Feet, Feet, Feet... I had nightmares! lol

FINALY, I got around to trimming feet! I did Peg and Dandy during the weekend. My back held up, thank goodness and I took it upon myself to at least go for a little ride!

Here are Peg's feet... I am really proud of the results! If you have been following my hoof posts, you know that Peg (and Pearl) has horrible feet. They grow super slow, the frog has no ground contact whatsoever, they are overall long and thrushy and very unbalanced due to bow legs in the front. I will resolve the thrush issue comes Spring, when the manure will be cleared from... well... everywhere... We have also opened up the large 40 acre field so it will help with their hoof health!

So here is the trim I did on my Peggy weggy!

This is her front right foot after the trim... I do not have before pics because I had forgot my camera in the house... so the two front feet are only after... too bad, because we could've really seen the change... still, this looks real good for Peg. The heels need to come down a lot more... like 1 inch, but this was as much as I could go without making her sore... I will check her feet again in a week and correct what I can.

This is Peg's front left foot after the trim... this is the more unbalanced and crappier foot, note trushy frongs on all feet. I have lowered the heels quite a bit on this foot. Note how the sole seems to buldge out on the left hand side... this will eventually resolve itself with good trims... also note the ditch of dirt between the sole and wall at the same spot... this needs to go... there is dirt all around the foot in the White Line, this also needs to go, but I can only remove so much at a time... the whole hight of the hoof is probably like this. By removing wall pressure to the ground, we allow the wall to connect back to the inner tissues of the hoof and grow strong and healthy. Eventually, there will be no more dirt line! This foot is very flat so I need to be careful how much hoof I take off. After this trim, Peg was a bit carefull of how she walked, but she was running in the pasture like a crazy mare the next day!

We now have before and after shots for her back feet. This is the rear right foot. Ok, this doesn't look long at all you'll say, but for Peg, it is. Her walls are weak (note the crack) and tend to split in the white line when left too long. The frog is not bad, but it is obviously shedding it's old layers.

Same foot, rear right foot, after the trim. This hoof looks good!!! well... for Peg it does. The heels have been lowered to the point where the frog will contact the ground and allow for better blood circulation in the lower leg and hoof. The wall is no longer weight baring... this is in attempt to get her white line connected again... see dirt line... Peg is pretty stiff in her back legs which makes it hard to work with, she cannot stand for long periods on her other foot, so I give her constant breaks. When she rides often, this stiffness goes away. She is a bit arthritic in the lower back legs. I'm pretty proud of that foot!

This is the left rear hoof. This hoof is not really bad looking at first glance, besides being a little long. What I first notice is how long the right heel is compared to the left, sure the frog is thrushy, but they have always had bad frogs... I will remedy the problem when Spring comes.

and After! After drastically lowering the right heel, I proceeded to relieve wall pressure on the ground to help the white line connect again. Some people call this White Line disease, but it is not a disease and is caused by too long of a wall prying the walls away from the hoof, just like pulling your finger nail off. She has a lot of dead sole, which will help coushion her sole. I never remove sole, unless I see that it is really bad and I hardly touch the frogs, unless I see pieces that can be cut off. This foot will be rechecked next week and touched up if need be.

If you guys remember correctly, this is what Peg's feet looked like when I got her. This is the front left foot... or, Peg's worst foot... go ahead and compare it with the same hoof above! I have been rehabbing their feet for 8 months now, no real significant change, but the heels are much lower and I think the heel bulbs have spread wider a little bit! :D Frog wasn't thrushy so much in this picture, but it was petrified, no fungus could get in... or out... I have a really good recipe when it comes to thrush and it doesn't include chlorine bleach!