Post your Feet Pictures! (AKA: Good Hoof Stuff Every Horse Owner Should Know!)

[betsyk]

The one thing I notice right away is that both horses’ coronary bands aren’t parallel to the ground - from the front view, both left fronts, and Bear’s right front, are high to the inside. You can tell that Buzz is more sore on his left front because his right front is bigger and more splayed. I’d love to see what their soles look like. I’d be willing to bet that Bear’s frogs point in towards midline a bit.

I work with a therapeutic riding program and we get a lot of horses with various minor lamenesses and feet that need work. It’s fun to look at what we get when they walk off the trailer and predict where they’re sore from the way their feet have adapted to their owies. It’s also fun to see how much they can improve once their feet get back in shape. Let’s hope you have the same sort of luck with your boys.

We should post follow-ups to this thread in about a year so we can see some of these guys with heels!

[mcmIV]

DOes oil really do anything? I always figured that was one of those things that we do to make ourselves feel better, but it just sat on the foot and washed off.

It seemed like if a foot was going to be brittle and dry, a little external oil isn’t going to fix it. It needs to be fixed from the inside out. And if a hoof isn’t cracked and dry, hey, thats the way nature made it!

My opinion, because I tend to be a minimalist in terms of “things that pamper”, is that it’s not doing anything for the health, just making them look nice and also giving you a good opportunity to see his foot regularly cause you probably take a lot of time to clean it off, unlike some of us.

Or, if you for instance, ride in an arena filled with salt, putting hoof lotion liberally all over it is necessary to keep the salt from sinking in to his heels and coronet and drying it out - but thats an external factor that isn’t happening to most of us.

What do the experts think about oil/lotion?

martha

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

**Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks. **

[EqTrainer]

I’ve just been waiting to have something intelligent to add (sigh)… farrier comes a week from today to do the whole barn, so that should bring up some questions and also some answers that may be worth exploring and sharing.

BTW, the horse that he did Wednesday was ridden yesterday and moves like… mmmmmmmmm… now. I will try to take some pics of his feet, which will be needing more work to be correct, and post them. Maybe we can track the progress, even tho’ I don’t have pics of his previous high heels/two sizes two smalls.

I have referred a lot of people to read this thread, also… I think people are reading and absorbing. It’s a good thing

[mcmIV]

Sure thing Libby! Anything to beat the sunnieflax thread!

I am trying to get my farrier out this weekend for Trim #2. Pictures will follow if they’re looking different. Let’s hope!

Java told his Animal Communicator (which is mostly entertainment for me, although its hard not to take her accurate findings seriously!)… he hates his new rear shoes and wants them off. (she didnt know he had been barefoot for months and just got rear shoes)

He said if I won’t remove them for him he will remove them himself. He considers himself crafty. HAH! He also said his friend the farrier would agree that they are not necessary. I agreed to ask to farrier his opinion but no deals were made.

Pretty funny.

martha

**Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks. **

[Robby_Johnson]

LF Solar - pay no attention to all the gunk in the hooves. In a hurry and it was turnout time.

“Don’t mince words, don’t be evasive
Speak your mind, be persuasive”
Madonna

[Bensmom]

slb – are you kidding?! This is GREAT!!

Tell hubby thank you, but of course, I have a question. Buzzy is hot set, not cold. At least on the front feet, I think the rears may have been cold set last time. But we were standing in the warmth of the forge looking at the same book you posted pics from as the front shoes heated up. Does that change why he thinks the hairline is funky?

He will be reset behind tomorrow, since we messed up the hind foot balance on Wednesday, and I’m going to look at that hairline much more closely.

I’ll be printing some more info for Bear’s people – my farrier agrees with your hubby – not pads, but he would build the same type of shoe that Buzz has to wedge him up instead. Buzz has a steel bar welded to the back of St. Croix Eventers with approx 2 degrees of wedge applied to build it up on the bottom of the bar. Heels are unencumbered, and appear to be growing down to meet the shoe as planned – is that the kind of thing he’d use for Bear?

Thanks a million!

