Show me your hoof transformations!

[PaulnasherryRocky]

I know there are far better transformations than mine, so i'm interested to see them!

I'm proud of our progress so far and the majority of it is to do with great advice from members here, thank you
You can't see in the pictures too well, but his feet have always been rather flat - however since putting him on Steel Forces by Trinity Consultants he has shed a couple of false soles and we are gradually getting what looks like a less flat foot, hoorah!

(My picture angles of his feet aren't very good, but hopefully you get the idea)

Hi is still ouchie on stones, so I use scoot boots for off-road hacking on all four feet, hopefully in a few years time we won't need them at all

 

[ycbm]

This is my favourite one.

That shoe came off that foot 3 months before. It would be impossible to put it back on.

 

[PaulnasherryRocky]

This is my favourite one.

That shoe came off that foot 3 months before. It would be impossible to put it back on.

Wow - that's such a difference in just 3 months! I always thought their feet got bigger after shoes were taken off - i'm going to try Rockys old ones on this afternoon now!

 

[ycbm]

Wow - that's such a difference in just 3 months! I always thought their feet got bigger after shoes were taken off - i'm going to try Rockys old ones on this afternoon now!

They do sometimes, but smaller is more common. There's a poster called Brucea who used to have an opposite picture, I'll try and find it.

ETA I found the post but the picture isn't available any more, which is a shame. It shows a shoe much smaller than the foot it came off.
.

 

[PaulnasherryRocky]

They do sometimes, but smaller is more common. There's a poster called Brucea who used to have an opposite picture, I'll try and find it.

ETA I found the post but the picture isn't available any more, which is a shame. It shows a show much smaller than the foot it came off.
.

Oh that's a shame, we have 4 of us currently transitioning to barefoot on my yard, will be interesting to see whos feet get bigger and whos get smaller

 

[tristar]

They do sometimes, but smaller is more common. There's a poster called Brucea who used to have an opposite picture, I'll try and find it.

ETA I found the post but the picture isn't available any more, which is a shame. It shows a shoe much smaller than the foot it came off.
.

please explain why you think the foot has changed so much

as you do your own hoof care please explain how you do it and why, and how you learned to get to where you are now with your hoof care


thanks

 

[Reacher]

Wow - that's such a difference in just 3 months! I always thought their feet got bigger after shoes were taken off - i'm going to try Rockys old ones on this afternoon now!

I guess it depends on what you start with? If they are flat feet that gain concavity they will get smaller but if they are contracted to start with they will get bigger?
My riding horse is lucky that he has good strong feet and they have barely changed shape since shoes came off as they were good to start with.
My retired mare is a TB with weak flat feet - she doesn’t get the exercise that would need to stimulate her feet though they are improving slowly.

 

[Reacher]

please explain why you think the foot has changed so much

as you do your own hoof care please explain how you do it and why, and how you learned to get to where you are now with your hoof care


thanks

Re your 2nd question I went on a 2 day course run by a trimmer - the course gave me confidence in that trimmer and i went on to use her to trim my horses’ feet. I trim them between visits under her guidance . It means I am fine if trimmer can’t come for a while eg due to covid.
(Note I’m not suggesting using trimmer versus farrier, just explaining how I learned to trim mine. A farrier could teach you too)

 

[Tiddlypom]

My senior Cushing’s mare’s feet went from this effort after more than a year’s regular care from a qualified and registered EPA trimmer:-



To this, 5 months later, after her foot care was taken over by a farrier:-



Don’t believe all the barefoot trimmer hype, folks .

 

[PaulnasherryRocky]

Don’t believe all the barefoot trimmer hype, folks .

Very interesting to see that difference - I have kept the same farrier from when my horse had shoes. I think if they're good at their job they can do both well, he shoed my horse nicely and he trims him nicely too!

 

[Reacher]

TP i’m not hyping barefoot trimmers. One farrier left me with feet like your ‘before’ picture. There are good and bad examples of both trimmers and farriers

 

[TheHairyOne]

Pity buy with horror everything.

