Club hooves on yearling

[starlasstable]

Hello, new here. I have an appt. next week with my veterinarian but in the meantime I wanted to get some advice and ask if anyone has experienced this. My yearling is 15 months now, he had beautiful hooves until around June. He was 13 months and when the rain and mud finally dried up we noticed he had blocky looking little mule hooves. High heel and not much toe. I thought that the guy I had trimming, had trimmed him that way and we decided to let his hooves grow and work on the heels this summer. They didn't grow much, and he trots with short strides, but he remains sound. I tried to do some research and read that it is not uncommon with yearlings that go through a growth spurt. This little guy is still only 27 inches, but he did have a growth spurt at that time. His hind end grew and he had the yearling uglies, now his front has caught up. The trimmer had moved so he is not here anymore, we are really upset since this yearling was my driving prospect and is well bred. Any advice?

 

[chandab]

If he looked good til June and its only changed over the summer, you can probably still get his hooves back to normal. Find yourself a good, qualified farrier that will work on minis. Sorry I can't help more than that.

I have a couple that really grow heel like crazy, more so than my other minis, so I really have to watch them and keep up iwth that fast growth to keep their angles right. I've struggled with this problem for awhile, with poor farriers, then no farrier, and finally I now have a good farrier, and I'm learning to properly trim them, just in case I lose another farrier, so I won't be stuck again in the future. [i'd like to keep this one, as its easier for him to trim the saddle hroses, I just don't have the strength to get through their tough hooves. But, I can manage if I have to.]

 

[muffntuf]

Whatever you do, don't shorten the heels, you need to let them grow. You might have a couple things going on - you might have had a really big growth spurt and the foal has some contraction going on. The rain may not have helped as it softens the hooves and they break down faster if it dries and then rains and then dries, etc.

I would rule out the contraction of tendons. Find a qualified farrier and look into some front extenders, not heel extenders as you want to set him back down on his heels and put him at a more natural angle again.

But find someone soon, you don't have a lot of time to correct this in the hoove.

 

[TuffyLynn]

I have to say that the exact same thing was observed by me on my 15 month old colt!! Its like he just grew out so weird in like one 7 week period...and yes it makes him look club footed! he is only about 29.5 inches.

I mentioned to my friend that had a 16 month old colt and she told me the same thing about hers!

so yes,. i am curious...

my guy remains sound also... but abnormally high heel growth ... would love information too

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I am a strong advocate of barefoot trimming. Good hoof care doesn't happen overnight. One of my driving horses was incorrectly trimmed for more than 5 years. His feet looked like coffee cans, and he constantly had flaring or would stumble. I had trouble keeping them cleaned out. After 3 years of barefoot trimming, his heels are coming down and his hooves look normal, with an acceptable angle. He never stumbles now nor has flares. I can easily clean under the frog now.

Here is some information about trimming. There is so much to know! I hope you can find a good trimmer in your area.

http://www.thehorseshoof.com/trimmerlocate.html

 

[starlasstable]

We have been through terrible trimmers who acted like the minis are worthless and only wanted to work on the saddle horses. Now we can't find anyone to trim them at all, won't even discuss it. The last farrier I called 5 times before he even came over, and I told him I just wanted an evaluation, advice, and trim our saddle horse. He pretty much wouldn't even look at them, and there they were, all clean, tied in a row and well-behaved. We have been studying Pete Ramey and bought some mini horse hoof care DVD's to help.

this yearling has really no hoof to trim. He looks like he is landing flat or heel first, and I know if we trim aggressively on the heel it can cause a load of problems. Namely excessive heel growth because the hoof would treat it like a wound and grow more. I am interested in the front extenders, guess I will look online. Thanks for the responses.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Some trimmers just don't want to get down on the ground to do miniatures.

 

[chandab]

Some trimmers just don't want to get down on the ground to do miniatures.

Isn't that the truth. The farrier I had when I first got minis, had been trimming my saddle horses for 5 years (and doing a decent job); first time he came to do the minis, he tried to pull their hoof up to his level and he didn't come back after that. I did call one more time, as I needed a saddle horse trimmed; but he never returned my call, so I never called again. [i did call around, but no one wants to do minis.]

Luckily, found a new farrier (he was so good), but after a couple years, he married and moved out of country. Then, his brother took up horseshoeing, used him for a couple years, but he quit and left to go to vet tech school. [Called around, either no openings, or won't do minis.] Was without for 6 months, and finally found my current farrier, and he is so good with the minis and the saddle horses. [better have a well-behaved horse, though, because if he gets kicked it costs you $100 per kick.] And, he has a 4 horse minimum to come out (no problem with 10 minis and 2 saddle horses (3 if you count my husband's horse).