Recently put back to work, he has been having some troubles with movement. BECG, worried about compensation injury, posted a couple of good views for review.
Front end shot- you can see part of the injury to the off side fore hoof.
Solar view of the injured hoof, before adjustment by me.
Now- let's play.
Remember your basic anatomy? (I hope so, because I had a brain fry moment,
and did not use differing arrow colors... Sorry guys!)
Arrow on the frog: That cleft in there? Is a good spot for material to pack in and
set up a thrush infestation. The heel of this foot is weak as it is-
no need to invite bugs to weaken it more, right?
I'd clean that as carefully as possible, trimming back any extra tissue,
to prevent trapping any material in there, and staving off infection.
Arrows to Right And Left: Bars. Should not be curved- but straight. Now, in Turk's case,
he more or less cut off the heel and bulb of his hoof. He has massive scar tissue built up there.
BUT.
From looking at the photos (man, I'd *LOVE* to get my hands on this foot in person,)
I'd say you can do some to help him strengthen the heel area,
and straighten those bars some.
It looks like he has some extra retained sole in there, making it very difficult to lower those bars to the proper level. Remember- only take what the hoof is willing to give you. Better taking a bit of time to remove sole every ten days or so,
then to force the issue and make him way lame.
Oh- one other thing I just spotted-- wall thickness. Now- most folks would have a cow and say that poor Turk has thin walls, and he is just going to be a mess.
Sure- THAT area of wall IS thin.
But I bet you----
Trim that hoof a bit more balanced,
give it about three months for some fresh growth,
and those will be some nice walls.
Arrow At The Heel (on left of photo): See how that heel has curved inwards?
By trimming bar (GRADUALLY) down, and cutting heel (ie: rasping them level, creating good, wide stable purchase point to land on,) that will open up and lessen as well.
The $64,000 question? Will that hoof ever look "normal" in a solar view?
I don't know. But I'd sure like to find out!
Now- near side fore views. Near side is where Turk has been having compensatory movement issues.
Again: pre-adjustment by me.
At least this time, there are different colors to help see things!
Blue Center Arrow: When I first looked at this view, I thought it was just a lack of coffee that that had me seeing things.... kinda sideways. If you look, compare the right and the left, there is more hoof to the right of the line. Why? Well- one- to compensate for the LACK of foot on the off side. He needed a wider foot to support himself on, and his body compensated. Would I change that? I wouldn't-- not to MAKE a change. His body will know what it needs to do, and I suspect that as the off side hoof comes around, this hoof will once again balance itself out as well.
Orange line, heel to heel: Indicates the heels are not quite level.
Red Arrow: pointing at heel- I'd level that off. Drop it down to level with other heel. Will go a looong ways towards helping ease his movement. Also, you want a wide, flat, level place to land (ie: purchase.) Landing on a small, pointed area like that isn't giving this big horse much support.
NOTE: This IS a "big" Big Horse. Maybe not in HEIGHT- but width and breadth YES. I think BECG told me he tops out at about 1200 to 1300 pounds. Horses of this weight and build--- use caution when taking heel. It is easy to sore them up. Since BECG has skills with a rasp, I'd suggest she level the heels over a period of time, to find the horse's comfort zone, and not put him in pain. Pain = loss of ride time. Ride time with this horse = finding out what his role in life is.
Green Arrow: I'd drop that bit of wall just a hair more. Remember- wall and sole are meant to work together- not separate from one another.
Dark arrow at apex of frog: Just thought it would be neat for you all to see how the frog will "move" some as well, and shift position to adjust to changes in hoof structure.
One other note: I'd watch the frog back by the heels. Since I have not had my hands on that foot, I can't say for sure what is up with the cracks there, but seeing cracks like that is always a warning. It's too easy for invading freaking bacterium to get in there and make a mess of a foot that wants to be healthy.
I'm pretty sure BECG can provide us with more views of this horse. I'd like to see, just for curiosity's sake, solar shots of his hind feet too.
What have you all got to say?
9 comments:
What I've got to say - you did a great job looking at this and giving us the tools to look at it with you. Thanks, as always!
Wow, I've been waiting for this and I wasn't disappointed!
Sorry it took a bit guys to get this up.... Things got out of control here. Nice to get back to posting hoof stuff though.
Oh, I didn't mean it THAT way! I'm just eager to learn more!
Thanks MM!
I did notice that Turk is pushing the frog on his LF (uninjured hoof) to the inside. To me, that means a horse is not balanced in the way they are landing on their hoof. I have had a couple of other horses that were bad about that, but did get them fixed, so I'm hoping I can also get Turk to land correctly again.
I did notice that I failed to properly level the inside heel of that LF as well...we'll just say that Turk, old boy, is less than enthusiastic about letting a person dink around under his feet for very long - LOL. He's never 100% gotten over the months and months of doctoring it took just to save his life after that injury.
This is my second trim on him since I brought him out to Colorado. The first trim was simply to get the excess off and see what we had.
I wished I could wave a magic wand and trade you this horse for the big red one. You guys would really enjoy this guy and big red could go to work.
I'll get some more photos for you-fronts and backs, before and after executing your suggestions too.
Oh, and I talked to my brother, who used to do this horse's feet and he also suggested that I needed to make sure to take out a lot more sole on the injured hoof.
I asked him about shoeing the horse, as he used to shoe his fronts in the summer because that crack used to split up and cause Turk grief, and he did not know that shoeing him actually helped him to travel correctly as no one rode him when he was shod.
I think I am going to go ahead with a chiro adjustment without shoeing and see if that helps too. As always, there is more going on here than just tender feet.
Thanks again MM, it's going to be interesting and fun to see if we can get this guy corrected-feet and body. He's an awfully nice horse to be around and sure is easy on the eyes. ;)
I love this stuff! I know so little about the hoof. Sad to say I don't know much more than the old saying, 'no hoof, no horse'...
Thanks. I enjoy learning new things all of the time and this is right up my alley!
Interesting stuff! Thanks MM and BECG for the interesting lesson!
These posts have taught me so much about what to look for in a hoof - love it!!!
Question re: thrush...
Any value to giving a horse a preventative treatment (especially in a case like this where there are cracks just waiting for bacteria??) of a product once in a while to flush out any bacteria? If so, what product?
Mrs Mom - off topic a tad, but I just wanted to tell you how AMAZING Ace's feet are right now. The shape, balance, frogs, and everything are quite beautiful. He's still got a little bit of that crack left in his toe, but it remains cosmetic and is continually growing out. I think this is the best his feet have looked in the nearly two years I've had him. And that is largely due to your help - and teaching me what on earth to look for!
Laura - Mrs Mom will recommend a product called White Lightning, as she did for my very thrush prone horse. I've used it as a treatment for an actual thrush infection as well as a preventative when it's really wet and mucky and it definitely does the trick. My horse was recovering from some icky grooves in his frogs this spring, and I used it when it was mucky to keep it from getting infected. I think it would have otherwise.
I love the way you explain things. I can actually "see" what you are talking about.
Thanks!
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