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Friday, June 24, 2011

Archie 18.06.11 - Set Up Trim

Archie is an 11 year old grey quarter horse. He has been shod most of his life however he has been out of shoes for about 12 months. He had an injury about 12 months ago to his off hind leg, taking out the two tendons at the front. It is a big, nasty, ugly mess of a wound, and his owner has spent a lot (I'm thinking thousands?) into getting him better. He is battling proud flesh, and the injury affects his movement. He walks like he has float boots on that leg (goose-stepping) until he has loosened up. Vet has told the owner to keep him in light work, and once warmed up, he is happily cantering around the trails. She is a weekend rider.

Archie has very contracted heels, deep deep central sulcus on both fronts. He was referred to me after another client of mine helped Archie's owner a few weekends ago when Archie was showing up extremely footsore. Extreme thrush infection was the problem. My client helped Archie's owner with a variety of thrush treatments, and by the time I came to trim him it was all but gone.

To get to the next step with his feet, Archie needs at a maximum 4 weekly trims (previously at 8 weekly intervals or more!) and to keep the thrush in check.

Left front, after trim. Very contracted heels, very very deep central sulcus. Black hole is the site of an old abscess blow out - abscess was about three months ago! He has been hanging onto all the sole he can... When I scraped away at the hole there was a little black thrushy lymph like fluid that came out.
Left front heels post trim. Again, contracted heels, deep central sulcus.

Left front post trim. A little tiny bit of concavity, but needs more.


Left hind, pre trim. No where near as contracted as the fronts, just need thrush prevention. No concavity, but ok sole thickness.

Left hind, pre trim.

Left hind, pre trim.




Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Bertha 18.06.11

Bertha is a 16.3hh 20-something year old OTTB, who has had a ridiculous amount of babies. She is a typical fiery red chestnut mare, but she has grown on me. I have been trimming her for about 6 -8 months now. She has great feet, except that they grow very slowly, which can be a blessing (less trimming needed) and a curse (issues take longer to resolve). Her owners are great with thrush treatment and she is easy to trim. She is in light work (uni students, they ride her more when they are on hols).

She is a sweetie at heart, just don't tell her that!

She kept resting her head on my back. So cute. This horse loves farrier visits!

Left front. This is 8 weeks growth for this mare. Slow compared to other horses in the area.
Right front
Right front. Frog looking a bit cracked. She was treated for thrush a few days before this trim.

Right front. Slight flare in bottom third of hoof. She was about 2 weeks overdue for a trim, normally trimmed at 6 weeks.