Wedge pads need to go. The others covered the rest.
[QUOTE=laurendrew;8827115]
If you had seen what his feet looked like when he came back from Aiken, what they look like now is a HUGE improvement. My vet is also working closely to monitor his feet, and has been hoof-testing them periodically. My guy is no longer foot sore, so while I don’t think the current set-up is going to work to fix his feet long-term, it has definitely improved his overall way of going and health.
There aren’t a lot of farriers in the area my horse is boarded at now, so I don’t have too many options. He is getting moved in October and I will need to find a new farrier regardless at that point.[/QUOTE]
Don’t believe you. If your horse was only in Aiken for 2 months that is not the result of one shoe job. If you have a good blacksmith this just does not happen like that
“My horse is a 10 year old OTTB. He came off the track with fairly decent feet (shape more than quality) and was shod by my farrier for about 8 months before going south for training. At the time he left, he was being shod on a 5 week cycle, which kept his club foot and overall balance in check pretty well. He was in SC for 2 months, and was shod by a different farrier. When he came back, his feet were a MESS. The shoes looked too small for his feet and were pressing on his frog, he was so foot sore, his heels were gone and his club foot had grown out of control.”
I have a great farrier and had to switch for a few months and it took no time at all for great farrier to fix what the other mediocre farriers did. Including when the idiot farrier lopped off the foot of a club footed horse and put a smaller shoe on. You need better blacksmithing. Don’t settle for less than average. you are not married to your farrier. I hope.
@ Palm Beach, I’m not sure why you’re being so accusative? Yea, I’m totally making it up… He got shod twice while in SC. His feet came back looking nothing like they did when they left, the shoes themselves looked too small for his feet, my vet, farrier, other boarders, and barn owner all noticed how horribly they had been done. Even my non-equestrian boyfriend noticed the difference in them.
Good for you that you have an awesome farrier. Mine is one of the top recommended ones in the area, and my guy’s feet always looked great to prior to this, but I recognize that the current problem may be outside of his scope which why I posted looking for input here. I’m limited in my options of farriers in the area and the other main person who does shoeing around me did my horse’s hooves when I first got him and did not do a good job.
[QUOTE=tazycat;8827337]
Just walking across asphalt isn’t going to cause an issue with hoofs. My horses stand on concrete all day. Their run in shed is concrete flooring with half rubber mats, half just concrete.
Hoofs do chip some but nothing horrible.
Your horses toes are long and so are the heels.[/QUOTE]
Eh, the other gelding’s feet are past chipping some and do look quite horrible. He had similar issues with low heels and off angles which is why the owner opted to go barefoot with him. I’ve had horribly bad luck with my horse the past few months so I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows suit even though I know most don’t have a problem with walking on pavement.
And yes, I know his toes are long and his heels are outta whack lol. Hence why I posted here :winkgrin:
IMHO, based on what I can see in the pics, the Aug 4 feet were not that great - they are feet that were due for a trim, not feet shortly after a trim. Was this the farrier while he was in training?
The Aug 30 pictures are, therefore, assuming I read correctly that he’s coming due to be trimmed, so not trimmed since Aug 4, appreciably worse - worse underrun heels, toes run forward, heading towards (more) bullnose issues.
Do you have any good pictures of his feet from the trim before Aug 4?
This horse may be one who is prone to crushing his heels and developing bullnose issues if not trimmed extremely well, on a 4-5 week cycle. It doesn’t take some of these horses more than 1-2 trims that aren’t just right to quickly look very bad, so yes, I can believe that a poor farrier, or one who just doesn’t quiiiiiite get it, can let feet get out of hand in pretty short order.
[QUOTE=laurendrew;8827938]
@ Palm Beach, I’m not sure why you’re being so accusative? Yea, I’m totally making it up… He got shod twice while in SC. His feet came back looking nothing like they did when they left, the shoes themselves looked too small for his feet, my vet, farrier, other boarders, and barn owner all noticed how horribly they had been done. Even my non-equestrian boyfriend noticed the difference in them.
Good for you that you have an awesome farrier. Mine is one of the top recommended ones in the area, and my guy’s feet always looked great to prior to this, but I recognize that the current problem may be outside of his scope which why I posted looking for input here. I’m limited in my options of farriers in the area and the other main person who does shoeing around me did my horse’s hooves when I first got him and did not do a good job.[/QUOTE]
I’m not being accusatory at all - and if you need to go online to get instructions to pass along to your farrier, yes you do need a new one, and especially if you think that what is going on now is “outside his scope.”
[QUOTE=BoyleHeightsKid;8823604]
You can see the imbalance in the hind feet in the xrays. He’s high on inside left and right(more so left). [/QUOTE]
How do you figure?
To my eye, looking at the bones in the hoof capsule he looks pretty well balanced and the joint spacing is even, coffin bone level with sole plane. If anything maybe just a touch higher on the OUTSIDE right hind but nothing I would worry about.
