[idlewild]

Haven't posted on Buddy's feet in awhile... so here ya go. Moved to Fort Collins this summer, I had gotten Buddy shod in May with NB shoes. We moved right in the first week of July. It took me awhile to find a farrier for Buddy so he ended up going a bit long without getting reset. He had the NB shoes on close to 12 weeks It was not good... he kept them on though, they just pulled his toe pretty far forward by then.

Here is the thread showing the NB shoes when done New Farrier and new shoes for Buddy

I started using the farrier my BO uses. I saw how good her horse's feet looked so I decided to give him a go. He's a bit pricey, but so far I'm liking his work. That and both my horses like him.

I didn't get pictures immediately after the first time he did Buddy. But this was 4 to 5 weeks after getting done the first time by this farrier. He was shod sometime in the last week of July. (gah... i keep looking at the top two pictures and I swear that they got distorted... all I have is a camera phone to take pictures with and I don't think I had yet figured out how to use it--it's tricky)


Ended up going about a week over, 9 weeks. These pictures taken like a day or two after getting done.




And then, lastly, he was just done yesterday.





Sooo.... do you see improvement with this farrier?? I do, I still see a lot that needs to be done. The farrier rasped off a LOT of toe the first two times! All the way down to the lamanai. I've seen that done before in founder horses. I wish I had taken pictures of the last week Buddy had those NB shoes on, lemme tell ya, they went south in a hurry when he went overdue, his toe was so far forward.

The one thing about this farrier's work... is that I constantly get the feeling like he leaves the breakover point too far forward. I feel like he could set the shoe back even just 1/4 of an inch and roll the toe. I am right in thinking this?

This farrier says that the left foot is better than the right. That the right is more splayed whereas the left is more of a normal foot. I agree with him on this, it seems like Buddy's feet have been this way since last year (i think it started when Buddy pulled the left shoe last summer and was sore on the foot so he took the weight on the right, causing it to splay).

Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts and opinions on Buddy's feet so far. There is definitely a lot yet to be done, but, all things considered. I think they look pretty good.

Thanks much

[gluey33]

It may take the farrier a little time to get the toe back, if it was that bad he may not be able to take it all at once. You could ask him about rolling the toe, this will help put that breakover back a little more

[IIIBarsV]

I was like O_O when I saw the LF toe rasped down like that. Not sure that was a wise decision... left him wiiiiide open for bacteria. Very surprised Buddy didn't come up lame??

Other than a teensy bit of flaring (probably left over from the excess growth), I'm not seeing any hugely glaring problems- except the RF could've had more toe taken off, it's a little bit broken-back (could be the way he's standing, too, though). What else.... coronet jamming in the lateral LF quarter, a little bit in the RF, too.

There is a bit lateral-highness going on- does he toe out?

[Goonhorse]

His heels look very underrun (IMO) and I think the also look contracted, but I'm not an expert.

Maybe this is just my imagination, but on his left front, it appears like there's the start of some bulging. And maybe on the right front as well, but the angle is a little different.

[idlewild]

Originally Posted by IIIBarsV

I was like O_O when I saw the LF toe rasped down like that. Not sure that was a wise decision... left him wiiiiide open for bacteria. Very surprised Buddy didn't come up lame??

Yes, same here!! Especially when I saw how much tearing/red was there I would have rather have seen him do a vertical cut instead of totally taking the hoof wall off. But... oh well. Yes, Buddy has been 100% sound the entire time. Well... he had a few days when he was gimpy for like 2 or 3 minutes when I first got on then it would go away as he warmed up. But that was in his right front. We still don't know what caused that. He only did it two days and then never again.

Originally Posted by IIIBarsV

Other than a teensy bit of flaring (probably left over from the excess growth), I'm not seeing any hugely glaring problems- except the RF could've had more toe taken off, it's a little bit broken-back (could be the way he's standing, too, though). What else.... coronet jamming in the lateral LF quarter, a little bit in the RF, too.

There is a bit lateral-highness going on- does he toe out?

This is a conformation shot of him from over a year ago, only decent one I have from the front (have plenty from the side!), if he does toe out it's extremelly little. He is base narrow though. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...y/DSC00787.jpg

Quesiton, do you see more or less coronet jamming now than at the beginning of the summer? (in the pictures posted on the thread I linked to).

Thanks

Originally Posted by Goonhorse

His heels look very underrun (IMO) and I think the also look contracted, but I'm not an expert.

Maybe this is just my imagination, but on his left front, it appears like there's the start of some bulging. And maybe on the right front as well, but the angle is a little different.

Yeah, I'm thinking they look more underun now than at the beginning of the summer. I had him barefoot all last winter and had his heels getting to be ok, then we had that long stint in the NB shoes and that dragged his toe and heel very forward and pretty much ruined my hard work

His heels have always looked contracted... I'm almost starting to wonder if that's just how his heel bulbs are naturally! However, his heels are much better than when I first got him (oh how I wish I had pictures of his feet then, they weren't pretty!).

Do you see the bulging on the medial or lateral side? I think I see what you see... and what *I* think it is, is the flaring growing out. At least, that's what it looks like close up when you can see the growth rings and stuff. I wish I had a camera to take a closeup, but my phone only focuses up to a certain distance and I'm afraid that's not very close

Thanks so much!! I haven't decided if I'll be keeping shoes on his fronts all winter or not... last year by this time I had him barefoot. Of course... last year at this time I was at a place where the ground was MUCH softer. It's still hard as a rock here and very gravely. *sigh*

[Goonhorse]

Originally Posted by idlewild

Do you see the bulging on the medial or lateral side? I think I see what you see... and what *I* think it is, is the flaring growing out. At least, that's what it looks like close up when you can see the growth rings and stuff. I wish I had a camera to take a closeup, but my phone only focuses up to a certain distance and I'm afraid that's not very close

Actually, I meant the dorsal--I think that's the correct term. The front.

[idlewild]

Originally Posted by Goonhorse

Actually, I meant the dorsal--I think that's the correct term. The front.

Ah! I get ya...

Hmm... you've got a good eye!! lol
I can kinda see what your pointing out. I wonder if it's an optical illusion from all the rasping done at the bottom of the toe?

[Goonhorse]

Originally Posted by idlewild

Ah! I get ya...

Hmm... you've got a good eye!! lol
I can kinda see what your pointing out. I wonder if it's an optical illusion from all the rasping done at the bottom of the toe?

It could be--or it could be that my "good eye" is playing tricks on me (aka I don't have a good eye ).

[idlewild]

Just a little bump, wondering if anybody else has any comments

[MistyAcres]

Just thought I would mention, you have a wonderful farrier up in your area. This is his site… http://www.hoofdr.info/