Mare was sore after this and the previous trim by barefoot trimmer I’ve used for a few years. Her feet look great but she is clearly not comfortable. Chiro suggested that she needs another 1/2 in heel on all 4 feet.
She has about 1/2 inch now and her feet look amazing, but she is sore, so do some horses need more heel to be comfortable? Mare is a large 17 h warmblood. Solid feet, never needed shoes in 14 years, but is now having a hard time.
IME so many people don’t know how to gauge a lot of measurements, whether it’s distance/height/length, or weight.
1/2" is a LOT in terms of a foot. That’s the difference between a perfect heel, and a grossly out of balance heel.
Without seeing pictures, there’s no way to answer your question, other than it is very likely NOT the case that she needs another 1/2" of heel. If she did, the heels would have had to be truly hacked.
As well, there’s more to sore feet than the heel. There’s sole, bars, and toes.
Take pictures like these:
http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/good-hoof-photos.html
IME a trim can give a horse a very well balanced foot yet just be a smidgen too much and make them uncomfortable.
Then you have the conundrum where a trim needs to be just a little more aggressive to correct an imbalance and that leaves them uncomfortable.
Hoof boots are a great resource for riding out these moments.
Also discuss with your trimmer. You may need to make a choice between fixing something over more trim cycles to keep her comfortable.
Like JB I wouldn’t necessarily think it was heels. And I would take advice on hooves from my chiropractor with a grain of salt unless they were also a trained farrier.
So you’ve had this mare for 14 years, she’s always been barefoot, never had soundness issues. If that’s accurate, I think there is way too much that can play into this to narrow it down to feet. What has changed otherwise? Exercise, weight, diet? It’s odd for a mare in your condition to come up lame and to think of the feet (barefoot for 14 years) might be the catalyst?
Well if the horse turns up senditive on gravel for 5 days after a trim, then goes back to fine, I’d say it’s connected to the trim.
But it might not be solely caused by the trim. There might be some start of laminitis or thrush that is making the foot less resilient.
It is also possible the workload or footing may have changed, or the weather.
It is also possible the farrier did a more aggressive trim to address a balance issue. The farrier is the first person the OP should be talking to.
However yes certainly sometimes people mistake an intermittent lameness caused by something else, for a trim issue. But IME post trim sensitivity is pretty easy to link to the trim, and pretty easy to cause.
^^agree with the post above. And also want to say that I’m not sure the mare has had the same trimmer for 14 years. Not to mention that trimmers & farriers can change their methods and/or methods on any particular horse.
It could be fall laminitis that is the real issue and noticeable only after the trim. So I wouldn’t necessarily fire the trimmer.
OP - have you brought this to the trimmer’s attention? And if so, what was their response? I know my farrier would be livid if I thought he made my horse sore and didn’t tell him.
I agree that if this horse has never needed shoes in 14 years and now is sore, something’s changed and something is wrong.
Is it all 4 feet?
Just front?
Just one foot?
Any possibility of laminitis? Navicular? Abcess?
Is she sore for a only a few days after a trim, or constantly sore?
Any change in diet, exercise, and/or turnout?
A horse needs as much heel as the sole demands. If the frogs are contracted, a little less heel for a bit will allow them to spread out. Leaving too much hoof wall at the heel will cause crushed heels. The whole way around the hoof, there should be just enough wall to protect the sole.
It depends on why they are contracted. If it’s due to thrush, then less heel isn’t going to fix anything, and will just increase the soreness. If they are contracted because heels have been too long for too long, then they need to be brought down/back permanently not just “for a bit” 
It might take a few trims to get them back, depending on whether doing so makes the horse too sore to move properly
Leaving too much hoof wall at the heel will cause crushed heels.
Not all long heels crush. Some stand up, which is much better than crushing. But too much heel will become more and more underrun, no way around that (barring a clubby foot)
JB, thank you for your reply. I will take photos tonight and post those asap. Since owning this mare I’ve learned a lot about keeping a barefoot horse sound, including thrush prevention, etc.
Thanks for your reply Scribbler. My chiro is also a trained farrier that is why I listened to her when she made a comment about the heel height. She is always very complimentary of the other farrier’s work and thinks that my mare has good feet other than the soreness from the past 2 trims.
I’m very in tune with my mare and she is not stoic in the least. She shows me when there is the slightest discomfort LOL!
She is sore on all 4 feet. I ride with Renegade hoof boots in and out of the ring when she is sore.
Yes, I have brought this to the trimmer’s attention. She feels like it is caused by several factors: new footing (new sand footing in her paddock), new sole after exfoliating, less wall after the trim. I really like this trimmer’s work, just really worried since mare has been lame after the last 2 trims. She is on a 4 week cycle. I’ve kept the horse moving despite being sore, walking in hand, riding with boots on, etc because she stocks up badly if she doesn’t move every day.
I’m not looking to change to another trimmer as I believe this one is the best around, I simply want to understand what is going on and if there is something else I can do to toughen up her feet.
Keep in mind this is the time of year when horses can become mildly laminitic, and the trim that didn’t affect her before, might now be a little too short for feet that are already sore, but whose soreness is being hidden by the longer foot at the end of the trim cycle.
“new sole after exfoliating” and “less wall after the trim” doesn’t make sense if this is how she’s always trimmed, unless the trimmer is being too aggressive in cleaning up dead sole, and is ending up taking some live sole in the process. Or unless it’s been coincidental that the trim is coming after a period of wetter ground, which has softened up the feet, and right near the time of the trim, the ground has gotten hard enough for the normal trim to be too short and removed too much needed protection (which is a trimmer problem, not an environment problem).
So I think this is the same horse that has already been discussed and we talked about going from a 4 week cycle to something longer; and/or having the trimmer take off less wall/sole after only 4 weeks if it’s making the horse sore.
The other thought was that if this horse IS being trimmed correctly, and is tender anyway, then shoes might be necessary.
It’s really impossible to tell without pictures; and even then, hard to know for sure. Does the trimmer think something is going to change that will improve the situation?
I am always present and watching when my horses are trimmed and have never seen the trimmer touch sole. The horses’ environment did change. We moved to a new barn 2 months ago where they live in a small sand paddock with a shelter. They were on a large pasture before this and I mainly trail rode my mare all summer. Now we are at this new facility with indoor sand ring, sand paddock and better quality hay.
Mare is not moving as much which probably accounts for her stocking up on all 4 legs. I ride her 4 days a week for 1 hour in the ring and one longer trail ride on the weekend. She gets one day off completely and the other day off I hand walk or lunge her.
Our rides are mostly walk/trot right now while she is getting more fit from just trail riding all summer. She has had 2 chiro sessions in 2 months. She gets high quality feed (I use FeedXL to make sure everything is balanced). Saddle fits - gets checked every year. Everything else is up to date including shots/worming/teeth, etc. There is no heat in her feet, she is just really tender after her last 2 trims.
There is probably way more going on other than the trim being too short, but it was the only thing that really stood out to me.
I can’t remember - has this trimmer done her feet more than twice, and sometimes the horse was not sore, or is it twice total now, both times she was sore?
Something else to consider - has your weather been unusually wet? Long periods of wet weather can make feet soggy and more prone to tenderness as well.
Yes, this trimmer has worked on her for the last 16 months. She has had some lameness on and off that is believed to be related to her SI. She goes “off” when not worked regularly. Her feet have only been sore after the last 2 trims.
No it has not been very wet yet. We have only had a couple of days of on and off rain. Her feet look and feel rock hard as is usual for the summer. There is no thrush either. I’m very familiar with thrush as it caused problems for her in the past.
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