Bad Trim, Short Feet

[JMS Miniatures]

I'm glad your mare is doing better. Her feet looked horrible. I hope you didn't pay a whole lot to the other guy cause thats insane. I wonder if the other farrier just could not do minis? Some farriers can make really good big horse farriers but competely rush thru mini feet. Still there is no reason for it.

 

[attwoode]

Get a new farrier or learn to trim yourself. At first I thought maybe he went overboard on a mustang roll (rounding off edges) but it just looks really unbalanced and poorly done overall!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

After seeing those pics I would NEVER have guessed the person responsible would seriously consider themselves a "farrier." That is worse than I could do and I've NEVER tried it before. God, I love my farrier. Wow.

Sure hope your mare continues to show improvement and can recover from this horrible trim job.

There is just no excuse - bad day, whatever. This is a poor horse that needs her feet to LIVE for heaven's sake. Hugs to you and your mare.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Check out Pete Ramey's site on hoof care.

I would recommend the dilute lysol spray for those feet. Will help toughen the feet and get rid of bacteria. It really helps those black cracking lines the horses get on the sole.

If you can at all put your horse in a dry paddock with 4-6 inches of pea gravel you will get the soles to be not bulged out like that, they will rise off the ground and be healthy and the pea gravel will take care of the frogs without trimming them. I find it great for bringing the hooves back to the natural healthy state they should be in.

Pete says it much better than me. I have been tickled for several years now with the condition of my horses feet using the advice that I got from his website. I hope your mare feels better soon. I know what it is like to suffer with short trims. In my non expert opinion, it looks like he over beveled the edges and the hoof is desperately trying to recover. Tis also the season when the grasses start to store sugars with hot and cold days and nights and in my area this is prime time for colics and founders etc. on pastured horses. I am limiting my guys to just hours on pasture, and lounging in pea gravel paddocks. best wishes

 

[ohmt]

My grandfather and I do all of our clipping ourselves. I have learned A LOT over the years, but am still no expert. My grandfather is amazing and does any corrective work that needs to be done as I am just not comfortable doing it (even after 5 years of trimming). I seriously consider it a huge talent to be a great farrier, it's like an art. Easy to be a decent farrier though (if you know the basics about hooves and angles) and almost hard to do a shotty job like what this farrier has done to your poor mare. There is absolutely ZERO excuse for that.

For your next farrier, always supervise. Understand the basics of hooves and angles....all horse owners should to prevent things like this. Make sure your farrier uses a pick and knife before ever touching the nippers or rasp. The sole should be cleaned until a peach tinge appears and the frog must be trimmed if overgrowing. View as many pictures of what a good, clean hoog looks like on the internet or in books. Clipping should be done as evenly as possible-I always start off with a little (you can take more off but you can't put it back on) and assess my angles. I take more off if needed and Then I rasp to get everything even. If your farrier does not lay the rasp across the hoof to see if it's level, get a new one. If he/she rasps in different directions, get a new one. Make sure enough heel and toe is taken off. Many farriers either leave too much heel or too much toe. Angles, angles, angles! If your farrier doesn't step back after his/her work and check angles and doesn't have you walk the horse to check movement, get a new one.

These are just the basics of what a decent farrier should do. A great farrier has a vast amount of more knowledge than I do, but make sure your farrier does at least these things.

Hope this has helped! Let us know how your mare is doing after another good trim.

 

[MindyLee]

I 110% agree with the statement above. I always file one way, lay my rasp across the foot to make sure it sits flat, and always step back and look at all 4 feet to make sure they are all equaly balanced and at correct toe length/heal heigth.

I get a lot of new customers looking weird at me when they see me dance around their minis looking at all angles and at times drop down to my knees and look at the hoofs from eye level. Always makes them laught BUT thankful I take that extra step to assure a well job done. Then when all is done with that horse...they get a Dumor apple treat for doing a great job everytime! (no matter if one was nauthy or good)

 

[RhineStone]

Jessica, can you post photos of the new trim?

