I still have a lot of work to do on his feet. Here are some pictures:
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| Left front rear, He steps heavy on the outside |
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| Left front bottom (before rounding) |
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| Left front before and after. In the after shot you can see where I had to file more where some gravel caused a crack. |
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| Left front inside before and after |
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| Left front outside before and after |
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| Right front rear |
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| Right front bottom |
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| Right front before and after |
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| Right front inside before and after |
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| Right front outside before and after |
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| Pardon my finger |
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| Rebel |
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| My other challenge, Jenna |
Rebel has such a cute face. :) Do you trim their hooves yourself??
ReplyDeleteYes he does have a cute face. He was posing so nicely.
DeleteI have trimmed their hooves for about two years now. It has been a learning experience.
Would you like some constructive criticism? I promise I'll be nice about it ;)
ReplyDeleteSure, I always like help. I will try to apply it.
DeleteOkay, if I were trimming this horse here's what I would do:
ReplyDelete- I would aggressively roll the wall at the quarters and heels. The hairline is still arched back there which says to me there's too much wall. The flaring at sole level goes along with this. It looks like you've already started doing this- but feel free to do more, especially at the heels. I wouldn't let this horse walk on his walls period.
- Take more off the bars, they are the main contributors to his discomfort. Do your best to make them straight and end no further than the midpoint of the frog. Make sure your knives are sharp and his feet are soft- that will make this easier. Rasp the heels down until you can see the laminae make the turn from the walls down the bars. Use your knife to carefully pare away the excess bar until you can find that laminae all the way down to where the bars end (there's a gap between them and the frog). Sometimes you can also start at the apex of the frog and carefully pare away material from right around the frog until you get to the base of the bars. Try whichever method helps you see what is sole and what is bar. For this horse you need to do more than just scrape the surface, you need to make some space for the impacted bars to drop down. This is THE most difficult part of the trim but it is absolutely essential, study the James Welz video I posted for visual clues.
Obviously you are free to do with this info what you may :)
Wow, thanks.
DeleteI do tend to be conservative, but now that I know I am on the right track, I will feel better taking more. After your advice last time I did take more off the heels than I normally do, hard to believe I know.
His bars will be a challenge, but I understand what you are saying. With the limited time he allows me I will try to work on getting more of those bars off. Maybe I will get his owner to soak his feet before I trim since he has super hard feet.