Here are some imbalanced hooves:
[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8829252]
I’m not being accusatory at all - and if you need to go online to get instructions to pass along to your farrier, yes you do need a new one, and especially if you think that what is going on now is “outside his scope.”[/QUOTE]
Yes, you are. You’re being incredibly condescending and unhelpful. I’m trying to do the best I can until, as I’ve repeated several times now, I move him to a different area in October at which point I will be able to get a new farrier.
[QUOTE=JB;8828680]
IMHO, based on what I can see in the pics, the Aug 4 feet were not that great - they are feet that were due for a trim, not feet shortly after a trim. Was this the farrier while he was in training?
The Aug 30 pictures are, therefore, assuming I read correctly that he’s coming due to be trimmed, so not trimmed since Aug 4, appreciably worse - worse underrun heels, toes run forward, heading towards (more) bullnose issues.
Do you have any good pictures of his feet from the trim before Aug 4?
This horse may be one who is prone to crushing his heels and developing bullnose issues if not trimmed extremely well, on a 4-5 week cycle. It doesn’t take some of these horses more than 1-2 trims that aren’t just right to quickly look very bad, so yes, I can believe that a poor farrier, or one who just doesn’t quiiiiiite get it, can let feet get out of hand in pretty short order.[/QUOTE]
He gets shod on a 5 week cycle. Probably to correct this mess he’ll need to move up to a 4 week. Prior to going down to SC, he was not prone to crushing his heels and had good heel depth and balanced toes. He’s always had a club foot but this is the worst it’s ever looked since the opposite front hoof is more underrun than ever. The farrier who did him before SC and is doing his now is not in training and has been shoeing for years. He’s well respected in the area and at my barn which is why I hesitated to question my horse’s current shoeing, but I’m glad I did.
Unfortunately I don’t have any other photos of the previous shoeing cycles, I didn’t think to take any to track growth until this last one 
And thank you for the considerate response. Much appreciated 
A good farrier that knows how to fix under run heels and long toes,can do so in at most two trim/shoeing cycles.There are some farriers who just don’t know how to fix it,or they just don’t see long toes/underrun heels as being a problem.
Just because a certain farrier is highly respected for his work doesn’t mean he’s good. There are a lot of people who haven’t a clue about what a good trim/shoe job should look like.
Obviously you care because you came here asking about your horse’s feet. If some annoys you put them on ignore.
[QUOTE=laurendrew;8829642]
He gets shod on a 5 week cycle. Probably to correct this mess he’ll need to move up to a 4 week. Prior to going down to SC, he was not prone to crushing his heels and had good heel depth and balanced toes. He’s always had a club foot but this is the worst it’s ever looked since the opposite front hoof is more underrun than ever. The farrier who did him before SC and is doing his now is not in training and has been shoeing for years. He’s well respected in the area and at my barn which is why I hesitated to question my horse’s current shoeing, but I’m glad I did.
Unfortunately I don’t have any other photos of the previous shoeing cycles, I didn’t think to take any to track growth until this last one
And thank you for the considerate response. Much appreciated :)[/QUOTE]
You’re welcome
Now that I’ve taken some time to go back and carefully (this time!) re-read the OP:
My farrier at home has been working to correct this, but he’s now a few cycles in and it still looks bad to me. Here are photos of his most recent shoeing cycle, top photos were taken on August 4, a little after he was shod last, and bottom photos taken today, August 30.
Front feet: http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/…ads/image.jpeg
Back feet: http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/…s/image_1.jpeg
I’m going out on a limb and thinking your farrier might (might) have been able to keep these mismatched feet in check when they weren’t really out of check, but now that I understand that the Aug 4 feet were pretty freshly shod by the old farrier, my faith is less than optimal that he truly knows how to deal with these feet in the mess they were (and still are) in. It’s still my opinion that the Aug 4 feet look like feet 3-5 weeks into a cycle and need to be trimmed, not “a little after he was shod”.
Some farriers/trimmers are like that - as long as things are pretty good, they can keep things pretty good. But once faced with more issues, they don’t have the knowledge to get them back to at least pretty good, much less really good.
[QUOTE=JB;8827269]
Asphalt is black and softer, concrete is light and harder. But even so, even a minute of walking on either one, even a couple times a day, is not enough to cause hoof problems. So I would not worry about that at all.[/QUOTE]Exactly and if the feet are chipping and cracking it means they are not getting a correct balanced trim or they are due for a trim.
[QUOTE=JB;8828680]
This horse may be one who is prone to crushing his heels and developing bullnose issues if not trimmed extremely well, on a 4-5 week cycle. It doesn’t take some of these horses more than 1-2 trims that aren’t just right to quickly look very bad, so yes, I can believe that a poor farrier, or one who just doesn’t quiiiiiite get it, can let feet get out of hand in pretty short order.[/QUOTE]JB hit this right on the head. I’ve seen feet go south really fast in only 2 cycles. I believe it when the OP says his feet were really effed up after only 2 months.
