[carriekinz]

I actually asked the farrier if she needed trimming more often because I thought her feet grew fast. Now that I have another horse here I see that her feet don't grow any faster than normal...as far as I know. The farrier said "no, she'll do fine on 7-8 week trims". I think if I'd suggested more trims he would have gone for it...more trims=more money, and with a horse like her she stands statue still and is very polite so I don't think he would have avoided her. (My neighbours have been avoided like the plague because of bad-mannered horses! No farrier out here needs the money so bad that they'll deal with an ill-tempered horse.)

Because I clean her feet twice a day, rain or shine, I do know her feet well I think. A month ago, when we were having the last of spring rainstorms, they looked PERFECT after the farrier left and even for up to a week and a half afterwards...then over the past month have slowly gone downhill. The only thing that has changed is the extreme dryness we're suffering. (Except last night we had a rainstorm to rival all rainstorms and it's VERY wet outside! Hurray, hopefully some of the forest fires are out!)

She's a healthy although overweight horse...I wonder if her weight is the issue? I'm working on that and I do believe I see less "fluff" on her but it's slow work.

I'm going to give her the next three weeks to see if her feet improve. (If there are any serious problems I WILL, of course, call the vet out.) When the farrier comes out we'll discuss what should be done. I'll feel like an idiot but I'll be sure to check that her "correctly trimmed heels will allow the frog to make ground contact"...I never really looked at them in contact with the ground...I will check today. Yeah, last summer though like I said, her foot was perfect...flat spread out frog, healthy, picture perfect everywhere. I seriously compared them to photos I'd seen and they were ideal! (**I did switch farriers since then!!! I didn't think of that. The young guy was late twice, smacked my mare for pulling away when a shot went off in the area, seemed to trim my mare VERY short...her feet looked TINY short and she seemed ouchy for the next day and then didn't call me back to book another appointment. The current wonderful farrier apologized for being two minutes--yes, two minutes--late, booked the next appointment before leaving, worked calmly with my mare and from what I saw did a consistent, quality job. Again I'm going by pictures I've seen...I don't know alot about feet as you can tell.)

Oh, my trainer came out for a weekend and took my horse out for several hours...apparently after she got on the road she did a few sensitive foot steps and then was fine, although she did her best to keep her off the gravel anyhow.

Would it help her feet to get used to gravel if I had a load dumped in front of both gates into her pastures? So she has to walk over it...and I could call her there when I get her for riding or to clean her feet. This of course would happen after her feet are improved...I wouldn't just force her to walk on ouchy gravel!! She's pastured in fairly soft ground pasture with very few variations and apart from riding she isn't exposed to different footings. I'm sure that doesn't help.

When I cleaned her feet last night I would swear again that the frogs don't look so scrunched up. And some of it peeled off on one foot...and the frog under looked less gritty. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I can but I will try to get some photos when my DH is home to take them while I hold her feet. Maybe seeing what the problem is will help. I can describe all I want but I don't have a clue!