That sounds like a great plan. Good luck!
Ditto this. An aggressive corrective trim coming out of shoes is a sure recipe for a sore horse. Even with a conservative job, you might want to have some hoof boots on hand?
Good luck. Sounds like a lucky horse .
Susan
Thank you!
Yes! My farrier is bringing some boots! My vet thinks they may not be necessary but better to be prepared imo!
Reading my last comment again, another thought:
Feet that have been this long, for this long, won’t have a healthy heel region. This means, even if all you did was back toes up, leaving most wall height and dead sole, that might put too much weight on heels not ready for it, and that is what might make him sore, nothing to do with the solar region.
That’s another check mark for being pretty conservative the first time - you can always take more off in a week or 2. He’d tell you pretty quickly if you forced too much weight on his weak heel area.
It sounds like your farrier has a handle on something like this, this is just another thing to consider and talk to him about.
That and the stinking canyon in his frog and heel bulb aren’t gonna help him. Poor guy.
Farrier is gonna be on me like a duck on a June bug over the thrush. Back to the daily hoof spa routine for me. Might not need hoof boots as I can see farrier wanting me to wrap his feet. Fun times
Farrier pulled the remaining shoe and gave him a trim.
Farrier stated he was only taking a wee bit of hoof wall and not touching frogs or soles at this trim and that it we would have “a long productive relationship” with horsie’s hooves. He did not feel hoof boots were warranted at this time. Horse waa moving fairly well on concrete pre trim (with one shoe) and post trim with no shoes. As expected he directed me to get hopping on the thrush treatment. So that was all good.
The bad: today was one of those rare days that horses didn’t get turned out at the boarding facility as we have had a boatload of rain and the pastures are pretty much ponds. Horsie is stocked up a bit, worst in his left hind. I hand walked him a bit and thought I saw a bit of improvement. I had noted some minor swelling in that leg previously.
Poor quality pictures
This looks like a nice and fairly gentle first trim, and it was good to see he has put a decent roll on the walls of the front feet. I smiled at the “long productive relationship” comment.
Farrier is quite the character! I got this picture recently of my horses (it feels so weird to say that again as I’ve only had one horse for years). The bay is my homebred gelding in my profile pic and chestnut is the new guy
That’s a lovely pic, thanks! Have they got to know each other yet?
Yes! The boarding facility has been turning them out together for about a week now. With a few days of turning them out in adjacent paddocks before that. They get along fairly well. They aren’t best buds but they aren’t fussing either. I imagine one trailer ride home and they will be annoyingly attached lol.
To be perfectly honest, I was real concerned about getting a second horse and then finding out it wasn’t a good match for turn out buddies. Could be a total nightmare in a small home barn environment! So it was a major “selling point” for me that this situation allowed me to see that yes these two horses can live peacefully together before committing!
If turnout isn’t possible, yes…lots of hand walking on softer footing.
I had a mare that the farrier was getting weirder and weirder with his set up on her…he insisted she be 52 degrees even when x-rays said she was quite happy and aligned at 46-47 degrees (fronts). I finally fired him after I had him pull her shoes. I did it in September…ground still very hard and dry. I felt bad but I had to get her out of the weirdness he had her in. She was a little sore but I just made sure I hand walked her on the fluffy arena footing and she rebounded remarkably well. I did put her back in shoes in the spring with a much more appropriate package. She needed shoes in the hot/dry months in our dry, rocky high desert area.
The boys look great .
Susan
Thank you!
I’m hoping to get them home early next week. My home barn drains exponentially faster than the boarding facility so hopefully will have fewer times of limited turn out. My “stalls” are considerably larger as well. And my turn out turn in schedule will be timed around my work schedule so we will be closer to a 12/12 schedule while the boarding barn is closer to a 8 out 16 in schedule.
We were hand walking on soft ground alright. More like wading in puddles lol.