Really interesting hoof pics...comments please.

Landcruiser

Landcruiser

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OK...these are NOT my ponies. I'm looking after them this week for a friend. I'd welcome comments from barefoot experts. The ponies are farrier trimmed/shod...I'm very interested because this same farrier shod one of my horses for a few months...with a poor outcome.
This first one is an aged mare, about 13 HH, who is always footy. Today she can hardly hobble and is lame LF. No heat, no pulses.



The next one shows the underside of her left fore. TBH I was horrified when I saw this. It looks like her laminae are exposed. How the hell does a hoof get to be like this???



The next one is a shetland aged about 12. Shod in front.


Is it just me or are those front and back hooves bruised to hell? And the fronts dubbed off to disguise the long toes???

Lastly, and aged gelding about 12HH, barefoot and probably the best mobility of this lot.
It's a leap of faith to post this because all I can see are IMG codes. Here's hoping!
 
 
[UOTE=Landcruiser;12028511]OK...these are NOT my ponies. I'm looking after them this week for a friend. I'd welcome comments from barefoot experts. The ponies are farrier trimmed/shod...I'm very interested because this same farrier shod one of my horses for a few months...with apoor outcome.
This first one is an aged mare, about 13 HH, who is always footy. Today she can hardly hobble and is lame LF. No heat, no pulses.

Whitewaysponies2001_zps2da2349b.jpg


TiaWhiteways001_zps0f729bf1.jpg


The next one shows the underside of her left fore. TBH I was horrified when I saw this. It looks like her laminae are exposed. How the hell does a hoof get to be like this???

Whitewaysponies2006_zps9ddc03c5.jpg


The next one is a shetland aged about 12.

Whitewaysponies001_zps6c784234.jpg


Whitewaysponies002_zps86d23c56.jpg


Is it just me or are those front and back hooves bruised to hell? And the fronts dubbed off to disguise the long toes???

Lastly, and aged gelding about 12HH, barefoot and probably the best mobility of this lot.

Whitewaysponies006_zps735a4870.jpg


It's a leap of faith to post this because all I can see are IMG codes. Here's hoping![/QUOTE]
 
You've used URL brackets round the links as well as IMG. Just IMG brackets will do the trick.

Ditto quite severe lamanitic changes in the first set of feet.
 
Im by no means an expert but those shetlands hooves look like they have laminitic rings to me. I notice they are all rasped very high up the hoof wall, I have no idea why this would be necessary other than to hide how bad they are.
 
Sick feet all of them. I'd test them all for Cushings. I'd try a pergolide trial even if they come back negative, they often do give a false negative. I'd soak their hay for at least 24 hours and have them on one of the two easily obtainable low iron/high copper balancers.
 
I'd sack the farrier. They are terrible examples of feet. Long toes, low heels, hoof wall with dips showing laminitic changes inside, nasty looking rings. These ponies need some serious help and I'd include a visit from the vet too.
 
The farrier may not be helping the matter, but make no mistake - the problem here is diet (and as cptrayes said, possibly metabolic conditions). Changing the farrier will not give the ponies healthy hooves.
 
I actually sacked the farrier when he was doing my boy...he dubbed the toes so far back...the whole hoof shape changed to a sort of club foot...awful. He left the toes on the unshod hinds long enough to cause bruising all around the coronet band at the heel. I'll get a picture on if I can work it out.
The shettie and the old cushings gelding are very good weights. The mare with the wide splayed hooves is huge, with a big crest. Having had care of them for a week, I see she is an eating machine, and apparently won't tolerate anything on her face, ie a muzzle. I have yet to have as conversation with the owner about their diet, but all are on very restricted grazing, restricted hay....as well as the mare having the dreaded Happy Hoof (only a small handful, and unwillingly, when I had care of her) and the gelding a scoop of spillers something or other nuts. That's it. No sups, just pergolide for the old boy.
 
Whilst I agree that a farrier ought to have a duty of care to discuss hoof health with the owner if they feel there is an issue, you simply cannot blame the farrier for the ill health of all these feet. Owners need to stop sitting on their ar$es and whinging about how crap farriers are, and take some bl&!dy responsibility for their own horses. I get so sick of looking at ***** feet then listening to owners go on about how it's all the farrier's fault.

Grow a spine people, and get a clue. YOUR horse - YOUR responsibility.

Sorry, pretty grumpy this morning lol!
 
I fully agree, Twostroke. Unfortunately most people don't recognize that their horse's feet are in a state...and even if they do, where do they go? I've struggled for over 5 years, reading, learning, observing, using barefoot practitioners, farriers, a remedial only farrier, and still had a horse I couldn't ride. This particular farrier came well recommended to me...and yet I knew enough to watch my horse's feet deteriorate over several rounds of shoeing, and hold my head and weep in despair. Even with a spine, and a clue, and taking every responsibility...we are in the hands of hoof care professionals. The owner of these ponies is in the same area as me, and in the same boat regarding hoof care....it was a vet who told her to feed her laminitic mare Happy Hoof.
 
Hard lesson no 1 - don't listen to 99% of vets when it comes to feet.

Hard lesson no 2 - don't trust a farrier until s/he's proven himself, no matter how well s/he's thought of by other people.

You don't have to be beholden to these people. My TB hasn't been trimmed by a professional in well over a year; whilst being shod/trimmed by professionals, he'd have at least one major soft tissue related lameness issue per year. Since ditching the pro's, he's not had a thing. In fact he's firing on all cylinders now for the first time in a long, long while.

I'm not saying everyone should just ditch the professionals without a second thought, but that if you educate yourself and stick to your guns in the face of disapproval from the multitude of randomers with an opinion that's based on booger all, then your horse can have healthy feet (providing said horse doesn't have metabolic disease that cannot be controlled).

I for one, am not in the hands of hoof care professionals, and I'm absolutely thrilled about it :).
 
I admire you for taking on the trimming of your own horse. My second horse self trims and I tidy up any rough edges...he's also not had a pro trim in about a year, just a quick once over a couple of times by my current (and fantastic) DAEP. He's been barefoot and sound since I bought him 4 years ago and had his shoes taken off. But my more difficult one, the one in the second lot of shod pictures....different story. I wouldn't attempt it.

The majority of people don't have the skill (or inclination) to trim their own...it's not easy to learn and it's easy to botch up. If the pro's make such a hash of it a lot of the time, imagine if every horse owner suddenly had a crack at educating themselves and took over their own hoof care. Some would be great...others would be dreadful. I agree absolutely that horseowners should educate themselves about diet, management, hoof care, medical issues...the whole kit and kaboodle...and not blindly follow the advice and treatment doled out by the pro's. I agree 100% with bells on...but I am frustrated by the lack of GOOD hoof care available to many horse owners, whether they know their horse's hooves inside out or think they are the clippy cloppy things at the bottom.
Twostroke, I think we are agreeing with each other, basically, I just think you are being a little...smug (runs and hides behind sofa);)
 
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