I trimmed Chrome's hooves!

Okay, so I finally got the guts to work on Chrome's hooves myself. :D I wanted to get his heels down so that his frogs would make contact with the ground, because if his frogs never touch the ground his hoof won't get stronger and his heels will stay contracted. And I'm happy to say I only made one or two mistakes (nothing super bad) and his frogs are on the ground! Oh and I only did his fronts because doing all four is too much for my back to handle. I'll do his rear hooves soon.

Right fore. As you can see the frog is on the ground. :D The dirty part above his hoof is just dried mud, not scabs or anything. I missed it when I was brushing off his legs.

Left fore. Frog on the ground!

Left fore. Got the heels and bars down. Need to back the toe more, but wasn't sure how so I had to do some research. I'll do that next time. Also going to try betadine on his frogs and heels to help with the icky stuff growing on them due to our nasty weather.

Closeup of left fore. I might have gone a little low on his heels, but the ground is soft so I think he will be okay. :)

Left fore. The camera was tilted so it looks like the right side is high . . . that would be the outside so it's possible. His frog doesn't look like it would make contact, but it does. I'll have to be careful to not let the heels get too long again.

Right fore. This is the one I made two mistakes on. You can see them in the next picture. Again I need to back the toe.

The circled spot is my first mistake. I angled the nippers too much and went too deep, but it shouldn't be a problem. The second was leaving the bar on that side too long on the end. I didn't get it the same length all the way down. I'll fix that soon. Again the ground is soft so my mistakes should be easily forgiven.

Right fore. The frog on this side is so getting ready to shed!!

Pastern angles look pretty good, huh?

Close up of left fore. This shows how elongated his hoof capsule is, if you look at the shadow the heel bulb is making. From what I've read keeping the toe backed will cause the hoof to eventually grow under his leg again instead of being pushed so far forward.

Right fore pastern angle.

Close up of right fore. You can see that little spot where I angled the nipper wrong. So ugly lol.

Left fore. I titled the camera bad! Sorry!

Right fore. I tilted the camera a little on this one too.

I also got a video showing that he lands toe first in the front and heel first/flat footed in the rear at the walk. At the trot he lands flat and at the canter he lands heel first. This is just for reference to see how his gaits change as his hooves change.



Sorry for all of the hoof related posts lately. I'm a little OCD lol. :) Let me know what you guys think!

Hobby Horse Blog Hop #3

Here are the rules: Answer one or all of the prompts. Link back to Living a Dream's post. Visit other blogs. And don't forget to ask a question of everyone else!


1. You are the lucky winner of the "Extreme Barn Makeover"! Lucky you! What things are top on your list to be remade, changed or upgraded? (Sorry, this makeover does not entirely replace barns and/or add indoor arenas!). Hmm, since my barn is still not repaired from the tornado damage I think replacing it is really the only option. It's just a really large three sided run in shed basically. Here's a picture:

Obviously that was before it was damaged. So I would have it moved to the new spot, anchored so it can never be picked up and tossed in a tree again, the pea gravel footing put back into it, the hole in the roof repaired with a skylight. Then I would have it extended a little and closed in so it can't catch the wind again. I would have two stalls built into it, maybe possible extend it enough to do a third stall for Zep. I would add on or have a separate feed/tack room so I don't have to keep all of my horse stuff in my house. I guess that about covers it. It's too early to think of anything else lol.

2. Why do you treasure a particular piece of tack or equipment? I don't really. When I moved (in 2007) I got rid of or lost most everything I had except for basics. I think when I finally get a saddle I will probably treasure it just because they are so expensive lol!!

3. What is the best day of the week for you? Well, considering I'm at work right now and didn't get enough sleep my answer is ANY day I don't have to go to work. This place is stressing me out so bad right now. Of course the best day is the one I can spend all day playing with the horses and dogs (with my human friends makes it even better!).

Now my question for my readers is . . . If you could try out any equestrian discipline what would you try?

Noise Desensitization - Video!

If you want to know what that skeptical expression is all about you just have to watch the video lol. Make sure to turn your sound down a little because it's a bit loud!


I realized after that the sound was probably a little painful to his ears because theirs is so much more acute than ours, so next time I'll use cotton balls in his ears like they do in Mounted Shooting. I would love to try Mounted Shooting someday so that's why I was desensitizing Chrome to the noise. He did really well. He was understandably a little nervous at first (in fact that's the most spooked I've seen in him two years), but he eventually relaxed. He's such a smart boy. :)

P.S. I forgot to mention why my husband was pounding the metal with a sledgehammer lol. That thing he's crushing up is our old metal feed shed that was destroyed in the tornado last year. Since his back is feeling better he finally decided to crush the building down so we can get it on a trailer to haul off for recycling. :)

Adorable Chrome - Video!

Remember the droopy lip shot from yesterday? Check out this video!!


Chrome dozed off and let me walk right up to him. He blinked sleepily at me, but dozed off again. :) I feel so privileged that he is so relaxed and comfortable around us. For those of you who can't view videos here is a picture.

His head was resting on the fence and he was definitely dozing. So cute!!!! Also here are some pictures I took while he was sleeping. Just random shots to see if they turned out at all. I like them because they show how shiny he is! I love flaxseed lol. Also notice how white his tail is?

I love my boy!!

Chrome's Hooves After Trimming

Notice the relaxed, droopy lip?? Tomorrow I have some adorable photos to share with you! For now we're here to look at hooves though. :) First the front view.

Yeah, he toes out . . . is the rotation from the knees or what? I can't tell. He has such teeny fetlocks too. :(

They look nice though, right? And now the side views . . .

This is his worse one as far as clubbiness.

And rear view . . .

Are his heels too long? Are his frogs making enough contact with the ground to stimulate growth and strength? One thing I've been worried about are that his heels and frogs seem narrow (obvious in the solar views next). How do I get his heels to spread out and open up his central sulcus? Is it just a matter of shortening his heels some more? The rear hooves look better than the fronts I think . . .

So what do you guys think? Anything I need to mention to my trimmer? Thanks for any information/comments/advice. You guys are awesome!