Thoughts on these hooves? (Barefoot with pics)

TheSylv007

TheSylv007

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www.ridewelland.co.uk
Could I have some feedback on my horse's hooves? She's been barefoot since around May of 2015 following a tendon injury which put her out in 2014 (DDFT inside the hoof). She's never actually been footsore and her feet don't chip, crack even though she hacks out on the road/mixed terrain. We haven't done a lot of hacking recently due to weather but we try to get out each sunday). She's fed Top Spec grass chaff, speedi-beet, micronised linseed, Protexin and a broad spectrum vitamin supplement and as much hay/haylage as she can eat.

She's seen by a standard farrier rather than a barefoot trimmer. My reason for asking for feedback is partly because I want to check my farrier is doing things ok, (he was quite bemused and anti when I said I wanted to take her shoes off) as I appreciate that farriers and trimmers sometimes have differing philosophies. I also wonder that she is still landing a little toe first and what action I could take on this. I don't think the vets would take it seriously (they didn't understand why I would take her barefoot after her injury so I can't see them being too interested in my thoughts about how she moves as she isn't in any way lame). I am pretty careful with hoof hygiene and use Red Horse products as well as NAF Rock Hard which seems to work. I understand that thrush can cause toe first landing and heel pain. It's only slight but she has always had a bit of a daisy cutter action and I wonder if there is anything I should be thinking about with her hooves as a first port of call? Her limbs do look nice and straight.

Any thoughts gratefully received!
Off Fore



Off Hind

[URL=http://s680.photobucket.com/user/thesylv007/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-01/DSC_0129.jpg.html]

Near Hind


Near Fore



Hope these aren't toooo huge....
 
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They look pretty good to me (although I'm not an expert as far as HHO is concerned!) The heels look like they could have underrun a little - I say that as thats what was said about my boys hooves when I did similar pics and his looked similar. her hooves look lovely though, no ridges and a pretty straight hairline. :)
 
stencilface said:
They look pretty good to me (although I'm not an expert as far as HHO is concerned!) The heels look like they could have underrun a little - I say that as thats what was said about my boys hooves when I did similar pics and his looked similar. her hooves look lovely though, no ridges and a pretty straight hairline. :)
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Thank you! I think I see what you mean about the heels. Do you think think it's a matter of time and trimming to improve? I guess that 7-8 months isn't all that long to change a hoof shape...
 
TheSylv007 said:
Thank you! I think I see what you mean about the heels. Do you think think it's a matter of time and trimming to improve? I guess that 7-8 months isn't all that long to change a hoof shape...
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I think they develop that on how they land, ie heel first or not, if they land heel first they will build their heels up and they will become less underrun. One way I think is to get the farrier to trim the toe back and/or to help the horse re learn how to walk. I think thats the jist of it anyway - I'm a newbie to this, mine's in barefoot rehab atm, so hopefully in 8-11 weeks time I'll know what I'm on about!
 
Faracat said:
Unless you have raggy bits that really do need trimming off, don't let the farrier trim the frogs.
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My farrier loves trimming frogs, I've asked him not too, but he either forgets or ignores me. I think I may change when I get mine home, or hope that he doesn't really need any trimming :)
 
First of all, well done for getting her sound :)

I think he is putting far too heavy a bevel on, which is preventing her from developing the true balance to her feet that she could do if only the very bottom edge was removed to prevent chipping. I don't even do that, I wait for a chip and then rasp it off if it happens, which is rare.

Photos can be deceptive, but there is a suspicion of a bullnose on the back feet. Does she have any back, hock or sacroiliac issues?
 
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ycbm said:
First of all, well done for getting her sound :)

I think he is putting far too heavy a bevel on, which is preventing her from developing the true balance to her feet that she could do if only the very bottom edge was removed to prevent chipping. I don't even do that, I wait for a chip and then rasp it off if it happens, which is rare.

Photos can be deceptive, but there is a suspicion of a bullnose on the back feet. Does she have any back, hock or sacroiliac issues?
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Thank you :)
I did wonder about how much is rasped off her edges. It's interesting about the bullnose thing. In real life I haven't detected that (and I spend quite a lot of time scrutinising!) but there is something visible in the photos. She doesn't have any back/hock/si issues that I'm aware of (she had a body worker to her this week who said she was moving well but that doesn't necessarily rule anything out). Is a bullnose a manifestation of grumbling problems?
 
It looks like the fronts the heels are higher than the frog - so when she has foot on the floor there is gap under frog? you might need to ban him from frog trimming at all :p, they are much better on the hinds.

On some of the pictures it looks like he has rasped right high up the hoof wall - if so he has done nothing but think the wall and make a smooth surface :p.

True bullnosing is often a reflection of the position of the pedal bone. ie we had reverse rotation so the bulge in the front of the pedal bone was mirrored in his feet. However it can look similar to toe-dumping by farriers (an effort to make the toe shorter) or dragging of hinds in an arena surface.

You can also tell that the tubules are growing a bit under run, I suspect that would improve if she got those frogs on the floor ;)
 
TheSylv007 said:
Thank you :)
I did wonder about how much is rasped off her edges. It's interesting about the bullnose thing. In real life I haven't detected that (and I spend quite a lot of time scrutinising!) but there is something visible in the photos. She doesn't have any back/hock/si issues that I'm aware of (she had a body worker to her this week who said she was moving well but that doesn't necessarily rule anything out). Is a bullnose a manifestation of grumbling problems?
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A bullnose on the front is, ime, usually metabolic/feed related and on the back is more mechanical and something to do with how they move. It's very slight and if she's sound and you have a bodywork person, I'd ignore it unless it gets any worse. If she stands 'camped under' as well, then I'd definitely say she has trouble brewing somewhere in the back or back end. But if she stands full square on her hind legs, then is probably just the photos. Sorry to worry you!
 
yes fwiw ours were on the front and CPtrayes always used to say metabolic. It wasn't in our case but think often can be.
 
ycbm said:
A bullnose on the front is, ime, usually metabolic/feed related and on the back is more mechanical and something to do with how they move. It's very slight and if she's sound and you have a bodywork person, I'd ignore it unless it gets any worse. If she stands 'camped under' as well, then I'd definitely say she has trouble brewing somewhere in the back or back end. But if she stands full square on her hind legs, then is probably just the photos. Sorry to worry you!
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Thanks for replying, don't worry I'm paranoid anyway! Just trying to do right by her :) She doesn't stand camped under thankfully, but it's something I will definitely keep an eye on from now.
 
ester said:
It looks like the fronts the heels are higher than the frog - so when she has foot on the floor there is gap under frog? you might need to ban him from frog trimming at all :p, they are much better on the hinds.

On some of the pictures it looks like he has rasped right high up the hoof wall - if so he has done nothing but think the wall and make a smooth surface :p.

True bullnosing is often a reflection of the position of the pedal bone. ie we had reverse rotation so the bulge in the front of the pedal bone was mirrored in his feet. However it can look similar to toe-dumping by farriers (an effort to make the toe shorter) or dragging of hinds in an arena surface.

You can also tell that the tubules are growing a bit under run, I suspect that would improve if she got those frogs on the floor ;)
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Thank you, the more I look, the more it becomes obvious that her front frogs aren't anywhere as big as her hinds which makes me think they're not doing enough. I can see that there is a bit too much of the toe being taken off to make her feet look nice. Hmmm, not sure how best to tackle it, maybe time for a trimmer with a different approach?
 
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