Stewart's Corral

page 29

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archive photos for hoof trimming of "Abby"
10 yr old Tennessee Walker Quarter Horse mare in 2007
Click on newest thumbnails to enlarge

(First time visitors, first see notes below from day one, at the bottom)

If you arrived at this page without viewing the current page, please open Abby's trimming front page.

2009.Sep.01 If I don't round the walls, attempting to avoid the huge arch or scoop along the sides, she ends up breaking chunks out anyway.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2009.Sep.01		2009.Jul.28
FL	FR	HL	HR
2009.Jun.25 Hoof wall length looks nice (especially on FR. I redid FL later), but sole is not in ground contact near the white line. If I roll the wall so it does not lever into a flare, or breakout, then it will be a big quarter scoop. Problem with her hooves, is the tendency for a three-point base. Toe is still pointed, and the heels do not look long enough to shorten.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2009.Feb.05 Moving around very nicely. Cantering well, walking well. Rode to mailbox without hint of lameness. Looking good. Only remaining eyesore is the flat sole and appearance of rotation, as the toe is pointed without concavity, and lacks depth at the hoof wall for protection. The sole angle still says the coffin bone is not ground parallel. (See picture from Aug.31 showing sole plane angle). I think it is improving however, time will heal.
2009.Jan.17 Trimmed bars because it helped Cowgirl. She is more relaxed, so I was able to get a more complete photo set.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2009.Jan.02 It has been nice to see both horses cantering around in the snow, playing and feeling good. I was able to grab the camera and take some video of them cantering back and forth. Trim today. Heels are growing faster than the frog and toe. Shorten heels to level of frog. I would still prefer to see the heels come back even with the widest part of the frog, instead of in front of it, but I am not willing to remove frog at this level, so will instead wait for things to grow out. I am also leaving some bar for traction in the snow.
2008.Nov.25 Made it to the mailbox with only one "retreat and reapproach". She even stood quietly at the mailbox without fidgetting. It is a first!
2008.Oct.24 Walked Abby all the way to the mailbox for the first time. (She acted right brain so we worked on building confidence, then ding, she wanted to go out further. I'm very pleased to see her acting more left brain.) Her feet seem to be getting stronger. I have not been using boots. The new growth is halfway down, perhaps 1/3 down the toe, and looks smoother and different color. Still nothing breaking out. I am just keeping the walls rounded so to prevent gravel and dirt from forcing the white line apart.
2008.Oct.02 Put easy boots back on, let her out, and she starts cantering around. Gets Cowgirl excited and they both run around. I think her soreness is more in the sole than the outer wall? Nothing breaking out yet, but I checked if I could reduce the bars toward the apex. Seems like live sole, so I'm leaving it alone.
2008.Sep.26 Focus on inside to outside balance, getting conflicting messages between heels and bulbs and perpendicular lines. Trim bars. I also see crack lines across the sole already. With everything so flat, I did not expect another layer to start showing signs of breaking out so soon. Speaking of hooves that go splat, and considering the white line turned red, this quote from Equine Soundness probably fits this situation: In horses who have been shod tight and incorrectly for a long time, the laminar connection between the coffin bone and the hoof capsule may be so compromised, that the attachment is non-existent. Removing the shoe and giving the hoof flexibility allows the sole to flatten upon weight bearing. The sole is no longer held in a vaulted position by the nailed on shoe. The vaulted sole may have been the only thing that kept the coffinbone in position. Once this "support" is removed, the coffinbone may rotate or sink deeper into the hoof capsule or both. While the coffinbone can resuspend, this too is a matter of time and takes a minimum of 6 months.[ref] I don't see any rotation, but if it has sunk any, it will take time to heal.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Sep.24 Trimmed front heels, they are getting longer than the frog level. She walks around fairly close to normal, unless she steps on a rock wrong, then stumbles. On the bright side, I did see both of them playing the other day, spinning and short canters.
2008.Sep.09 And chasing Cowgirl away from the hay piles.
2008.Sep.06 Put new Easy Boot Bares on last night. She is moving around this morning on her own, for the first time in two weeks.
2008.Sep.02 Decided there was only one solution for front feet, so I lowered the heels and removed some frog, which, surprisingly, showed some crumbly white signs toward the apex. Abby licked, and said that was better. I tried putting Glamour's old boots back on (she liked that yesterday), and got mixed feedback. The heel is getting too short for the original easy boot to fit. The Easy Boot Bares I ordered Last week are expected Friday. I don't like the red marks along or inside of the white line, that were not there on Aug.23. If the white line turns red it is because the hoof wall has been carrying more weight than the white line (laminar) could handle.[ref] This is either bruising, or a founder warning. Is it from when the shoes were on, and the only weighting was on the hoof wall, (as the sole was mostly not touching the shoe when I removed them) or did this occur after the side quarters got chipped out, and I was waiting for a reply for help? Either way, I will nervously watch this and keep the walls relieved. 