#barefoot trim

[myblackmare]

The baby got her footsies done for the first time! A couple of meltdowns but she was pretty good overall. Farrier said he’s done a lot of worse horses who are older and supposedly more trained than her so yay!

[highsynberg]

Thought id take these today, anyone have thoughts on Syns feet? Sorry he's not standing square and perfect, hes hard to keep still Top row- Left Front 2nd row- Left Hind 3rd row- Right Front 4th row- Right Hind

[the-barn-rat]

[final Pam voice]

I DO THIS

Too many farriers bailed or were asses so I took matters (Moose’s feet) into my own hands. Still too long obvi but her walls are STONE and this was her very first trim so it was a balancing act between her tolerance, my physical endurance, and making sure at least both fronts were even at the end of the day. It’s supposed to rain this weekend so we are hoping to do round 2 after she’s had a few days to exfoliate and when her tootsies are a little softer and easier to work with.

Bonus: the chunk of overlaid bar that peeled out of her toe.

[clickntreat]

Sweet baby girl getting a trim. Have I ever talked about how amazing my farrier is? Because she's amazing. Does clicker training with her own horses. Does use some p+ and r- occasionally, backing them up if they won't hold still, but never super aggressive, and overall understands that the horse is never doing it to be "naughty" but "99.999999%" of the time as she says, it's a pain or fear or misunderstanding issue, not "bad attitude" or "lack of respect" or any of that nonsense. Super knowledgeable too, shares it willingly, and knows a lot about massage stuff too and uses that if a horse seems to be stiff or in pain and not wanting to lift a foot, and as a reward after a trim lol

[deadwatrd]

These are George's hooves as of tonight - I know he's got some under-run heels and seriously out of control bars right now. There's something bizarre going on with his white line, you can especially see it in the front left - it's stretched and pink. I just noticed it tonight, so if anyone has input as to what could be causing it, go ahead and shoot. This is about 3 weeks after a trim, and he's currently trimmed by an AANHCP practitioner. I'll probably be taking him over myself once I go to the Liberated Horsemanship gateway clinic in June.

He's an OTTB, he's 1300lbs and 16.1hh, and his diet is actually changing right now, he's currently on 9lbs of Nutrena Pro Force Fiber (12/13, 7% sugar, 13% starch), 2lbs of rice bran, and 3lbs of alfalfa daily in addition to free choice grass hay. He's going to be switching to 9lbs Legend's Performance Pellet (12/10, 4% sugar, 9% starch), 2lbs Legend's Omega Plus (extruded flax supplement), and 3lbs of Alfalfa. I'm trying to keep the inflammatory triggers as low as possible, but with him being such a picky eater and hard keeper, it's difficult. I'm changing it because I'm really just not happy with the NSC of the Nutrena, and he doesn't need that much fat now that he's gained the weight.

He's turned out 24/7 on a dry lot with three others, it's been really muddy and wet out there for the past two months or so, but right now it's frozen solid. 

Anyone wanna give him a hoof critique?? barefoothooves, idk who else to tag, whoever else wants to add input go ahead!!

[flexitarianfilly]

The hoof

Hooves intrigue me.

So every six or eight weeks I get myself up under all 3000-some-odd pounds of horse flesh to trim twelve horse hooves.

Yep, each weighing in at roughly 1000-lbs, they and my Hoof Jack do most of the heavy lifting.

Still, it’s a workout-and-a-half!

Why pray-tell do I do this?

No, these guys aren’t begging me.

PLEASE, TRIM MY FEET…

No, not really at all.

But, I guess maybe one…

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[theclassicalhorse]

Its been a week and a half since his shoes were pulled. His wall is really starting to chip away where the nail holes were.Ive been riding him over gravel and rocky pathways every day and hes not showing any signs of soreness! Woop woop

[barefootdressage]

Do you have any suggestions to keep hooves from fraying, cracking, or "pancaking out"? I've tried using some products to harden his hooves, but they still tend to be in really bad shape and he gets long toes easily (which the farrier hasn't corrected much). I don't have the option of switching farriers or putting him in some other pasture right now, and I want to keep him barefoot because he does better that way, but I was wondering if you had any tips/products that I could use to help a bit?

It's really hard to tell what's going on without pictures, but my guess is that he's just going too long in between trims.  When this happens the hoof wall flares, the wedge becomes filled with an organism that eats away at the laminae, and the weakening wall cracks off.  This is how wild horses in a soft or wet environment self trim, and it often looks downright hideous, though the horses rarely go lame. 

If this goes on too long, however, the weakening can become severe enough that the flare goes higher than is healthy.  If you think this is the case there are all sorts of products that you can use to cure white line disease, though my personal go to treatment for most hoof ailments is a epson salt soak and tea tree oil, which are fast and cheap products you can pick up at any pharmacy.  Handy when the closest tack store is 1.5h away. 

Long term the treatment for this is more frequent trims and a good mustang roll.  Ask your farrier to apply one to the pasture trim it seems like he's doing, and if he wont you can always buy a rasp and learn how to do it yourself.  They're inexpensive and it's not that hard to learn, albeit intimidating at first.  

Alternatively, he could just have weak walls. In which case there is probably something missing from his diet, and if you don't address that then all the product in the world wont hold his feet together.  I recommend something like a ration balancer just to cover all your basics, and then maybe a supplement specifically for rebuilding hooves on top of that.  I've been using SimmIRdown, which is a herbal supplement that barefoot trimmers in my area are all raving about.  If you think his hooves are drying out my trick is to overflow the water trough so they have to soak in a mud bath every time they come to drink. 

I can't think of anything else at the moment.  As always, tagging barefoothooves just in case they have something to add.