[IIIBarsV]

Well, we finally did it! (Pulled the shoes on the horse who "could never go barefoot".) Shoes were flats with snow pads.

The hooves weren't as bad as I anticipated. His heels are actually not underrun at all- what made them look like that way were the quarter flares. His frog is under-developed but not contracted. The sole is flat as a pancake of course, except for the outermost part of it, which has risen parallel with the hoofwall. The hoofwall was less overgrown than I expected, and very thin. Little chipping or cracking, but they don't usually get as bad for that during the winter. All four feet are essentially identical for these characteristics. Extremely high flares, extremely long toes. No bars worth speaking of.

The real problem has not been in the back of the hoof but in the flares. They are almost right up to the coronet, entirely around the hoof... pretty bad. They'll take a long time to grow out. His inside heels are higher than the outside which I did expect.

I expected him to be sore. He always is whenever his shoes are off, in the ten minutes or so before the shoes go back on. He can barely walk on the barn floor when the shoes come off.

So I trimmed him, touching nothing except rolling the hoofwall (very carefully... his hoof is soooo soft it made my rasp feel ten times sharper than I thought it was!), and leveled out the inside heels. I left his sole, left the frog, left the bars (he doesn't have any bars anyway right now) completely untouched.

And then I crossed my fingers, and asked him to walk from one end of the barn to the other. He took a couple of hesitant steps...

And then RUSHED to the nearest bit of hay!!!!! Sound as a ******** post! Not a gimp or short step in sight! Heel-first landing! Barefoot! On concrete!!! More comfortably and loosely than with the shoes- more comfortably and loosely than we've seen from him in YEARS.

I couldn't believe it. So I walked him back to the other end again... and back... and his whole face changed. He brightened. He lost the indifferent, grumpy scowl that he'd been wearing for weeks now.

So, I fitted his new Easyboot Epics to his feet (they're not that difficult to get on if you wiggle them a bit), and he walked around in those. No problems. They're very secure. Then I took him outside in the driveway that has some thin rougher snow on it, and again, no issues. The boots worked great and even his hind feet, which are currently unprotected, were reaching confidently up underneath himself.

I walked him around the barn barefoot a few hours later, just to be sure... sound as a post. I took a brief video of him walking to his stall, barefoot, comfortable, happy-faced as if he was walking towards a good-looking mare.

Today, he was turned out with his booties on. He walked out of his stall sound as he had been yesterday... and he walked back into his stall tonight still sound, even though the footing is a bit rough out there right now. If he gets touchy on the hinds, I'll just buy him another pair.

Celebration! Break out the champagne! It's been proved that this horse, who everybody has said "can't go without shoes", CAN go without shoes! And be comfortable as quickly as immediately! I'm still reeling. I really expected him to be at least a little bit tender right away, especially without the boots on.

My take on this excellent result is that with the pressure relieved from the flares, he can now roll through without them worsening or moving, which was probably the main source of his pain.

Due to negative attitudes, I will not post the pictures or video to the general public here. I'm too happy with my horse walking sound to be told I did something wrong or shouldn't have done this or should have done that, blah, blah, blah. The bases, at this point, are covered. Thanks anyways.

However, if you would like to see the pictures, please PM me or leave a message in this thread and I'll gladly send you the link via email or PM. I will continue to update regularly and document, video, etc.

Please understand that this is a research project. A case study. Opinions offered in good taste and simple fact with no rudeness or sarcasm will be heard and very appreciated, as well as anything you might notice from the pictures that I haven't. This is science, folks, not my personal egomania, as happy as I am that my horse is walking around with a happy expression on his face. These are my findings on an individual horse. OK? Good.

My personal egomaniac comment of the day: I am super-duper happy! Yay!

[IIIBarsV]

Better heel pics have been posted... here. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...Hooves/Gooser/

The Jan 22 ones. The others are from Dec 7th. The Before/between/after pics can be found in the "Jan 19th 2008" album.

He is feeling super-great, although I did notice he was short stepping on the RF after he trotted around for a while... but it's always been my belief that one is the more worse off of the two. It's so nice to see him confident and moving around loosely again.

[JBandRio]

I for one would love to see pictures

[IIIBarsV]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...2019th%202008/

^ Before/Between/After Trim

Now I'm kicking myself for not having video of him walking with the shoes on.

[Temposmom]

Seeing that shoe job, I can understand why he would tend to be sore barefoot. The correct trim/shoe wouldn't have left him in that ouch state, when shoes were pulled. I am THRILLED you are finding luck with him, and I agree-IMHO-that stopping those flares from pulling with every step is a great thing. My OLD horse had that issue, once I got the foot dressed back and under nice, he went from OUCH (barefoot for 15 years) to "hey I can walk on anything now!". Just from the hoof wall pulling at the toe, the flares were hard on his tootsies. Good luck! I'm am neither barefoot or shoeing fanatical, I do both and believe in both according to horse/rider needs/wants/practical.

[PeggySue]

Originally Posted by Temposmom

I can understand why he would tend to be sore barefoot. The correct trim/shoe wouldn't have left him in that ouch state, when shoes were pulled. . Good luck! I'm am neither barefoot or shoeing fanatical, I do both and believe in both according to horse/rider needs/wants/practical.

I agree 110% very well said

[IIIBarsV]

I believe that it was the continuation of the flares sneaking up the hoofwall, and the combination of the sole/frog being pared out. Or cutting the toes too short while they were trying to get less of that foot out in front of him.

I noticed yesterday that suddenly there are shadows of bars growing alongside the frog where there were no bars before. And yet he's had the pads on for 6 weeks, you'd think there *would* be bar growth long before now... isn't that interesting how his foot is now growing to accomodate?

I won't be surprised if I see faster results than anticipated, because his hooves are so malleable, compared to others.

Thanks

[PeggySue]

it honestly is amazing the changes you see when the trim is balanced more so then it was I should add becasue no matter how good the job is there will always be somebody who disagrees I really need to take pics of my other three again LOL

[Temposmom]

I've watch feet remodel in such quick time it was freaky! Very amazing these hooves.

[IIIBarsV]

Here's a Dec 7th before and Jan 22 After of my laminitic Cushingoid mare...


I'm developing a work in progress about that sole ridge and the role it plays during the healing process on my barrel horse, Turbo. It's been present for over two years on "Sunner", the Cushings horse, but has now vanished almost entirely since I started trimming her on Dec 7th.

Now Turbo, who came out of shoes, bruised badly (before I researched all of this stuff and realized he should've had hoofboots) and developed corns, is now at 95% soundness and is starting to develop the same ridge in the last three weeks. I take it as a good sign, because for the longest time his feet didn't appear to be growing much hoof at all- now he's got this ridge and a lot more hoofwall. So I'm doing weekly pictures and tracking it, and eventually hope to have a report on the subject. Yay Scientific Method!

Has anyone else seen their barefoot horses' feet form this ridge while they're transitioning, or in between trims? I haven't seen it ever on shod horses, so I assume shod horses don't "need" to form it.