Sheered heels and going barefoot

[holeymoley]

Just an update. I think we're doing good!

So we're now on week 9 of no shoes. His white line is tightening up. When the shoes came off the insides were more or less non-existent, white line was stretched/away. White line at toe was non existent too. As much as it's stretched, it does seem to be tightening up. I don't know how much it will though, he did have significant rotation 5 years ago and then has been corrected, so will be interesting to see how he materialises over the next few months. He was trimmed last week. Farrier seems to think he grows a bit unbalanced, but as far as I can tell, he seems to be correcting the imbalance himself.

He can now walk out more comfortably and with a bit more purpose than before. I've ridden him a few times with hoof boots which he will trot in, also had a few strides of canter in the school purely to see if he would. He happily trots/canters in field barefoot. I rode him barefoot the other night, absolutely fine, stood on a stone though and was very much 'OUCH!' but to be expected and walked out as normal afterwards. Given the amount of rain we've had and how soft the fields are underfoot, I'm very pleased with how he's coping. The frogs are looking a bit rough, I think they're finally coming in to contact with the ground and now going through the shedding and wearing process while trying to grow new.

p.s don't worry, I got that stone out!

 

[alibali]

Glad he seems to be progressing It would be interesting to see side on photos of the hoof on the ground. That should show if the angle of growth is changing which will give you the best idea of if his hoof is growing in with a tighter white line.

Edited to add, don't mean to teach you to suck eggs but the camera needs to be on the ground when taking the side on photos so you get a reasonably true picture.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Looking better, but still not loading the hoof properly. If you take a close look at the frogs, he is only weighting the lower third. The back of the frog and the heels are not weight bearing. Any chance you can get frog pads in the boots, and start to increase the exercise? Even triangles cut from men's flip flops and duct taped in place will do. It is not really clear from the photos, but the frog still appears to be retracted deep into the back of the hoof. Is your farrier now starting to take the heels down bit by bit? It should be a slow process, so please don't rush it - taking six months or so to balance up is probably a minimum. I would use a general thrush treatment as a matter of course, given the horrendous weather we have been having. My old boy gets a cold water scrub, and a spray of 1% iodine twice a week.

 

[ycbm]

Looking better, but still not loading the hoof properly. If you take a close look at the frogs, he is only weighting the lower third. The back of the frog and the heels are not weight bearing. Any chance you can get frog pads in the boots, and start to increase the exercise? Even triangles cut from men's flip flops and duct taped in place will do. It is not really clear from the photos, but the frog still appears to be retracted deep into the back of the hoof. Is your farrier now starting to take the heels down bit by bit? It should be a slow process, so please don't rush it - taking six months or so to balance up is probably a minimum. I would use a general thrush treatment as a matter of course, given the horrendous weather we have been having. My old boy gets a cold water scrub, and a spray of 1% iodine twice a week.

I'm not seeing what you are seeing from this photos, there are typical looking wear/compression marks right to the back of the frogs. I think it's impossible to make such fine judgements from a photo without seeing the horse in the flesh.

It looks to me like these feet are making very good progress for 9 weeks barefoot in the care of his farrier.
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[holeymoley]

Thank you for replies. I’ll get some more photos from different angles over the weekend. He is very much landing heel first, i have some videos of his movement, so I believe the heel and frog is taking weight as it should.

 

[holeymoley]

More photos as requested. And as per usual they’re wet as it constantly rains in this country! None lateral of the left fore as I couldn’t get it correctly, looks a bit skee wiff so I’ve left it out.