Watching the hooves instead of touching...

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.

Rockley's thoughts

Quarters for Me

Memoirs of a Horse Girl

The Continental Drift

 Wingman to Witching Hour

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 ;)

F.U.N.T.I.M.E.S.

When your Pony feels good and happy-YOU feel good and happy!!

Why do I suck my cheeks in? I don't know...it's actually not cute. 

What is cute; Lazaroo....

On days that I don't ride, I still work Laz. We do ground work, pasture or road/trail work.

He is still ouchy over gravel so I keep him mainly on the grass sides

"MMmmmust stuffs facez!"

We have such great grass and hay is being fed out too, but for some reason Laz can drop a bit of weight quickly in the start of Fall. Not so much as of late, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Trotting together down the road, Laz on grass strip

Yay boy!

 "Must consumes all Kaloriez lost bak in!"

 Mason can be such a good pup! Off the leash and sticks by our side

Leads the way for us

**NOTE; this is a dead end dirt residential road. I would not do this if it were not

Ride time!

 FINALLY got his name put on, I wanted his vs mine

 No pictures of this ride because I had no pockets! Boo.

BUT, we had a motorcyle pull out of a driveway and Laz just signed at it and licked his lips, like "OH I seez deez ALL da times"

The guy even stopped and said "That's a real nice Quarter horse you have there"

Ha!

After our ride, Laz was all "OK I is done wif you"

Sometimes he sticks around for cuddles, other times he has grass and friends to get back to.

Playing lots of 'touch it'

 I hope when we do get to Kensington for more trail time, he has no issues with water

He typically doesn't but the other two horses DO so we'll see if we can give them bravery or if Laz will let them decide his brain power

 LOVE this cooler Fall weather!

and apparently so does this Bay pony

(now while this looks dreamy, truth be told, his right lead is non existent currently...maybe in time)

 And sweet Mason is doing so so well and quite happy to joining in on visits to see his big brother

Pudgie would like you to know, while he's not a fan of the barn, he is a fan of naps...

and broccoli.

A year!

A year! 

It's officially been 1 year since we moved to this little piece of heaven in Milford.

I'm so glad we moved, it's been a mental healing for us both.

It's a very peaceful place and Laz is a happy camper (no welts/hives this summer!)

Relaxing after some field ground work=tired pony

Getting photos like this from the BO of the boys playing...sigh

Clearly, he's feeling good and comfortable

 Allow me to zoom on this tiny dancer ...

FANCEEEEE

Be still my heart...

Ok, so Laz, I'm going to envision THIS when we ride next!

No excuses!

 No doubt, he is happiest to roam 24/7

No doubt, I'm happiest pulling up and seeing my OTTB like this;

 Hitting up the local farmer's stand on my way home

Win/Win-supporting local MI farmers and eating fresh

It's a BOUNTY right now

and I took hoof pictures the day after Laz's latest trim;

CLUB-RF

 

 CLUB SOLE-RF

LF

-need to treat crack in frog for thrush

 LF (see that old injury scar from an over reach-ouchers)

 LF SOLE

Fronts

 HINDS

 RH-HOOF CAST #3

 LH

 CURRENTLY, MY FAVORITE HOOF ON LAZ

This hoof originally rotated but just came back on it's own, barefoot, so nicely.

I really think once we get the infection/seedy toe/thrush under control while encouraging new growth support on the RH, it will soon look like his LH