I have a 22 yo TWH boarded at my barn and her barefoot trimmer was just talking to me about how the horse’s hooves are not growing at all and that she hasn’t been able to take any foot off for the past few trims. She said that she is surprised because she used to have to take a lot off. When I took over the farm last spring, the mare was really thin (I thought she was more like 32 and assumed we’d have to put her down sooner rather than later) so I convinced the horse’s owner to switch from sweet feed to TCS. The mare put on weight and looks so much healthier and happier, even after a rough winter. The owner is also paying me to work the mare in the indoor a few times a week. The mare is retired with pretty severe arthritis and the owner never comes out so her activity is limited to the few times a week I work her (mostly just free lunge) and her time in the pasture, weather permitting. When the pasture was frozen, they were out about 8 hours/day. She’s on TCS, a really nice alfalfa mix and biotin. I’m pretty sure the trimmer was passively accusing me of not working her as often as I said I am. She shook her head at me when I said I was feeding TCS and said that I should be feeding her oats. I disagree. The mare looks really good, but her feet are not growing. What could I be missing?
Can you share a picture?
I wonder if her sole is stretched, and perhaps her heels underrun so it appears that there isn’t anything to remove.
Many horses don’t grow much foot in the winter. My gelding had his shoes pulled in early December (so wasn’t really trimmed then, just rasped) and is just now getting to the point where he could use a rasp again, still nothing to trim.
Between slow winter growth and regular work there might not be much to remove.
G.
Might be wearing the foot down on her own. I wouldn’t stress if the rest of her looks good.
The solar view shows there’s some amount of retained sole. You can tell that by the ledge/crevice between the sole and the apex (tip) of the frog. The deeper that is, the more false/retained sole. Healthy, live sole forms a bowl from toe quart to toe quarter, down to the tip of the frog.
If a trimmer is looking to the visible sole to tell them how far to trim walls, if they don’t recognize there is retained sole, the foot will always look like it hasn’t grown, as in, there will be very little wall above the level of the false sole.
The lateral views show there is some foot that could be trimmed. But just how much all depends on the amount of retained sole there actually is.
- What a relief you took the horse off sweet feed and put her on a decent feed:).
1.1. Walking Horses are prone to metabolic issues (another good reason to get her off sweet feed), so PLEASE do not listen to her farrier by feeding her oats. I still have a 22 yr old TWH with insulin resistance – he is now in remission but getting him there has been pure H*** and very costly.
- I see some really poor farrier work. Toes looked stretched to me. I think the Rule of Thumb for frog length is that is should be the length of 2/3 of the hoof. That is not the case in the sole picture – the frog is longer than 2/3rds. i wonder if there isn’t some thrush in the sulci? It’s possible her arthritis isn’t the entire issue for her discomfort — if all her hooves look like this one, she is likely walking on sore hooves.
it will be interesting to hear your farrier’s opinion:)
I’ll be honest, I did get into a little tiff with the trimmer over the suggestion of oats. I just couldn’t see how they would be good for this horse. The discussion left us both a little suspect of each other. I’m not a huge fan of her work (again, I’m no expert, but the feet don’t look right to me) and she probably doesn’t like that I do know some stuff…she was used to coming into a barn of non-horse people who relied on her for their “education”.
There are some very good “barefoot trimmers” out there. There is also a cadre that are the disciples of the Barefoot Uber Alles way of thinking and they have determined that the truism “no foot, no horse” means that they are true gurus of equine management at all levels.
JB’s comments are germane. This is not what I’d call “quality work.”
The foot is the foundation of the horse but on top of that foundation is 1000 pounds of horse. Sometimes the errors of foot care are best seen in a good conformation photo of the horse because then we see not just possible errors in the foundation but also how those errors affect the rest of the horse. It’s also nice to see a horse move because perfect static conformation does not always translate to perfect movement.
The owner, here, needs a second opinion.
G.
Ditch the barefoot trimmer. It’s just someone who doesn’t know how to put on a shoe. And why would you listen to a wannabe blacksmith about nutrition??? Trust your inner warnings! And yes, hoof growth slows down in winter. Mine just went 10 weeks between trims and there still was not a ton of foot to remove. But they are in good weight and starting to shed and coats look great.
I have nothing against barefoot trimmers, but I’m not a fan of this one. She is young (inexperienced), thinks she knows it all and is happy to share her “knowledge”. Unfortunately, the owner of the mare was the owner of the farm before we bought it. She and her husband got a divorce (at almost 80!) and she is pretty bitter that it’s now mine. I have been as accommodating as possible and have told her I am happy to have the mare here, but the owner will more than likely not want my opinion in this matter.
It sounds like you will be better off if the owner takes the mare to a different boarding barn If she is going to make things difficult because of this trimmer and their opinion.
I see retained sole and some bar, stretching at the white line, and forward run heels being displayed by big heel bulbs. The feet look neglected to me. Where in the trim cycle is this horse?
She was trimmed yesterday. As the trimmer informed me, there was nothing to take off so she just smoothed out the edges. She told me the sole was hard and there’s nothing she can take off of it either.
ETA: The pics were taken right after the “trim”
At the least the edges of the hoof need a bevel to start addressing the white line separation. And the bars need cleaning out to help address the run forward heels. The sole might well start to shed of its own accord once the balance issues are addressed.
On the other hand you don’t want to put a knife in the hand of trimmer who thinks this hoof is OK. Since the trimmer knows nothing, it’s better she do nothing.
That’s because the trimmer can’t tell what’s what. Apparently all she knows (was taught, learned via youtube videos, whatever) is that you generically trim walls to X height above the sole. Period. She has not seen that the sole is building hard, dense, false sole, and that is affecting everything else. Until she can see that, understand what it is, why it happens, how to safely get it out so the rest of the foot can be properly trimmed, she has no business trimming feet.
Yes, false sole IS hard. It looks like live sole. You cannot judge that book by its cover. The relationship sole has with the frog is unchanging, and the higher that crevass, the more false sole there is.
We can hope. But things can’t be put into balance without the false sole being addressed 
The only real way sole like this can start to resolve on its own is if the environment become wet enough, for long enough, the foot “decides” to let it go. That’s still no guarantee with false sole that has gotten this hard (apparently). But it can happen.
Again I say: I’ll betcha a lot of the poor horse’s soreness is coming from her hooves. I am sure she lhas some arthritis but Arthritis is getting thrown under the bus on this one.
since this is the previous barn owner’s horse and she had to give the barn up under unpleasant circumstances , the horse is probably going to be the one to suffer, unless the OP can do some fancy talking to get quality help for the horse.
far as I’m concerned the person “trimming” these poor hooves needs her fingers in casts for awhile---------
Like I said, my farrier comes out on Thursday for the rest of the barn so we’ll see what he says after seeing the mare in person. I also have the vet coming out soon so I’ll talk to her about it. Maybe if I have both of their support I’ll be able to get some better foot care for this poor mare. The good news is that her weight is good and she definitely seems happier than when I first got here.
So let it be. It’s not your horse. The owner calls the shots. Move on.
