Barefoot horse case study fronts - day one

The owner of this horse has very kindly let me post these 'before' pictures of their horse's feet.

There is a lot going on with these hooves. I will bullet initial observations after each pair of pictures. These are limited - we will be able to tell more when the shoes come off.

For the first stage of the transistion to barefoot the owner is moving the horse onto a high forage, low sugar diet with mineral supplementation (not OTC). This stage will take four weeks as the horse is weaned off a packaged mix.

Right Fore Front, Left Fore Front

• Both feet show stress rings
• The top of the hooves is showing a significantly different angle of growth to that lower down, suggesting flaring
• Left front toe has been damaged, the owner reports an infection

Right Fore Side, Left Fore Side

• Stress rings very clear in left fore
• Heels appear underrun
• Although not clear both fronts have bull noses
• Lateral cartilages appear weak

Right Fore Heel, Left Fore Heel

• Both heels are contracted
• Palpitation revealed poorly developed digital cushion

Right Fore Sole, Left Fore Sole

• Heel contraction very evident
• Frog weak and thrushy
• Infection in the toes
• Bars are overlaid

I will post more pictures of these feet when the shoes come off - and I will post the hinds tomorrow.

Decisions decisions

This is a horse we looked at yesterday. I'm in more than two minds. More body and less bone than I'd like and terrible feet. If we could turn the feet around it would be very rewarding, but it is a risk. Would be a good his 'n' her horse. Probably make a good petting horse for the local kids too. Unlikely to more than clamber over the lowest of obstacles though, so no jumpies.

Frogtastic - what a difference a day (or 3) makes

It's hard to believe, but the first two photos were taken on the 21/05/09 and the second two were taken today, 24/05/09.

We discovered a pocket of thrush/fungal infection in one wing of Madam's right fore frog. It was progressing faster than the foot could grow it out, so we decided a little judicious trimming was required. We only took out the grotty rotten bits. You can see the hole left in the left hand photos. Well give nature a chance and she gets to work. Three days later and look how that frog has bounced back!

Because of our current situation Madam is being stabled rather a lot. So to protect the delicate regrowth from any urine etc that Madam might stand in we are coating the frog and sole in nappy cream before putting her to bed.

George grows wings........

Sorry no pictures today. George went to the vets to have his dodgy feet x-rayed. He has had trailer trauma in the past and at some stage rather rough handling, so is not keen on the wheels. We have been practising for a while, letting him get familiar with the trailer, leading his girl friends through etc.

Until Monday the training was not moving along terribly quickly. We found he would rather starve than step into the trailer for food/water/hay. We also found that his passion for his girlfriends doesn't extend to following their cute little behinds through the trailer.

Then out of the blue on Monday he takes a deep breath and steps in - and at the exact same moment a lorry goes past and lets off its air brakes, not once but about a dozen times. So of course he backs out in a blind panic and all his fears about trailers eating horses are confirmed.

So as the visit to the vet couldn't be delayed any longer we decided to have him sedated. We had tried Sedalin, but it doesn't have any impact on him. The vet found that he had to max out the dose on the injectable stuff too.

Anyway, drugged to the eyeballs and one hoof at a time we got him loaded. Previous training had shown that no partition was best for George, so he travelled cross tied.

We repeated the process for the trip home and I drove very slowly. So slowly that the mug which I hadn't realised was on the running board of the trailer stayed there without falling off for the whole 45 minute journey. I'll take it back to the vets the next time we visit.

George

George has become a project. He was supposed to be a companion to the two mares and an alternative riding horse for myself and family. But a sore back and terrible feet have put any riding plans on hold.

His feet are really long, they have grown as 'cylinders' rather than 'turkish slippers'. His heels are underslung and have curled in, crushing the frogs, which have all but disappeared in the heel area. What is left of his frogs is skinny, full of holes, ragged and a bit squishy. They are too sensitive to pick out properly, so we flush them with dilute hibiscrub.

The horn quality is surprisingly good and although on arrival he was so toe first he looked like a ballerina on pointe, he has always been able to move over any surface.

Lame more or less alround and moving like a plank he has a long way to go. It can take 9-12 months to grow a new foot. 24/7 turnout on the circuit has helped. His movement is now more fluid and he can take canter on both leads. His frogs have improved enough to allow me to pick them out if I am careful. He is getting marginally less toe first landing.

In the interim we are working on helping to get over his fear of loading in a trailer and teaching him some more verbal cues.