Libby

[Ishi]

OK, I need foot help. This is my OTTB I got in Nov. He immediately went into the vet hospital and stayed a few feeks, almost died from severe ulcers. He’s not healed yet, but moving in that direction.

His racing plates were pulled and the vet thought they had been on about 3 months. his feet were/are a mess, but keepin him alive was the prioity. So now the feet. He’s not lame at all, and but the left front scares me. I just moved and do not have a farrier. He goes in to be rescoped ain a week or so, so I was going to have the clinic’s corrective shoer take a look.

What do you guys think?

Love means attention, which means looking after the things we love. We call this stable management.
- George H. Morris
http://community.webshots.com/user/flycak

[mcmIV]

Ahh yes, excellent clarification!

martha

**Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks. **

[slb]

Bensmom…It probably won’t help much with shoes on, but can you get some solar views too?

You are developing a good eye…don’t discredit yourself…it takes time, but it comes. It’s when the variances are slight that it makes it tough…like Ben. Can’t add anything on Gayla…except what a cutie…her feet look good

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

[Bensmom]

Martha is soooo cool!!

She made me two new composites of feet – I love being able to see them like this.

First, I’ll post Bear. This is the horse that has been lame for about 3 years. The vet shot films of his feet today to compare to the ones we had.

[slb]

Bensmom…don’t get too upset…this can all be fixed again.

OK…I can see M/L imbalance in the hairline. I think we all noted this before and you said no, must be image distortion. The reason that you might not see it, but the program measures on side longer than the other (and this is common in these cases) is that one wall will be slightly flared out to the side and the other one grows straighter down. Check with a straight edge on the pics and see if this appears to be the case.

The right side seems to be steeper and have more heel than the left side (this could be “natural”). But, the higher heel still worries me. However, with that said, I think that the reason is because the left foot is more underrun.

Just throwing some ideas out there for now…I want to take a closer look later when I have more time.

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

[cassie01]

Sorry, long and rambling post. This is a touchy subject with me right now and I can’t type it into a coherent thought

Bensmom - I just wanted to say that your story about Ben’s feet gives me some hope for my filly who has a mild club foot. What specific changes did your new farrier make? I didn’t read the entire thread - is it in another post?

My vets say that Cassie is not a candidtate for the tendon surgery, that this can be taken care of with proper trimming. Well, long story short I really feel that my farrier has just stopped trying . I had been happy with how he was doing her feet up until about 2 months ago when he left her toe really long for some reason. That one trim undid the entire year of progress that we had. When I said something to him about it he told me, ‘well, she’s two now, there’s not much more that can be done for her’ She went from a point where I was starting to feel very optimistic all the way back to square one (actually, I think it is now worse than we started with) in one trim after he made a big change and he tries to blame it on her turning two!!!

Am I right to be angry about this???

As I was grooming her the other day, I just sat down in the aisle and stared at her feet for about half an hour (I think our part time help thinks I’m nuts now ). None of her feet are balanced. The RF is clubbed and toes in slightly with a contracted heel (didn’t when I bought her as a weanling!!!), the tubules in the LF are not perpendicular to the ground, and both of the hinds are at different angles.

Unfortunately, changing farriers isn’t an option. I manage the farm and he’s the farrier who services us here. I have been unable to find anybody GOOD who will come out to trim just one horse. I am looking for a new job now (other reasons) and hopefully will be able to find one with a good shoer who can help Cassie. Until then, I’m stuck with this guy.

Sorry, just needed to vent. I just feel so helpless - I really wish I knew how to fix this.

[slb]

Great Lisamarie…we will be waiting for your pics!

[slb]

CE…glad you joint us…the more the merrier
We’ll all be waiting to see your pics!

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

[slb]

Well…no mystery anymore…when it rolled over to 10000, the column just got wider…gee what a disappointment. But, we have changed the “face” fo this bb forever

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

[Hilary]

slb - when you say pressure points under the pour-ins, do you mean they can create them, or just compress something that is already going on in there, and doesn’t show up b/c there isn’t anything compressing from the outside.

So when you say you need to relieve them, do you make a hole in the pour-in, or a divot in the sole?

