Stunning barefoot trot beats the snow

Regular readers of my blog will have seen the feet attached to this horse in previous posts, but perhaps never the whole horse.

Here she is in action, on her way to completing her first 64km of the season.  Note it was snowing!

Vet commented on her "Stunning trot." on the pre-ride trot up.

Despite horrible conditions she completed 64km and trotted up sound at the end.  Well done to all! :-)

Corns

There are corns and corns.  Grace had multiple corns, only found when she was deshod.  But none of them were quite as deep as this one.

LF April 2010

If you compare the two photos below you can see how this foot has come along. Not only is the corn now just a memory, but the heel bulbs have bulked up nicely, the digital cushion has plumped up and the whole foot is more solid. Since the corn the horse has worked through the Endurance ranks and is now competing at Advanced level.

LF April 2010

LF Sept 2011

And my (old) vet said

LF April 10 - corn, sole thin at toe, weak heels,
spoon shaped

LH April 10

RF April 10

RH April 10 - apologies for poo!

LF - May 11, 5 days post GH, more
concavity, sole thicker, heel bulbs
developed, wider at heel

LH - May 11 5 days post GH

RF - May 11 5 days post GH

RH - May 11, 5 days post GH

 





........... "Horses can do everything barefoot except Endurance."

The May 11 hooves are 5 days post the Golden Horseshoe.  80km in two days over a stoney moor*.  Although the owner reports it is not as stoney as their regular training ground.  Horse vetted sound with a Silver, missing Gold by one heart beat.  The icing on the cake was the compliments from the vet on the hooves! :-)

Maybe if my original vet were still practicing today he would change his mind?  He was pretty open minded and pragmatic so I like to think so.

* I took this horse on as a client April 10.  Previously always ridden out in boots as always a bit footy.  Diet change and a few modifications to hoof care and what a difference a year makes.  Owner is incredibly dedicated and it wouldn't work without their ability to manage their horse.  Horse lives out 24/7, until recently in regular grass livery.  Now on a grass track.

Hard working feet can still get better

RF Mid May 10

RF Mid March 11

LF Mid May 10

LF Mid March 11

I first met this horse May 2010. Never shod, but largely ridden out in boots because of footiness. It was clear that the horse had some degree of LGL because of the soup sinking event lines on her hooves. There were a few structural issues too, massive corn and feet that were spoon shaped in front (narrow, contracted heel and flaring toe).

Now 10 months later the hooves (finally!) are decontracting, they are shorter, with just as much depth to the sole.  These hooves also remind us that they respond to the going they are familiar with - a sudden 1000% fold increase in road work has worn the March 11 hooves a bit too much. But the carer/rider is aware that if they are consistent with the road work they will be fine.

Deviation

Shifts lateral to medial



Works hard, functions well

Collapsed along medial wall - 12 05 10

Straighter - good example of event lines 01 09 10

I love deviated hooves, sorry, probably not the right thing to say, but I find them fascinating.  Generally terribly easy to deal with, if you know what you are doing.

Sad then, that so many people are advised that they have to shoe a horse with a deviated hoof.  I really don't know why, especially as I have seen the problems shoeing this type of foot causes; including for some, quite severe long term lameness.

A deviation is often, but not always a reflection of something going on higher up the horse.  Maybe a conformation defect or some long term soreness.  Other times the foot has just been inappropriately managed/trimmed.

The hoof in the top two photos belongs to a portly traditional hunting print type cob.  Her original farrier said she would never be able to go barefoot because of the deviation - the outer hoof wall would wear to nothing.  In fact she works very hard barefoot including lots of work on roads and stoney tracks and she still needs maintenance trimming.  Far from the outside wall wearing too much, we find the medial side doesn't wear enough.  Her carer has learnt how to deal with this in between formal trim sessions.  Yes it grows that much!

The third and fourth photos belong to an endurance horse that has always been bare.  We know she has had some upper body issues, plus she needed more regular trimming of the overly long wall which was tipping her foot over.  The hoof is now straight - because it 'wants' to be straight, not because it has been forced to be.  This is an example of a true performance barefooter just quietly getting on with it.