So, I wanted to do a post at our three week mark of our last trim.
I haven't and will not touch his hooves until our next appointment per my trimmer's request.
Why? To see what his hoof is doing, wanting to do, etc
Is it hard. Uh, ya. SO hard. This is the week that I start to itch and want to roll/rasp/pare material away. BUT...I promised, and since Laz is moving SO well, I feel slightly less itchy about it.
A quick review and some thoughts
These are hooves that have been cleaned and brushed with my pick, no rasp/knife
His Club foot, the RF
I would love if his frog could beef up a bit more and spread out
The angle of the side profile is steep, but when I've removed heel---he isn't as comfortable.
Seems his quarters are jammed a bit as well...but hoping our continued riding on varied surface (barefoot) will help out some
When I've tried scooping out quarters and removing heel, he seems fine but then is lame, so we'll see.
LF
Decent frog, but seems he is loading a bit uneven.
His medial bar is chunky...in the past I've dug that out and it left him quite sore at times, and other times fine. It all depended on the ground at the time.
Seems he needs more bulking up back here as well...as he still lands toe first.
Less dagger like but it's still there
He also tends to trip on this foot a bit as he catches his toe...
Hinds
LH
RH
Toe hasn't worn through which is good, but we did pack extra glue on outside at toe to extend the wear life.
His medial side seems to be growing slower than lateral, and/or balance is still off.
Here is a Slo Mo video of this trot, about a week ago;
In the world of hoof thoughts, there are SO many different opinions.
I read many blogs about trimming, thoughts, experiences, etc
Here are a few that I value their thinking, trials, etc, but see how different they can be too from each other? It just makes the complex hoof that much more fun and interesting! There is much more to the hoof than just trimming, and most agree on that. Diet, exercise, terrain, location of environment all play HUGE into hooves. I like to gather and see what works for Laz, and what doesn't at the time. Things change, hooves change.
You will see all sorts of attempts, trying things out, bare vs boots sometimes, bar removal vs leaving, etc etc It's all interesting and needs to be said, there are options out there. LOTS. I'm a firm believer in there is not a black and white answer for every single horse.
Well, not for us anyway ;)
And we'll all argue we're right until we're blue in the face ;)
ReplyDeleteI looked at a lot of different trimming styles before I found the method I'm using now. I tried Ramey's and it didn't work. Then I found Cheryl Henderson and that worked pretty well. Then I found James Welz who taught me how to tweak the trim I already had for best results (hint: roll the heels).
In a nutshell here's the difference I see between my trim and say Andrea's- my trim is Strasser based. That is, I was taught by people who took the Strasser course then went out and improved her trim. Of course I also have my own strong-held opinions :)
And for the record- if you look at the Rockley horses they are all self trimming the bars along with the walls (which I think is a big reason why they all improve). I always see a marked difference in the bars between when they first arrived and when they left.
Yes, but a point must be made, that I've noticed she doesn't remove any material but allows the horse to remove/trim it off as the back of the hoof is built up. That is something I have to remind myself, that I can't MAKE Laz have a sounder foot before he is ready to. :)
DeleteWhoa! I am seriously not worthy to be on that list, but thank you for thinking of me. I am honored by your mention.
ReplyDeleteNo professional training here, but I do try to incorporate new information that makes sense to me and what I see in my horse's feet, just like you do with Laz!
Lol Smazourek, do I have a specific trim style? I didn't even know that!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely no disparagement of you was intended- your horses have great feet- just that we don't trim the same way. I was trying to find an example of different styles.
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