I’m excited to see if they help. Do you recommend equi-build/equipak? One thing the farrier is very concerned about is the “quality of life” for the sole when pads of any kind are used - she dislikes not being able to see it and mentioned there are clear products. I can’t really imagine that being able to see through a pad would really be of much benefit - it can’t be crystal clear, but want to assure her that all will be OK.

[EventGurlie]

Bensmom,
I definately see what you’re saying. I always knew that her front feet medial balance was off b/c thats her bone structure (leg doc w/ very good reputation said we would just live w/ her like that and it shouldnt cause too much of a problem)but i never really noticed that the back feet were off center either. Also the underrun heels i know what you’re saying I dont know if that has to do w/ the fact that she was in training at the track(i know they like to trim their feet like that)? The toes may look a little long b/c she is due to get her feet done this weekend! But thanks! and waiting for more opinions on her feet

~Nicole~

[mcmIV]

Well as I said, he told his “animal communicator” that he hated his back shoes. So of course, you can just hear me saying “We have to take them off, he said he hates them!” J/K

But I did ask the farrier, and he did like the idea. One very interesting observation that correlates perfectly with removal of shoes…

He had gaping hock sores. Huge bloody holes that just wouldn’t clear up, and I was at my wit’s end with bulking up his bedding, cleaning them, covering them in goo…

So he has been on adequan, but on the same Saturday I gave him a Legend Shot and also had his shoes removed.

Within 4 days his hock sores were closed up and scabbed over. Is it shoes or is legend or is it coincidence? Those back shoes had “corks” in em for ice, and I wonder if they were causing some discomfort, maybe not only for laying down - but he twists his right hock and I bet that existing twist combined with winter corky grip was putting major torque on him.

I’m going to check the coronet band… I think I need more pictures for my files.

martha

Proud member of the * Hoof Fetish Clique *

**Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks. **

[Bensmom]

slb – you must be trying send me over to that other thread – I may try the flax and see if it helps. I’ve got to do something

Ok, Buzz just gets weirder and weirder.
The chiro thinks that the joint was slightly rotated when the x-ray was taken, and that if we reshoot with him straight, the coffin joint will match the angle of the bottom of the coffin bone. It is the right rear that looks like it has a different angle to the top and bottom of the coffin joint.

His x-rays are online at:

http://community.webshots.com/album/62846873HWOGvh

along with the photos of his feet, so that you can zip between the x-ray and the pic of the foot, which is pretty cool.

He has a broken coffin bone in his right rear – unhealed fracture of the lateral wing – just EXACTLY where Ben’s is – same foot, same wing, even approx the same place on the wing. That is just too weird.

A bonus to the person that finds which bone has a zipper in it! I’m not kidding – one of the vets yesterday said he’d be easy to do surgery on – just unzip him!!

And, just as an interesting aside – the hip that we lowered the rear foot on at the last reset was so “hot” that he tried to kill the chiro as he adjusted him. He’s never had a hip problem before, but his femur head was waaaaaay out and very uncomfortable. And we only trimmed a little bit off the outside of that hoof. Also, the chiro remarked that most people would have injected that right front fetlock several times by now, and that addressing the physical stress on the ankle, by shortening the toe, and putting on the wedge bar shoes is really helping. Cool!! He didn’t even have any pain in it yesterday, and the fetlock was rotated at every adjustment before we changed his angle and added the support of the bars – isn’t physics neato?

Libby

Proud member of the Hoof Fetish Clique

[This message was edited by Bensmom on Feb. 19, 2003 at 03:48 PM.]

[slb]

Thanks for the reminder HS

Since anything but the basics of M/L balance seems a bit out of my realm, could you comment on Bensmom’s questions about Buzzy?

The limit of my knowledge is to suggest that true medial/lateral balance comes from the the bottom of the coffin bone being level (medially/laterally) with the ground so that it bears weight evenly up through the distal joints when loaded. This may not always be visable on the outside, but should be evidenced by x-ray. IMO, if the foot is trimmed to the natural sole plane, the bottom of the coffin bone should be level relative to the ground resulting in internal M/L balance. Additionally, adding wedges or other leverage is decieveing and generally does nothing for changing balance of the internal structures.

What say you HS?