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These following
sets of photos are just before and after trims for a new client. After a personal tragedy for the owner, I was not able
to trim the horse after the second set of photos to continue the case study. But, even though I was only able to come back
8 weeks later due to some foul winter weather, the hoof did make a marked improvement. The cracks needed some anti-fungal
soaking, which was hard to do in the middle of winter, and would not have had time to grow very far for the second pictures
anyway. This is an example of how a trim may not look the way you
want if you have a lot of pathology to fix. With the set up trim (photos are presented as before/after in pairs) the hooves
look rough and the trim isn't going to look like a normal maintenance trim. But, as you see by the next trim (which was about
3 weeks past our appointment but ice kept me from coming back) the hooves looked better just from having a good trim. The
crushed heels are starting to pop up already. This would be a case for every 4-6 weeks with anti-fungal treatments and a dietary
supplements to fix the problems. The mare was allowed 24/7 turnout on grassy pasture and access to a pond. This horse was
under strict orders to stay off gravel with the thin soles and extreme flaring of the entire foot. The trim is aggressive
initially for a purpose and living on a soft pasture or stalled during the ice, risk of bruising was minimal or I would have
left her with hoof boots. This is not a regular trim for a healthy foot. Pathologies being addressed: - Wall cracks-fungal infection
- Poor trimming-excess wall length
- Dietary
Imbalance-the peeling in layers and brittle hoof walls don't just mean poor genes or fungus problems
- Thin Soles-she is prone to them genetically, however the neglect in trimming
has allowed the walls to separate and dump the horse on her soles
- Flared
walls on the whole hoof-there is very little good wall connection anywhere.
- Crushed or "under-run" heels-this horse's heels are smashed under her soles at the beginning.
- Thrush-infected frogs are weak and puny
- Weak digital cushion. This mare had been shod many years, year-round and stall bound most
of her youth. She is very weak in the back of her feet and may always require boots for riding.
- Long toe/low heel-I say this horse was neglected, but she had been trimmed 3 weeks prior
to my initial visit!!!! Neglect by the farrier-who protested at pulling her shoes in the first place. Not sure if he was really
that poor at trimming, or hoping crappy feet would mean more shoes.
Please excuse the layout of the photos. I have yet to completely
figure out how to manipulate my website, but you should be able to tell before vs after in each set. The left side is the
initial set up trim in November 2009 with the bottom right group being February 2010 (8 weeks later). Again, this is
an extremely pathological foot you don't always see this many problems on one horse, or to this degree.
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