 

[coopermini]

Jessica sounds like you are getting things headed in the right direction. Any chance you can enroll at KY Farrier School?

 

[attwoode]

I've also heard from my vet that iodine can toughen the sole. It might be something to discuss with your vet to help until the hooves can get trimmed properly.

 

[jleonard]

Sorry I didn't update sooner, I could not get pictures last night. Locita is feeling much, much better after three days of stall rest. She is off of the Banamine now and when I took her out tonight she was almost back to what she was before this trim. She's still walking a little stiff legged, but she is walking nice and forward and threw in a few trot steps in her excitement to be out. I'm very pleased with how much progress she is showing already and I think we are going to let her out for a few hours tomorrow and see how she does. I may put her in the ring so that the ground will still be softer for her.

After seeing those pics I would NEVER have guessed the person responsible would seriously consider themselves a "farrier." That is worse than I could do and I've NEVER tried it before. God, I love my farrier. Wow.

Sure hope your mare continues to show improvement and can recover from this horrible trim job.

There is just no excuse - bad day, whatever. This is a poor horse that needs her feet to LIVE for heaven's sake. Hugs to you and your mare.

There really was no excuse. I know this guy can do better, he has in the past. I don't know what was wrong with him that day, but after something like this there is no second chance. I think it may be an issue of not knowing how to do minis since he trimmed her a bit short last time, but he just couldn't be bothered by any of my guys that day.

Check out Pete Ramey's site on hoof care.

I would recommend the dilute lysol spray for those feet. Will help toughen the feet and get rid of bacteria. It really helps those black cracking lines the horses get on the sole.

If you can at all put your horse in a dry paddock with 4-6 inches of pea gravel you will get the soles to be not bulged out like that, they will rise off the ground and be healthy and the pea gravel will take care of the frogs without trimming them.

Tis also the season when the grasses start to store sugars with hot and cold days and nights and in my area this is prime time for colics and founders etc. on pastured horses. I am limiting my guys to just hours on pasture, and lounging in pea gravel paddocks. best wishes

My vet mentioned that some people will use the pea gravel. I am going to put in a dry lot on his recomendation (though he was please with her weight), and I may try to put the pea gravel in it. I have not had a chance to check out Pete's site yet, but will definitely check into it. We have almost zero grass right now and it is all dead, but all of the horses have gained weight in the last few weeks, so there must be something going on with what little is there.

The vet also said she has very tough feet, he had trouble trying to use the hoof knife on her soles, said they were almost like donkey hooves...

For your next farrier, always supervise. Understand the basics of hooves and angles....all horse owners should to prevent things like this. Make sure your farrier uses a pick and knife before ever touching the nippers or rasp. The sole should be cleaned until a peach tinge appears and the frog must be trimmed if overgrowing. View as many pictures of what a good, clean hoog looks like on the internet or in books. Clipping should be done as evenly as possible-I always start off with a little (you can take more off but you can't put it back on) and assess my angles. I take more off if needed and Then I rasp to get everything even. If your farrier does not lay the rasp across the hoof to see if it's level, get a new one. If he/she rasps in different directions, get a new one. Make sure enough heel and toe is taken off. Many farriers either leave too much heel or too much toe. Angles, angles, angles! If your farrier doesn't step back after his/her work and check angles and doesn't have you walk the horse to check movement, get a new one.

These are just the basics of what a decent farrier should do. A great farrier has a vast amount of more knowledge than I do, but make sure your farrier does at least these things.

Hope this has helped! Let us know how your mare is doing after another good trim.

Thank you for the tips, they are helpful. I do know what a healthy hoof looks like and I know the basics, but I am horrible about trusting people to know their job. This farrier was so highly recommended that I didn't think I needed to babysit him. It is tough to see what a farrier is doing on a mini, and by the time I realized what was going on it was too late. I got complacent which will not happen again either. We also have a dirt aisle way, so when he set the hoof down I didn't have a clear view of the edges. I think I will put down a mat where we do trims so that it is more obvious what is going on. (Not trying to make excuses for myself, I should have been more critical and aware of what was going on). It's been so long since we've had a great farrier that I almost don't remember what it's like!

