Can you believe the difference?? The main factors in his improvement were diet and environment. He went from living in a round pen and eating six quarts of sweet feed a day to living on thirty acres and eating a ration balancer (with no sugar). BIG difference. He's only been trimmed for a few cycles now (in fact has been trimmed since the recent picture was taken) and that improves things, but I still think diet/environment/exercise has been the main factor in it. Faran was obese when we got him and didn't have a lot of room to move around. That has very negative effects on the hoof. So if you're horse is being trimmed regularly, but is still having problems (abscesses, chipping, cracks, lameness, etc) look into diet/exercise/environment. It has a much stronger influence than most people think!Now for the horse hoof experts, I have a question. Why is his central sulcus a deep hole instead of a groove that goes out the back of the hoof? I've never seen one that looks like his. I'm treating him for thrush since nasty stuff gets trapped in there. We've also put a bevel on his hoof since this picture was taken. I think the biggest thing right now is getting those toes back so his hoof returns to a normal shape. :) I'm excited about the changes in Faran, physically and emotionally. :D
That's very impressive progress and I am sure that Faran is a lot happier with his feet too!
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is what they do to the feet of show Percherons... Those Scotch shoes seem to be the equivalent of some medieval torture.
Nice progress on those feet! I agree with backing the toe up, if this is the same foot then it has significantly elongated and narrowed. Bet he is moving around better though.
ReplyDeleteAs for the hole it looks like thrush in the frog. There are pictures of similar at www.thehorseshoof.com/pdf_articles/FrogSeries4.pdf. Packing it with Tomorrow (cow udder treatment, at TSC and other farm stores) or Thrush off for a couple of weeks should fix it. Let me know how it goes!
Very nice - great comparision pics! You have made such progress with Faran.
ReplyDeleteAn actual healthy frog doesn't have a groove through the central sulcus, it has a dimple- which it looks like me might be growing. How deep is it?
ReplyDeleteBack that toe all the way through that weirdness at his toe and it will also help get rid of that crack.
Healthy frog: http://quartersforme.blogspot.com/2011/03/optimal-hooves-have-healthy-frogs-and.html
ReplyDeleteWhat does the foot look like on top?
ReplyDeleteSince I only trim my own horse, I am definitely not an expert, but if the foot belonged to my horse, I would put a stronger mustang roll all the way around the hoof (up to the white line). I would also treat the hole for thrush, as recommended by others.
appy, that's not the same hoof. When we got him we could only pick up one hoof because he was trimmed in stocks (or not at all) and had no balance. I couldn't remember which hoof it was though, so it hasn't elongated that much. :) That does mean they are very mismatched though.
ReplyDeleteI figured the hole was thrush, but wanted to make sure. I haven't heard of Tomorrow, so I'll have to check it out. Thanks!
smazourek, I'm not sure how deep it is, but when we clean it out we get a lot of crud out of it. True that the central sulcus is more of a dimple (good description). Chrome's are grooves because his heels are contracted. They are spreading out some already since I got his frogs on the ground though. :D Thanks for the link!
Val, I did a post recently that has views of his hooves from different angles. I don't have any current ones after we beveled his hooves, but I'll try to get some next time we work on them. The picture above was taken a few days before we beveled it. We both have iffy backs and have to do the work in short sessions. Thanks!