2008.Sep.04 Did the same with the hind feet, except half the frog was already peeling or broke off. Significant observation: when I finished one hind and moved to the other, she stopped trying to take her foot away or kicking. I think I found the key to her feet. She is walking much better now, although still not very much.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.31 Wow, look at how the FR changed at the heel. In photo# 1576 (row 6 of Aug.23) there is a crack beginning at the seat of corn. Now it is completely chipped out, leaving a tiny heel buttress. She is now very ouchy in front, and walking slowly or as little as possible. I think she is walking on her frog too much, and too quickly. I need opinions here, and feel free to critique my work. I started off taking off as little as possible, to give her transition time to awaken and strengthen the heel and digital cusion, but have since been reacting to breakouts of wall and false sole. At this point, I think I did everything I can without touching the frog again. At the rate she is shedding everything, maybe the frog will be next... Is this a healthy angle of sole plane? or indicate something about the coffin bone location? Rolled walls out of ground contact, rasped side of flares flatter with wall, increased size of breakover. That helped get the front toe pillars (in front) wider now.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.18-23 Rolled walls, scooped side quarter wall down to sole level, cleaned up sides of frog, found a bit of thrush way down deep, emphasizing how thick these soles are, and how far down I can safely go. Heels look like they should be shorter, but frog was and still is so thick! I am afraid I will sore her if I take off too much frog and heel. Now seeing consistant heel first landings in both front. Yea!
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.22 False soles breaking out of front now, resulting in very un-flat bottom. I see her limping, and trim her right away. She is much relieved and walks normal again, and with very obvious heel first landings, now in both front feet! 2008.Aug.18 Abby couldn't wait. She broke out the quarters of Hind Left and made her own jagged scoop. The false sole that I noted was coming loose 2 days ago, has now broken out, unevenly, of the Hind Right. And is just now cracking out from the Hind Left. The hoof walls are suddenly long, and need trimming. Even the outside bar came out of the Hind Right, but left an uneven mess for the other pair and one half of bars.
		HL	HR
2008.Aug.16 Her soreness has been getting better, so that she walks normally or smoothly, but I see toe walking/landing in the front. Need a larger breakover. I see some side walls are getting chipped out, so I take a look from the bottom, and see how her hooves are. Quite a few changes are visible. Front Left is not balanced (flat), so I take a little off the inside toe, and outside heel. It seems the toes keep changing shape, with dome-like bumps of denser sole appearing, fouling up the flatness of the last trim. I don't want to take any toe off, but it must also be flat with the heels. The large crack near the heel indicates lots of hoof mechanism, but the size is worrisome. Front Right has a large chip out of the outside wall. I roll the edges of all four a lot more than last time. Hind Left has the fewest changes. I see some cracks, like false sole will soon be starting to break loose. Hind Right bothers me. It looks like a large chunk of false sole is breaking loose, but it looks so deep, and goes all the way to expose the outer wall, I ask, is the new level going to be good concavity, or does it question the heel and frog length in a big way? or perhaps a larger problem? The heels look long, but I have already rasped down the uneven spots of the hard frog to a flat level with the heels, which made a big difference in comfort (the other day).
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.12 Abby indicated I should look at the FR again, and I found it had changed since yesterday, and needed rebalancing again. Sure is nice when horses can talk (with body language), and humans can be trained to listen. Also took side pictures I missed yesterday.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.09-11 After removing shoes and first trim. I was very pleased when she had the first shoe off, and I took the pressure off the hoof wall where it is separating along the white line. She sighed, and licked. Then after removing the other front shoe, and making her foot comfortable, she Really started licking. There's a significant measure of relief! Doesn't look too bad for a first trim after shoes. Heels are a bit underrun, the HL has a red spot, and sole is fairly flat, but this should change fairly quickly. I had to file some toe to provide a flat and balanced pillar to match the heels, so concavity is obviously not there for now. Flaring at the quarters has been relieved, and only the front toes flare in front at the 12 o'clock position.
FL	FR	HL	HR
2008.Aug.08 The starting point: shoes and long toes with noticable flaring halfway down the front toes. Although I didn't get a picture of the soles, I did not see very much contact with the shoe, so is mostly walking on hoof wall.
FL	FR

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Copyright notice: All photographs on this page were taken and scanned personally.
You are welcome to download these graphics for non-commercial use only.
If you have something else in mind, Please ask. I would be interested in hearing from you.

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Other Corral pages:

• SOUNDS on page 4 Now 33 WAV files
  
• Scenic Willapa Valley. Personal photo album on page 5
  7 hi-res photos and 2 triple width panoramic photos.
• Republic Scenery Photo Album on page 7
  11 hi-res and 1 quintuple width panoramic photos.

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Stewart Andreason

hoofArchiveAb.html

Updated 2011.Aug.04

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