anyone experienced at corrective hoof trimming?
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Cathy_H
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If you don't get any replies email me at [email protected]. Lee has been trimming our horses since the mid 80's & he might be able to tell you what to do. He had an elderly farrier teach him because it was too hard on the farriers back to do our mini's.
Margaret
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I do corrective trimming on a horse owned by a friend of mine.. This gelding has very steep hooves, and also leg issues that cause him to wear down his hooves unevenly..the inside of his hooves want to fold under causing him to walk on it, if left unattended..
typically I take down the side that is higher, so that it will line up with the lower side eventually.. The hoof knife is a very important tool I use as well to help achieve this effect. This can be done in a gradule manner so as not to create a painful affect, and allow the horse to adjust.
It took a while to get them even, and correct, but with regular attentive corrective care it can be done..
this miniatures hooves grow slow, so I try to do him now every 6-7 weeks to maintain him, and, now his front hooves are looking good, as well as even, and he is resting his full weight on the whole hoof, insted of the side as he was in the beginning.
typically I take down the side that is higher, so that it will line up with the lower side eventually.. The hoof knife is a very important tool I use as well to help achieve this effect. This can be done in a gradule manner so as not to create a painful affect, and allow the horse to adjust.
It took a while to get them even, and correct, but with regular attentive corrective care it can be done..
this miniatures hooves grow slow, so I try to do him now every 6-7 weeks to maintain him, and, now his front hooves are looking good, as well as even, and he is resting his full weight on the whole hoof, insted of the side as he was in the beginning.
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Fred
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I am a professional farrier and I do MANY horses that need corrective work. You can e-mail me if you want. Linda
You can do some corrections but sounds like this could be a conformation problem. If the horse is mature, and change the angles suddenly or try doing too much, you can cause other problems.
If the horse is 'built' to move in the manner that God made it, whether that movement is right or not, changing an angle sometimes is like putting a wedge in your shoe and telling you to go walk around. You are going to get SORE. I have seen full sized horses that were trimmed 'straight' to compete in a halter class that were so sore for days after, it makes me wonder how the owners could walk out there and look at them each day.
The folks on here who offered to help are quite experienced and would give you good advice on what you can and can't do, and what is and isnt possible. Good luck, and hope it works out ok.
:
If the horse is 'built' to move in the manner that God made it, whether that movement is right or not, changing an angle sometimes is like putting a wedge in your shoe and telling you to go walk around. You are going to get SORE. I have seen full sized horses that were trimmed 'straight' to compete in a halter class that were so sore for days after, it makes me wonder how the owners could walk out there and look at them each day.
The folks on here who offered to help are quite experienced and would give you good advice on what you can and can't do, and what is and isnt possible. Good luck, and hope it works out ok.
I have been trimming my own miniatures since I got my first one in 1984; I have a very good eye, and am good at it. I would have to see good photos, though, to be able to express an opinion.
I will say that I think LOTS of horses, including miniatures, 'wear their feet unevenly'. I also believe that 'corrective trimming', in a horse over a year of age, would refer to an attempt to allow a horse to have basically proper angles,etc., according to its conformation. It is a bad idea to try to 'straighten' a horse above the age mentioned, and can lead to even worse 'problems'. For example-I have had horses that grow more heel than toe, or more toe than heel, or that travel so that the inside wall grows long and the outside one wears excessively..etc....in mature horses, I will trim to try to return the horse to a 'normal' angle or to land flat, but won't go to 'extremes' to try to 'counteract' the 'problem issue'. Keeping up with these kinds of situations may mean more frequent trims, additionally.
Margo
I will say that I think LOTS of horses, including miniatures, 'wear their feet unevenly'. I also believe that 'corrective trimming', in a horse over a year of age, would refer to an attempt to allow a horse to have basically proper angles,etc., according to its conformation. It is a bad idea to try to 'straighten' a horse above the age mentioned, and can lead to even worse 'problems'. For example-I have had horses that grow more heel than toe, or more toe than heel, or that travel so that the inside wall grows long and the outside one wears excessively..etc....in mature horses, I will trim to try to return the horse to a 'normal' angle or to land flat, but won't go to 'extremes' to try to 'counteract' the 'problem issue'. Keeping up with these kinds of situations may mean more frequent trims, additionally.
