Allie Trim 3.01.11

Allie had a trim today, and I photographed the lot. She was at about 5 weeks I think? We have been riding on some gravel a bit and the ground has hardened up quite a bit since we have had a break in the rain. Her frogs are looking ratty but I think she is shedding them due to the late season change from wet to hot. Her walls were messy and starting to self trim too.

Pictures (Before on the left, after on the right. Click for full size image, they are pretty big)

Left Front:

Heels - She is landing incorrectly at the moment - her inside heel is landing first when it should be the other way around on the fronts. I left the outside heel longer to try to swap the balance back.

Note the self trimming in the before pic - because this horse has very little if any separation, the outer wall just chips off without cracking (mostly).

Please note my horse's lovely concavity. (I have a draft post in the works regarding concavity).

Nice straight coronary band , low heels without being squished, nice short toe.

Terrible ratty walls. She has really thick laminae lines and they are like tough rubber - they don't tend to self trim and just fold over onto the sole. I have never come across this before! Also, this is a half shed frog. She is holding onto the rest of it for now.

Here is her foot mid trim - I am yet to finish the bevel. Note all the dirt that gets trapped in between her inner and outer walls? It is driving me nuts but I suspect the solution is a more regular trim cycle even though the rest of her foot can go the 4 weeks.

Left Hind:

This is the wonky hind foot - the outside wall and heel are running away front the center. I treat it like any other flare and just remove it up to 1/4 up the hoof wall.

Nice bevel to keep the toes short. Hind feet should have short toes to prevent hind end soreness.

This outside heel just keeps running away from me! It is not as bad as April last year (the last time I took photos) but it is still obvious. Again, shorter trim cycle should help. Not too sure what to try next for that bar though, it looks to be collapsing. I have not done anything with it this trim.

Right Front:

Again, not moving correctly. She should have a more upright inside wall, but it clearly is not. I trimmed for an outside heel first landing.

You can see clearly how her outside heel bulb is far bigger and more robust than her inside heel bulb - it is taking most of the force which it should not be. I left the outside heel slightly higher.

Feet look nice and balanced from front to back.

Did not need to touch anything on the bottom of the hoof in this one. Frog much nicer then the other front.

Right Hind:

Sand crack forming. Also, old coronary band knock starting to grow down.

Inside heel bulb much smaller - this is because with proper movement in the hind limb, the inside heel lands first and the outside heel takes the force.

Sorry about the different angles. Beautifully cupped foot this one. :)

Again, short toes, low heels.

Scabby frog starting to peel off. Not harbouring any thrush, so I left it alone.

This pic shows a crack beginning to form - it is only in the outer wall for now, but if left on a longer trim cycle it would become worse.