HFSH, those really are tough to fix.
The best I’ve come up with is to really back up the toe. Demel out the loose wall and put a acrylic band-aid type patch, or a goob, about a inch or two wide, just below the cornary band. Leave lots of open space for it to drain should it get infected. DO NOT COVER UP THE CRACK WITH ACRYLIC!!!(Please refer to my previous picture of what this acrylic can do when it’s not applied properly.) Then a regular shoe with lots of equithane sole pack to relieve the pressure on the wall to the frog and sole surface. You can get the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the wall to grow out, but the bottom 1/2 is real tough. The force of the movment of the wall rips up the horn tubules and it starts to travel up the wall again. Stall rest might do the trick for the last 1/2. If there’s another pro out there that has had something actually work, I’d love to hear about it.
Regards J
Ok, Martha…I really didn’t want to go there because it often brings all kinds of people out of the woods and a long drawnout pro/con thing goes forever. But, since you asked, I will give you my briefest perspective on a Strasser trim.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>Pros:
<LI>There are a lot of people that claim it has returned their horses to soundness.
<LI>Many noted a significant benefit or increase in soundness after the first trim.
<LI>Strasser has identifed that many behavior, joint, and back/leg/hip/shoulder issues, as well as poor hoof quality/health, are the result of poor trims and misapplication of shoes, not of conformation or genetics. IMO, this is probably the most significant contribution to the horse world that Strasser has made.
<LI>It is not just a trim, it is a whole management “system” that advocates natural horsekeeping…24/7 turnout, “natural” diet, no clipping, no blanketing, no wraps, daily exercise , no shoes.
<LI>It has won the attention of owners…for the first time, there is a “trend” amoung horseowners to understand hoof form and function.[/list]
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>Cons:
<LI>The idea of trimming has been put in the hands of very unskilled, unknowing amature owners…some of Strasser’s Certified Hoofcare Specialists (CHS) have only been horse owners a year…all that they know and understand about horses comes from Strasser and no other source.
<LI>Some owners are still trying to achieve soundness after 2-3 years of trimming.
<LI>The case studies that I have seen “returned to soundness” were originally largely cases of neglect or the worst trim/shoeing jobs that I have ever seen…not on the owner’s part, but from lack of knowledge on both the vet’s and farrier’s part…the feet were not trimmed properly to realign coffin bones after founder and some were abandoned by their vet/farrier and left to stand with bad feet for as long as a year or more. Any attention to the feet would have improved the condition.
<LI>IMO, the trim is to invassive…opening cuts remove the hook between the wall and the bar, bars are often removed below the level of the sole, the sole is thinned by cutting into live sole to attain concavity. 2-3 years ago it was not unusual to hear of blood being struck during a Strasser trim…much complaint about this has prompted Strasser to warn agains hitting blood.
<LI>The trim is designed to create a “harmonic curve”…IMO, this creates a broken back axis.
<LI>The attention to hoof “mechanism” outweighs all other aspects of the trim…thus the opening cuts, bar removal, and sole thinning. There is no understanding of “too much” mechanism or lack of hoof integrety as Strasser evades these lessons in her teachings.
<LI>Strasser’s ideas of form and function, both in the foot and other leg/body parts stray from the norm…they are not in compliance with standard vet/farrier research or standards on form and function.
<LI>Some CHSs discoverd that they lamed, foundered, or otherwise injured their own horses applying a Strasser trim…they returned their certificates…or they were revoked for lack of knowledge or proper application…depends on the perspective.
<LI>CHSs are NEVER allowed to attempt or even suggest shoeing or other trim methods.[/list]
A few other observations…CHSs privately disucss that they do not do full Strasser trims. Many do not recertify after the first year of trimming…a requirement to continue as a CHS. Several farriers and vets that sat in review of Strasser’s work at Tufts have issued warnings about the dangers of the aggressiveness of the trim. Strasser has few, if any. research papers that have been published for peer review. It is reported that she is no longer well recieved in Germany (where her clinic is located).
There is lots more…some of it is gossip, some not…but it really isn’t relevant to this post, so I’ll leave this info for you to comment on.
Lisamarie…a mustang roll is that slight “roll” on the edge of the foot. Relief in the quarters is the slight raise in the quarters so that they have less resistance with the ground on contact. If this is a fairly new trim, then your farrier must put them there…is it isn’t, then it is the way the foot wears. Check back in the thread where I posted pics of mustang feet…there is something about a mustang roll there.