Margo
Fred
Well-Known Member
Actually I do ALL kinds of horses and most of the "corrective" work is to make the foot look better without causing a problem. I do some high level horses that sometimes need a little "extra" help to make them perform better with doing NO harm. There are ways to do things like this but it takes years of experience. Pictures can help and if I ever have enough time to get my act together and REMEMBER to use the dang camera I have in the truck I could post some pretty interesting pictures for everyone. Linda
I second that! :aktion033:
I've been doing my horses off and on for years. Since my back surgery I've hired another farrier. But I'm so picky that I'm never happy. And I've been redoing them after he leaves
What a waste of$$. If I could handle the rasp better I think I would just do it myself again and do 1 horse a day and be really careful of my back.Does anyone know where I can get a small rasp? The regular ones are just too awkward for my little hands. Hummm, just thought- Wonder if I could get a couple inches cut off the one I have??
Thanks.
Ok, I'll post some photos. I want to go take some more. So check back later. I sent some to Linda (Fred) and she says that he needs to have some collection when I drive him...which might help him wear more evenly. So, I'll be back later with some photos of my boy.
It was hard to take pictures by myself. They didn't come out very good. But I got a current one of the bottom of his left front hoof. The others are from yesterday.
Also he's got the white line problem. I didn't have it cleaned out in the photo but it's on the right side of the hoof photo, which is the outside of his left front hoof. I have to get some thrush buster. I put iodine in it for now. Any tips on dealing with white line disease? Is his from the way he wears the hoofs? Or is it all from fungus and bacteria?
Also he's got the white line problem. I didn't have it cleaned out in the photo but it's on the right side of the hoof photo, which is the outside of his left front hoof. I have to get some thrush buster. I put iodine in it for now. Any tips on dealing with white line disease? Is his from the way he wears the hoofs? Or is it all from fungus and bacteria?
No one has replied since I posted the photos. Do I need better photos? Do you see how the right side of the front hoof (the photo of the bottom of the hoof) goes out, where as the left side is more straight up and down? I should have taken photos before I filed on them. Then everything would be more obvious.
I don't know anything about corrective trimming. But I'm very intrested in learning what I can.
Hope you get some help from the people with some experience. So I'm replying to bump this back into being active, hopefully.
Good luck!
Hope you get some help from the people with some experience. So I'm replying to bump this back into being active, hopefully.
Good luck!
I can't tell too much from the photos; it would help if the photos of the stance were more 'close up', and the horse standing on cement or asphalt so that the ENTIRE hoof was clearly visible.
In the sole photo, I see that there is a flare on the outside of the left front hoof; also, it appears that the frog may have been 'pared' more than I like to see(I only 'clean up' the edges of the frog, basically, so that "gunk" is less apt to become trapped--and of course, remove clearly 'dead' tissue.) I like the fact that there is a nice big wide frog,what appears to be a good, slightly concave but strong, sole, and a basically round and good-sized hoof--all 'pluses', in my book! It appears to me that the horse may 'toe out', minimally-really, only from the pastern down; perhaps he has been trimmed high on the inside to try to 'straighten' this slight toeing out, leading to the steeper inside wall and outside flare...??As I said earlier, this kind of thing has no lasting effect when done to mature horses, and *might* actually have deleterious effects.
I can't tell from any of the photos if there is evidence of truly uneven wear, however? The horse's hooves do look to be pretty short; is that what you were referring to?
Sorry, I can't really be any more specific based on the available photos/information.
Margo
In the sole photo, I see that there is a flare on the outside of the left front hoof; also, it appears that the frog may have been 'pared' more than I like to see(I only 'clean up' the edges of the frog, basically, so that "gunk" is less apt to become trapped--and of course, remove clearly 'dead' tissue.) I like the fact that there is a nice big wide frog,what appears to be a good, slightly concave but strong, sole, and a basically round and good-sized hoof--all 'pluses', in my book! It appears to me that the horse may 'toe out', minimally-really, only from the pastern down; perhaps he has been trimmed high on the inside to try to 'straighten' this slight toeing out, leading to the steeper inside wall and outside flare...??As I said earlier, this kind of thing has no lasting effect when done to mature horses, and *might* actually have deleterious effects.
I can't tell from any of the photos if there is evidence of truly uneven wear, however? The horse's hooves do look to be pretty short; is that what you were referring to?
Sorry, I can't really be any more specific based on the available photos/information.
Margo
