rasp front half of hoof at a 45 degree ish angle, and then bring his toe back from the top, - all using a car axle stand I've gotten braver with practice and even own a pair of nippers now :eek3: though only use them sometimes, I could do with hydraulics as his walls are so thick! For him it works much better this way at it keeps them more the same all the time rather than waiting 6 weeks then ending up having to take quite a bit more of them. It also means when I think they sort of need doing I can time it around hunting etc - I'll leave them a bit longer for that and then tidy up after.

I don't understand why your trimmer has left the rolls with those rasp marks, it might not make any difference but it only takes a couple of goes with the fine edge to get them smooth.

No, I don't understand that either. Hey ho. I will do it myself in a couple of weeks or so. Give her enough time to get over this trim and see how she is. Thanks for the advice

Still hoping somebody can tell me about the colour change on the soles.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

When I went bfoot the soles were the things that changed day to day, as long as they are not bruised they should stay the same colour, I think the trimmer removed a layer of chalky sole and now they are a natural colour, most soles should be white but it may be she has 3 black hooves and one white, that is all I can think of.
You will get a lot more confident when you realise you are not making her lame!

 

[MDB]

Lol... Yes you are right. At first I was terrified at the slightest stroke of the rasp that I was going to lame her. Hence it taking several days to round the toe off , bit by bit. After having seen the trimmer be quite rough (I am sure that is normal) it gave me a bit of confidence that her feet will not fall off. You may be right regarding the colour change. I never thought of that. With daily treatment I am getting quite familiar with how they are on a daily basis. My lovely mare is so tolerant. She stands in the field without a head collar, and is very compliant. She does however pull the odd face as if to say 'you fool! You have no idea what you are doing do you?' Lol.

 

[rifruffian]

Hullo OP the hooves look good to me. Whatever you are doing now, keep doing it.
If you are physically fit you can trim the feet yourself if you want.
I note your location rural spain, it is where I was with my own horses until recently. If you are in the south it may be arid. These conditions are good for the feet of the horse and they become very hard. So hard that I found my farrier file was just bouncing off the hoof wall like concrete; difficult. So I started to use a cordless angle grinder for assistance.
I think that a very good source to educate yourself about trimming the hooves is the information available from Sarah Bell.