From this the whole way around to normal feet in 9 months.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Reacher, I wasn’t aiming my post at you especially, and there are certainly bad farriers out there too. It’s just that moving away from a farrier to a barefoot trimmer is often mooted on here as being best for your horse.

I had done my research, got recommendations, and then that happened. My vet was also pointing out the poor foot balance, but the trimmer thought that they knew better than the vet...

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm sad to say that the DipWCF qualified farrier (so four years and two months of training plus however many years he'd been working) that I sacked was far worse than your trimmer TP. I don't think that substandard care is restricted to one area of hoof care professionals.

The worst thing about my situation was that I did get second opinions before it got so bad (from more than one Vet and another equestrian professional) and was persuaded to give the Farrier another chance and then another chance to sort it out. The situation was also blamed on the fact that my mare was 1/2 TB.

Now I look back and can't believe the rubbish that I was told and how my concerns were brushed away by several people. I wish I knew then what I know now because I would have trusted my judgement despite my complete lack of any qualifications and would have found a new farrier sooner.

In hindsight my amateur eye that saw that the balance was off after just a couple of shoeings was right.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I had done my research, got recommendations, and then that happened. My vet was also pointing out the poor foot balance, but the trimmer thought that they knew better than the vet...

It's really good to read that your Vet spoke out about the hoof balance. That definitely makes me happy after my experience.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Yes, I’d been passing on my vet‘s comments for a while. The whole HPA angle was far too long toe/low heel. I eventually realised that the trimmer did not recognise this, did not know the effect this would have on the rest of the horse, or know how to go about correcting it without what they described as ‘dumping the toe’.

And for balance, here is some crap farriery. This is how my homebred’s feet were when she crashed back home off loan. She was supposed to be doing a BE90 the next week.




My vet was fairly speechless after seeing these. Best guess is that the off fore was trimmed and prepped before the shoe went on, but the shoe was nailed straight onto the near fore without any prepping, as that foot appears to be much longer (it isn’t really). These shoes had been on for a max of 7 weeks. The farrier is a training farrier with apprentices, but I’m not sure who actually shod the horse or who signed the work off .

There are good and bad in all professions (eg doctors ), but if folk could just be aware out that changing from a farrier to a barefoot trimmer is not necessarily best for your horse (or your pocket, trimmers are more expensive).

 

[PapaverFollis]

My farrier who went AWOL recently had let Beast's toes go forward in shoes. She started tripping and I just started to not like the angles. We took shoes off but kept the farrier trimming and they just would not correct. After the last trim he did her whole foot seem to slip sideways somehow ?. This is without shoes. With him going AWOL and lock down we just started trimming ourselves. Which seems bloody stupid but also her angles are getting better again and the sideways slip is correcting too so we must be doing something right. I still feel like it's stupid but getting the right person is just such a minefield. I really liked my last farrier. He was good with the horses and not arrogant at all. But my niggles that he wasn't getting it quite right seem to have been correct. At least doing it ourselves we are in control of the situation and can keep the trim really conservative. Having watched a professional knife her frogs right off before and not being able to stop him because it was done before I could gather my whits I never want to have that happen again.

 

[saalsk]

Agree with the *good and bad* - and as non-experts it is hard to tell. We hope they know what they are doing, but as my OH always says, there is always a doctor who qualified bottom of the class, but they are still a doctor. At Pony Club, we were taught that all ridden horses needed to be shod. Shoes had more nails on the outer edge than the inner, and barefoot was for the retired horse, and brood mare. I still have my Pony Club manual from the 1980's, and although much stuff in there is basic common sense, and still good, a lot has changed.

Mine are barefoot, and do fine on all surfaces. I have seen good and bad barefoot trimmers, just as I have good and bad farriers. I have also had a farrier do a better barefoot trim than a qualified, experienced, recommended equine podiatrist. Getting the right person, is indeed a minefield. The more I did myself, the more I learned, and the more I questioned what the professionals did, and why.

Shoddy (no pun intended) workmanship happens, along with laziness, lack of knowledge, lack of ongoing assessment etc, in every profession and job. All we can do is hope for the best, do our own research and learn what we can, and listen to the horse and how they move, and keep an eye on how your horse looks.