Your farrier probably doesn’t have a name for the trim…my husband doesn’t…he developed the way he trims based on accumulated knowledge and applies it differently depending on the individual.
Martha, I haven’t got pics yet, but I do have to tell you that your request made my farrier’s day. 
He was very impressed that his work was going to go out for display on the 'net.
I didn’t tell him that y’all were gonna critique it, however. 
He is pretty wonderful. The little monster got new shoes made tonight. He wears St. Croix eventers that Larry takes bar steel and welds onto them to make eventer bar shoes, and then, since he needed to be raised a bit, and we’d done all we could by trimming, he set the bar on the outside of the shoe, rather than flush with it, and viola, wedge bar shoes that are actually St. Croix eventers. He charged me so little for this that it ought to be illegal. 
It was very cool. Then he took the set he took off of Buzzy and in about five minutes, I had a pair of new halter hangers made out of Buzz’s first pair of worn out shoes.
My farrier rocks!!
Libby (who must remember to take pictures!!)
solar.
Now, I know whats wrong with these feet–lets get the neophyte feet folks to pick these apart!
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men…
FairWeather
CANTER West Virginia
I wish I had photos to post; maybe I’ll try to finish a roll of film tomorrow and get it developed before this thread dies out.
To make a long story short, my TB is a graduate of the “long toe/low heel saved by NB shoes/trims” program. My 20-y-o Arab is now trimmed by the same farrier who does my TB, and while we have addressed his formerly long toes, he still won’t grow heel. He’s not shod, and won’t be, because he’s semi-retired. What are the collective thoughts on my vet’s comment that if he’s made it to 20 years old with a good soundness history, maybe it’s best not to force changes in his feet at this time in his life?
She has shoes because our winters are not normally quite like this. At least it generally doesn’t start to get this way until about now, and even so, generally not this bad. The mud doesn’t usually get bad until March when things start to thaw out. I usually ride year 'round. So when the farrier was last out, I was still actually planning on riding. 
Best laid plans… 
She also wears shoes to support the dent in her hind foot and the permanent quarter crack from a nasty coronet band injury in the left fore foot.
As far as traction, she wears plain heels all around. She is not “hot shod” as my farrier makes the shoes “at work” (in the army) and brings them when he comes “after work”.
So far the shoes are still nice and tight. I think in 13 years, she’s only lost a shoe twice.
~<>~ COTHBB Leather Care Guru~<>~
~Member of the Horse Vans Rock clique~
My only experience with Strasser is a couple people I know who are very dilligent about this… of 4 horses I know who have been trimmed this way for over a year, 3 are noticeably lame, and the 4th I haven’t personally seen, but hear is looking really good.
The 3 that are still lame, one is looking ok under saddle and 2 can hardly walk on the pavement to get turned out.
So, it prompts me to ask “why would you do this!?” and “what the heck is this method?” I have asked them, but I get vague answers about it being more natural and right… but I can’t understand why a horse would continue to be lame for over a year.
Despite that, these people are dilligent, knowledgeable and always seeking continuing education and truly trying to follow through on this so they acheive eventual soundness…so I reserve “judgement”.
Thank you for the detailed response slb, it is helpful to me so that I can look at my fellow horse people with a more educated understanding of this.
Another foot question for anyone who has an answer. What does soaking the foot in water do? Keeping the water below the coronet, soaking for maybe 20-60 mins a day every day. Is this good, bad, sometimes good, never good?
I have always thought that soaking the foot in water regularly is a bad thing…but I see this done, and I wonder if I’m missing something.
martah
ARRGGH It is sayign they are too big! How do I resize them?
Oooo…what a good post
I love looking at feet! We have to trim soon, will get some good pics of barefeet when we do.
Can’t wait to see all the feet…come on guys…lets see what ya got!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mcmIV:
slb - I can’t speak for Rebel, but I sort of understand where the word trendy is coming from. It’s almost as if these different “natural” methods of shoeing are following the same trend as the “natural” eating fad - where no matter what, as long as it’s “natural” its healthy.
