pics of barefoot hoof need opinions and thoughts please!!

[ester]

I've never managed to do enough road work with Frank even when we only had on road hacking as exercise for him to self trim so hopefully yours grow slower . We definitely don't trim his feet to perfect though - he does have a wonky back one still.

 

[doriangrey]

As mentioned he does not appear to be landing exactly toe first,More flat when on level terrain,and he is landing heel first when going downhill which is why this is mainly when he is lame one would assume??

The plan is to allow him to self trim mostly as long as he appears comfortable with it.Trimmer will keep him tidy and attend to any overgrowth that isn't desirable of course.Main thing is the heels themselves,TBH as they have been consistently trimmed as low as possible which vet thinks might be a big part of the problem.



Very much so a rock and a hard place.

However he is still being worked,although not as much as you have mentioned,that would be unreasonable to expect of him at present i agree.

Luckily he can manage going out on varying surfaces a couple of times a week (weather and time permitting!!),and he is more often than not sound in walk and on the level.He's more than happy to go out and as forward as he ever is so we are just working within what he tolerates at the mo and hoping it is enough to get some self wear and see how that pans out.

Trimmer and vet aren't exactly on the same page last i heard which made a tricky situation even more tricky (part of my reason for asking opinions on here about the look of his feet and trim etc is that I don't feel can be as open as I would like with trimmer),but hopefully that will have changed after some time to reflect and some communication.



Certainly is,horses never do make life easy though IME ;-)

I am hoping addressing his foot balance will be all that will be required,and that he can be allowed to self trim to a point,and to a state he is comfortable with.

I am happy to post further down the line with any progress he makes if anyone would like to know

Please do post, I would have gone the x-ray route but he's not mine and you are on the ground with him so know him better than anyone. I would be very interested in his progress. Doesn't sound like an easy task but the more information the better imo

 

[devonlass]

I've never managed to do enough road work with Frank even when we only had on road hacking as exercise for him to self trim so hopefully yours grow slower . We definitely don't trim his feet to perfect though - he does have a wonky back one still.

Tell me about it,doing enough work is always a struggle.Trouble is as well is that he is not my main riding horse,I got him as a nanny to my youngster,but that means of course getting other people to ride him.
I don't have any trouble getting people to ride him on an occasional basis,he's actually very popular as he's the most safe and bombproof horse to ride.The problem is getting people on a regular and reliable basis,especially this time of the year.
I will ride him if I have to (don't enjoy it TBH as he's so good he's boring if you know what I mean),but then I have two jobs both shifts so I can't always manage it either!! Never enough hours or light in the day ;-)

I am banking a little bit on them not growing as much with it being this time of year,fingers crossed!!

I think you are right to trim as you are and think this was a major place we went wrong TBH.We tried to make his feet perfect but we should have done the same as you and trimmed more suitable to his foot shape,even if that means wonky!!

Please do post, I would have gone the x-ray route but he's not mine and you are on the ground with him so know him better than anyone. I would be very interested in his progress. Doesn't sound like an easy task but the more information the better imo

I will most certainly post with an update on him in a while.If weather stays dry we should be able to stay in our current paddock a while longer which is easier to get him out and about from so should have an idea of where we are at fairly soon.If we have to move that may hold us up a bit,but either way will post as soon as have anything solid to report

Thank you both very much for the interest and support