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Shoes mask weaknesses, barefoot highlights strengths

Thursday 14 October 2010

Hooves and health

Start front
+ 10 weeks front





Start side/quarter



+ 10 weeks side/quarter

 

 




Start solar

+ 10 weeks solar




Start heel

+ 10 weeks heel
















































The horn quality on this hoof became too poor to hold a shoe. The deep event lines, the poor quality horn and heavy rasping of the toe are indicators that something somewhere is not right and it is probably, but not necessarily diet related. Some farriers will rasp out a toe to try and correct what they know to be a bad angle - but it is far more effective (and correct) to grow a good angle to start with.

10 weeks on, with a new diet it can be seen that the top half of the hoof has fewer event lines. The new horn has a better texture and the colours are more clearly defined and the darker shades have a deeper hue.

When first seen the coronary bands on this horses hooves wer almost horizontal, (a little earlier tthan the first photos in the entry but the camera with them on suffered my usual techno trauma). Here it can be seen hhow the hoof is adopting a more natural form. A lot of the change is self determined - as the shoes have been removed - but this has been helped by a correct trim according to the principles of the AANHCP. In particular the heels were lowered and the quarters relieved.

Although the heel views are not the same - I think you will be able to see how the central sulcus has filled out, cleared of thrush thanks to the determined efforts of the main carer. What is particularly interesting is that although the hoof horn in the heel area is shorter, the heel itself is bigger, more robust, 'beefy'. So the 'big' heel which some try to achieve by leaving the heel horn high, has been achieved by building up the back of the foot. This will allow the hoof to function much more effectively.

Although this is a challenging case - it still rocks! Best wishes and all the best to this horse and their people.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looking good so far! Thanks as usual for the great pictures and explanations.

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