Hoof Trimming

So I have a few pictures about Dandy's feet. I will take more while on Holiday, since I want to correct more stuff on her feet.




I will only post a few pictures at a time to evaluate one by one.




Like I said before, Dandy's feet are super hard and I have a hard time getting the nippers to cut through them... Also, my back causes me a bit of pain if I spend all day trimming hooves. So this time, I took two days to trim Dandy, because I have such a hard time with her rock hard hooves.





So here is our first picture.


It's a bit hard to see with all the snow, but this is Dandy's right front hoof before trimming. I cleaned it out as much as I could before taking the pic. That ice was really stuck there! You can see that the wall is about a half to 3/4 of an inch longer than the sole (maybe you can see... but I'm telling you!) The heels are longer than I like to see, but the frog and sole look super healthy. I have noticed that Dandy's feet have gained a great amount of concavity, which means that the coffin (or pedal) bone sits much higher up in the hoof capsule than it used to. This is great news and means that Dandy is now more resistant to rocky footing, slippery footing, etc. She is also less 'ouchy' on gravel. The bars here are a bit laid over. Laid over bars are useless, so I will trim them short, short enough so there is no more dirt between the bars and the sole.

Here is the same foot after the trim. The bars are much shorter, the heels are back to where they should be and the wall is trimmed to the level of the sole. There is still something that bugs me... and that is the quarter of the hoof on the let (of picture) You see there is like a line of dirt between the sole and the white line... this would need to be assessed. What I would do with something like this is trim the hoof (in that area) right to the edge of the sole. This does not mean removing a large quantity of hoof, but rather removing enough hoof so that the pressure is completely relieved from that area when the hoof is weight bearing... this allows the hoof to reconnect to the laminae inside. After the hoof is tight and connected, a regular maintenance trim will do the trick. This could solve Dandy's problem (unbalanced hooves in the fronts). So, this means that I will be trimming to the edge of the sole next time I have a minute to do it in daylight. I will take more pictures when I do so to show what it looks like.

This picture is how I like to keep Dandy's feet. For me, this is a great looking hoof. I have a great sense of accomplishment when looking at Dandy's hooves today. I haved solved most of the issues with her hooves and what is left is minimal compared to the first trims. Dandy certainly doesn't need supplements to help her hooves grow... I think that getting the blood to flow correctly in the hoof is the key to rock crushing feet!

After trimming Dandy's fronts, I jumped on her bareback to ride on gravel, she didn't put a foot wrong and can trot or canter on gravel. The enclosure she is in is mostly gravel (that's the composition of the land where Dandy is pastured), she will run, buck and play all over it. Transitions from dirt to gravel is flawless and easy for Dandy. I am very proud of the way this turned out. Her left front is the one that abscessed this summer and the line that broke in the coronet is now almost to the ground... which means that in 4 months, her feet nearly renewed themselves completely.