I 110% agree with the statement above. I always file one way, lay my rasp across the foot to make sure it sits flat, and always step back and look at all 4 feet to make sure they are all equaly balanced and at correct toe length/heal heigth.

I get a lot of new customers looking weird at me when they see me dance around their minis looking at all angles and at times drop down to my knees and look at the hoofs from eye level. Always makes them laught BUT thankful I take that extra step to assure a well job done. Then when all is done with that horse...they get a Dumor apple treat for doing a great job everytime! (no matter if one was nauthy or good)

It is excellent that you take your time and put so much into your work!

Jessica sounds like you are getting things headed in the right direction. Any chance you can enroll at KY Farrier School?

I am a full time college student and the Farrier School is full time as well so it's not an option at this point. I think I'll find a great farrier who can correct the current issues, then perhaps look into the programs the Farrier School offers in the future.

Here are some updated pics. They are not perfect, but very much improved. My vet did as much as he felt comfortable, and it made a big difference. After he showed me how, I am comfortable doing minor touch ups, so hopefully I can help her as she grows out.

This was the hoof with the big chunk taken out. He could not take it down all the way to that point, but it is better than it was.

This is the other front hoof that was in slightly better shape.

Both front feet. Lots of work still to do, but you can see they are both flat with even weight distribution now

 

[jleonard]

Had too many pictures...

Hind hoof. I actually did this one and can see that I need to work on it a little more.

You can see that the sole is now flat at least

 

[rubyviewminis]

I just have to say that the advice given especially Marty, and the pea gravel and Pete Ramey recommendations are absolutely the best. I went through what you are going through. Then with our new foal, even the vet told us to leave her alone!! Through the help of members here, my own research (I bought Pete's book for horse owners, and he tries to simplify its a good book) and also a master farrier who befriended me on my horse club site and we send pictures back and forth on a filly I rescued and had twisted overgrown front hooves, they are all doing very good now! But first and foremost you have to keep yourself informed. I am trimming my minis now. My husband does the big horses, all barefoot. Doing them myself, I know they are correct. I rasp every 2 to 4 weeks, reason being some are still being corrected from a year of idiots trimming them to be high heeled and club footed, and the KEY to NATURAL BAREFOOT is to keep them rasped every 4 weeks, just like your fingernails. Do you wait until they are too long and then they chip or break off too short? No. Same with the horses. And most of us have them in more idle occupations lol, than moving enough to help wear them or get some of that sole buildup off.

After one year of Lysol soaks with blue dawn scrubs, my Missy still had lameness issues and we couldn't trim her. Vet insisted she had foundered in the past and rotated and wanted to take radiographs. Well, I thought I would try one more method because I was convinced it was a deep rooted infection from the thrush/fungus, whatever from when I brought her home. I ordered White Lightning, very expensive but worth it, and after the first soak, I trimmed her heels and she was sound!!! First time in 13 months! After 2 weeks, I did the same again and trimmed a bit more aggressively for proper angle because what would it hurt? She had been tender for a long time. She is still 100% sound! So it can be the trims AND the infection issues we can't see. We live in the driest state in the US, all dry lot, dry for the last six months. Her hooves looked normal and very nice, but she still had some heel pain from the fungal infection. I will forever be grateful to Pete Ramey, and the pea gravel is wonderful, and I have no fear of them eating gravel and dying of colic as some think will happen.

Loved your pictures and story, very good lessons for all of us, I learn from all of these posts. Thank you.

 

[HGFarm]

Holy moly, just looked at the pics of the trim by the first guy.... that's one of the crappiest trims I have ever seen, I must admit!! Glad to hear she is doing better now and hopefully will be back to normal soon.