 

[ycbm]

please explain why you think the foot has changed so much

The horse was an unbroken 6 year old 17hh draft cross whose feet had just spread and spread. They shod him to sell him, and the farrier just accepted the foot size he had. Some farriers like spread feet, it gives them more room to get the nails in.

as you do your own hoof care

I don't have hooves. ? Couldn't resist, sorry.

please explain how you do it and why, and how you learned to get to where you are now with your hoof care
thanks

The how is available online but these days courses are available and some trimmers and farriers will teach you the basics. On a horse with straightforward feet, it really isn't rocket science.

I do it because years ago I was caught between a rock and a hard place with a horse who was clearly putting all his weight down one side of his foot, had a frog way off centre, completely collapsed feet and a farrier who said he couldn't do anything about it. The horse had to be shod one hoof at a time, because he could not stand on a bare foot for the other to be done, and the farrier told me there was no way he would ever manage without shoes. The only trimmer available at the time was a Strasser trimmer, a really severe and invasive way of trimming. I had no real option but to go it alone. The horses were my best teachers.
.

 

[tristar]

thanks ycbm,

on the ` your hooves` subject` when you`ve had a go at me on odd occasions, i`ve wondered if you do in fact have hooves..........and horns he he

what would you do , for example, to improve a horse with weak heels please, and what are your nutritional input experiences in certain conditions

 

[Meowy Catkin]

As I'm feeling brave... here is my 'after' photo. The farrier (the one I sacked) had lost control of the toes and as they got longer, the heels under-ran. You can see why the shoes had to come off as the other side looked the same due to rumbling abscesses around the nail holes. Nothing to nail to at all. She was lame prior being deshod and sound afterwards.

The weak heels improved greatly with in-hand walking on smooth tarmac. I built the distance up slowly and then progressed to riding her out. We got up to three hour hacks in the end and she never became self trimming as she just started to grow more horn in response to the gently increasing workload. She was not OK on big stones, so I just avoided them with her. Boots would have been an option if that hadn't been possible. I did also overhaul her diet.

 

[ycbm]

what would you do , for example, to improve a horse with weak heels please,

Put the heels to work

and what are your nutritional input experiences in certain conditions

What conditions?

 

[ycbm]

Weak heels. He never stood square.

Weak heels made to work. 6 months later.

 

[saalsk]

Great photos ycbm - really does show how a foot adapts to how it is trimmed, and how weight is distributed.

 

[tristar]

Put the heels to work



What conditions?

thanks ycbm, well how about hoof strength, example all of mine have hard hooves except the rescue who seems quite soft when i maintenance rasp him, he eats only grass and salt, so what would you add to his diet not wanting him to get any fatter. thanks

 

[tristar]

thanks for the pics

 

[ycbm]

thanks ycbm, well how about hoof strength, example all of mine have hard hooves except the rescue who seems quite soft when i maintenance rasp him, he eats only grass and salt, so what would you add to his diet not wanting him to get any fatter. thanks

If he's plump that could well be his problem. Weight alone can be a foot issue. Weight caused by EMS is a definite foot issue. But I would have every horse, shod or not, on minerals to match their forage, or if that isn't possible, and it usually isn't for one reason or another, then one of the four no-iron/manganese high-copper/zinc supplements that are available.

.

 

[tristar]

If he's plump that could well be his problem. Weight alone can be a foot issue. Weight caused by EMS is a definite foot issue. But I would have every horse, shod or not, on minerals to match their forage, or if that isn't possible, and it usually isn't for one reason or another, then one of the four no-iron/manganese high-copper/zinc supplements that are available.

.

thanks a lot ycbm, he`s not plump at all we have made sure of that, so i`ll give him some minerals and vits i think with low iron,not used to these cobs!

 

[ycbm]

NO iron, not low iron. Most UK grazing has far too much iron in it. It stops the horse absorbing copper. That interferes with insulin regulation and that damages the feet.
.

 

[Beachbabe]

This is my favourite one.

That shoe came off that foot 3 months before. It would be impossible to put it back on.

Usually the feet spread once the shoes are off, that's an odd one