Can I get an opinion on this horse’s feet? In general, trim job, etc. Please only respond if you are a hoof-knowledgeable equine professional 
fronts have winter shoes, backs are barefoot.
How long since the last trim? How long has this farrier been doing this horse?
What I see in general looks pretty good. But better pics are needed for a better critique
Good Hoof Photos - How to take Good Hoof Photos
The only thing that really jumps out at me is the very overgrown bars on the hind - they’re all the way down at the tip of the frog. If that’s 5-6 week’s growth, that’s fine, but the feet are also short enough they don’t look like it was 5-6 weeks since they were trimmed, especially the shod ones.
If this is a fresh trim, then I while the majority of the hind feet look ok (from what can be seen) the bars are unacceptable.
Nice wide healthy looking frogs all around, which tells me these feet are rarely if ever left long, for long (ie they seem to be on a pretty regularly, short enough schedule)
1 Like
Agree, pretty hooves😀
Agree the bars are too high on the rears.
Frogs are healthy but too long, they should only be 2/3rds of the length of the hoof.
Also, I wonder what life change the horse experienced ~three months ago to cause the stress ring? Change in diet or forage? Some sort of illness?
1 Like
Thank you for your replies and thoughts!
He’s about midway through his cycle- I think it’s been 3/4 weeks.
Unfortunately I know VERY little about feet, and I’m always looking to learn more! I’ve had some concerns with this trim job, but don’t feel that I know enough to actually… well, know!
Do his hind toes look too long? They’re always chipping and wearing in the toe. This horse does not drag his hind toes that I have seen. A few days ago he ripped a chunk out of his LH toe. The day before the pictures were taken the farrier trimmed that chunk and rasped it all down. He didn’t actually trim the toe though, but I wonder if longer toes could be causing this chipping/wearing?
In the picture of the underside of his hind, you can see a hole in his frog. It’s a pretty long hole but it doesn’t go very deep. It’s been there for months, and I feel like there’s enough frog to trim that away/open it up so that stuff doesn’t continue to get caught in there? I’ve been religious about cleaning/thrush med application, but it worries me that the farrier hasn’t done anything about it. Am I correct?
Regarding the rings- I’m not sure. A few months ago he was losing a significant amount of weight. He’s always been a super easy keeper, so this was worrying. I drew ACTH (normal). The horses are often fed by teenage girls who while intentions are good, often don’t feed proper flakes. Their version of flakes are often very very small. I discussed with BO, who said she’d remind workers, and we added an extra flake and instead of 1/2 lb of his grain we upped him to 1. The change was seemingly small, but he’s gained quite a bit of weight back… so I guess he’s being fed appropriately again. I’m not exactly sure what happened there, but the rings clearly show something was off!
1 Like
Change in angle on the hinds at the coronary band. Angle isn’t correct, should be straight. This is broken downwards. Toe too short? Heel too long?
some frogs grow fairly quickly, so I’m not concerned about the bit of overgrowth at the apex at 3/4 weeks
I see lots of small rings, and I see a larger periople area - is that what you’re seeing?
Nothing here looks long. But to get a better idea, we need better pics - the angles of the pics are off enough to have some perspective distortion. See the link I provided
What were conditions like when it appeared? Have you asked the farrier about it, or are just noting that he hasn’t actively said anything? You can ask him to pare a little away, but he has to be careful that it’s JUST frog, and not getting into heel bulb area.
we can’t really judge the angle in these pics - the RH is pointed out, which will visually lower the heels. The LH is viewed from too far in front and above the foot to really see the angle. This is also why we need better pics.
Agreed on needing better pics. At this angle all four look a little bullnosed, but that may be the angle the photos were taken at. Also, it’s always best to take photos soon after the farrier is out, some horses grow unevenly and that’s not the farriers fault.
I also agree those bars need to be trimmed back more. I’d wonder what the thought process behind not trimming them up is.
5 Likes
I see a larger ring on the LF that almost looks like it curves downward at the back. That downward curve could be false due to camera angle.
1 Like
Oh, duh, yes, I see that now. The curvature means there’s an imbalance with upward pressure around the quarters. If this farrier does to the front bars, what he does (or doesn’t do) to the hinds, then long bars can create quarter pressure and push the coronet band up.
But yes, that line indicate something happened maybe 4-6 months ago depending on how fast these feet grow. New farrier, different feed, went from pasture to hay, went into or out of work, had a fever, got loose and went running down a road, etc.
1 Like
All four feet have stress rings which show pressure over the quarters/bars, but the farrier is filing them down so some are less obvious. The solar view of the hind also shows that the long bars/quarters are stretching the white line and causing flaring. As @NancyM mentioned, the hairlines are also curving downward at the heels which is another indicator that the quarters are too high compared to the heels.
OP, your horse looks to have good strong feet though, and there doesn’t appear to be anything which a change in trimming can’t fix pretty quickly. It’s really important that your farrier trim those bars down, as leaving them this long can cause significant pain.
1 Like