OP I can see why your boy has stifle issues from his conformation picture. He’s very straight behind and I don’t believe he needs a wedge behind at all, as a matter of fact they may be making the problem worse. He doesn’t have the conformation to support it. Esterone, strengthening and keeping him fit is going to be the key for him to keep those stifle problems at bay.
My gelding has long sloping pasterns so puts more pressure on his heels than a horse with shorter more upright pasterns. This can make it a challenge if he’s not managed correctly. A horse like him needs the weight distributed more evenly across the back of the foot making sure the frog shares in the weight bearing. If his heels are too long they run forward and crush and can get way out of whack in a very short amount of time. You have to get rid of the heel and a lot of farriers make the mistake of not taking any heel when trying to raise the angle and it just doesn’t work that way. You have to take the heel because the new growth follows the old. Pulling his shoes will allow for more frequent trims to get those feet back under him.
What has worked really well for my boy is Natural Balance (done correctly!) and pulling his shoes in winter so the farrier can come and swipe the rasp over them every 4 weeks. I boot him for rides.
Good luck and keep us updated.
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8829535]
How do you figure?
To my eye, looking at the bones in the hoof capsule he looks pretty well balanced and the joint spacing is even, coffin bone level with sole plane. If anything maybe just a touch higher on the OUTSIDE right hind but nothing I would worry about.
Here are some imbalanced hooves:
http://i49.tinypic.com/2exlesg.jpg
http://www.alvieequine.com/siteimages/JACKFeb20120004.jpg[/QUOTE]
This is the left hind, you don’t think that’s high on the inside?
http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/BeFashionMag/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_8146.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4
Right hind… looks a tad high on the inside to me
http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/BeFashionMag/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_8148.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
I agree that the LH looks like it’s medial-high BUT the joint spaces also look even side to side.
The RH is iffier on a M/L imbalance - it looks pretty even to me, and again, the joint spaces look even.
Both show a “crooked” P1 - both are quite a bit taller on the medial side of things. I’m not knowledgeable enough to understand the cause and effect of this, though I suspect it’s just his conformation, maybe some improper trimming as a very young horse, maybe an artifact of race training? I also suspect that bone is the cause of the necessary (?) visual imbalance of the feet - necessary to keep the whole bony column aligned to its satisfaction.
But I may be wrong 
No I don’t see that. I saved a copy of the image and marked the horizontal plane of P1 in red:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B39vI8RGIbeqOGpSTFNRSmdZZVE
(this view appears to be dead on level whereas the RH view looks a bit skewed)
You can see that the lateral side of P1 is floating slightly higher in the hoof capsule than the medial side. See the smaller green line marking the gap.
How then is this hoof “high on the inside”? What are you looking at?
Regarding JB’s comment on the crooked P!, I’m not seeing that either (not sure I understand what she’s looking at though). I’ve been told that it’s not unusual for P1 to be asymmetrical and therefore oriented obliquely within the hoof capsule. This is the case with my own horse. Nobody’s perfect.
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8833002]
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B39vI8RGIbeqOGpSTFNRSmdZZVE
(this view appears to be dead on level whereas the RH view looks a bit skewed)
You can see that the lateral side of P1 is floating slightly higher in the hoof capsule than the medial side. See the smaller green line marking the gap.
How then is this hoof “high on the inside”? What are you looking at? [/QUOTE]
This appears to be taken from the rear correct? Or am I seeing that wrong? If from the rear then yes… he’s high on the inside. And the bulging of the coronary band could be jamming from the imbalance. That’s what I see.
Right, the joint spaces are even and P3 is pretty darn ground-parallel. I was looking at what appears to be the hairline, and it does seem like the medial point is a bit higher, but that could also be a trick. A picture of the live foot would be interesting.
Horses with conformational imbalances won’t have “even” feet, but when trimmed to balance the foot on the leg, the joint spaces will be even all around, the wall height above the sole will be the same all around, and the horse will land as flat as possible, though many still land one side first however small. That can make the outside of the foot look unbalanced.
[QUOTE=JB;8833161]
Horses with conformational imbalances won’t have “even” feet, but when trimmed to balance the foot on the leg, the joint spaces will be even all around, the wall height above the sole will be the same all around, and the horse will land as flat as possible, though many still land one side first however small. That can make the outside of the foot look unbalanced.[/QUOTE]
This is how I see it as well.
I thought that was why I pay all this money for hoof x-rays. That’s the point, to assess the balance based on the bony column alignment and not the external appearance of the hoof, which is often inaccurate (which, of course, I know you know ).
My question to BoyleHeightsKid remains outstanding.
Pull shoes, allow hooves to strengthen, blood to pump properly, be trimmed properly. If there is sensitivity in the beginning apply some boots. They always work it out, mother nature knows best.
The pavement should only aid in circulating blood and fluids properly in the hoof. Sometimes they do shed and look unsightly, this passes.
I hope you find the proper trimmer soon to aid your guy.