This isn’t always true, of course, and instead of educating themselves to good natural and consumer-driven-natural-hype, people just buy whatever says “natural”.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Martha, you are so right 
Yes, I would agree from this perspective…these are “trends”. However, the NB trim that I posted about has been around for at least 20 years…but, its benefits are just now coming to light…the wonders of the Internet. Additionally, many other “natural” trims have been around at least 10 years. Strasser appears to be the only “newbie” on the “natural band wagon”.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>So in the same vein, my observations of the horse people in my own community - they are “drawn” to the notion of a “mustang” trim, without even understand what it means or how it relates to their horse. They are drawing to the Strausser trim, cause (according to amatuer hype I hear), it is bringing the horse’s foot back to where it belongs.
The moment they hear something like that, there is no more knowledge seeking, it is all about going au-natural and making dramatic changes to bring the horse back to nature. Sometimes, I think people, and horse people too, are just going with a trim, or a product, because it sounds good - or is a trend. Like the mustang trim.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, I see your point. I would hope that everyone would take the time to find out as much as they could before attempting something like this that has such a significant impact on their horse’s health and well being. From my experience of talking to Strasser followers for nearly 3 years, most are new horse owners, or ones that have never thought about how they managed their horse (especailly their feet) before. They generally get angry with this implication, indicating they have to start somewhere…I generally reply, “but please, don’t stop with one choice, there is so much more to learn”. However, they don’t seem to agree
Can you critique my feet?
Or, rather, my 3 y/o’s feet back when they were 2 y/o feet. You can really see the left one, it’s kinda chomped off by the camera, but, yeah. I know basically nothing about feet but Zigg’s seem to be a bit soft/prone to bruising. He drags his toes along in a horrible manner. The ploddiest 3 y/o I ever did meet. At anyrate, I think we’re putting him in shoes once he gets broke (this spring) even though he won’t be in hard work, just elementary stuff until he’s 4 and his bones are finally finished. Shoes or no shoes?
I’ll try to get a better pic sometime but at the minute our entire farm is a muddy mess and I’m not sure I’m willing to show you a picture of the mud. And, no, I don’t consider it weird that I have a random picture of my horse’s feet on the computer. Not at all.
-Anne, the sister of a PrettyFilly and searching for the PerfectHorse-
“I’m not insane…I just compartmentalize!”
Hilary,back in 98 or 99 I was in Virginia for shoeing clinic with Craig Tranka, current president of the American Farriers Association,American Gold Farrier Team member forever and World Champion Farrier at Calgary. So Craig is somewhat up on shoeing. Anyway in one of the live shoeing demos he made a back shoe for this TB and used a toe clip. Lot’s of discussion and questions about it from the group of farriers. Hardly anyone in the clinic has used a toe clip as much as I have based on what I see in a foot. It’s not for 'em all, but ya know I think it works quite well on certain feet. Craig stessed to us to be creative and not get stuck in a closed frame of mind and to try different shoeing techniques and see what works and look real hard at how the horse is going afterwards. If you don’t think it’s working try something else.
And the question about just shoeing the back feet. Try it. See what happens. How about putting the shoe on backwards and leave the toe open with sorta of a bar shoe at the back of the foot. The angle gets changed right off the get go and maybe with the extra steel out the back it will slow down the back foot so it does not hit the front. Or maybe take some of the quick set equithane and use that as a shoe. Heck I could run this bill up enough to get a set of braces for my kids.
Good Luck J.
Hey slb, great posts and pictures.
Regards J.
same horse, different picture
Oh, and here’re my old mare’s feet. She went barefoot year round. They were great feet! Much better than the horse, actually… But, they rarely chipped, cracked, etc. She was never lame from having footsie problems. Actually, she was the healthiest horse I ever met in all respects… How is that the worse they are the sounder they are, just so you don’t have an excuse not to ride them?
-Anne, the sister of a PrettyFilly and searching for the PerfectHorse-
“I’m not insane…I just compartmentalize!”
HossShoer, did you see changes in the coranary region as the foot returned to normal? If so, what changes?
Ciscolark …your good example looks quite good. The only thing that I would say is that heel should come back just a little to the widest point of the frog…just before the straight edge of the frog becomes rounded. The bars are nice and straight and the shoe is set back. Overall, I like it…but then who am I
Next
Don’t worry… I will bump it!
I am gonna try to clean his feet up and take pics of the bottom of them too this weekend… maybe that will have some interesting results.
