hoof care

[shaepony]

I just got a new mini who is 10 yrs old. his legs and hooves are fairly straight though his fronts roll in slightly and his hinds roll out. I believe it could be due to his previuos owners not taking proper care of his hooves at a young age. My experience in raising horses tells me that once a horse is mature, trying to straighten out his feet is only going to put strain on the bones. I'm sure this is a dumb, obviouse question that I just answered myself but his feet are really bugging me, I will be consulting my farrier but I know he doesn't work on minis. Any suggestions or oppinions would be great. If I can get the heel to grow back out without causing stress points on his joints and legs- I just wish people would take better care of there animals or give them to someone who cares. Why bother having them if you don't care?

 

[Fred]

I am a farrier who does a lot of minis and owns several national titled driving

and halter minis. Is your horse tracking straight? If the feet are rolled like that

it doesn't seem like he should be. The legs can seem straight but if the horse isn't

tracking straight the conformation needs to be looked at more closely. As this is

an older horse I can tell you like us as he ages it will get more pronounced.

At 2 years of age you can't really correct things in a full size horse you can make

them look better. With minis you have half that time as their bone mature quicker.

That's why it's so important to do babies. Linda B Ps If it's just a tracking

problem it's easy to fix.

 

[capall beag]

Oh Fred!

I wish you lived near me!!

You just answered a Q I have been asking different farriers for over a year!!!!!!

I like my farrier, very nice guy BUT not a mini guy!!

Thanks for that info, very helpful!

 

[auledasacres]

I wanted to add that farriers that don't have a lot of experience with mini's and are willing can find seminars/clinics regarding such.

My farrier had only trimmed large horses but as the business turned to a lot of mini's he started attending some clinics were he could see mini's being trimmed. I give him a pat on the back for that since he is 65 and leaning closer to retirement.

He acutally doesn't mind coming here. I take all the horses into the barn on the cement floor. I give him a mechanic chair on wheels and it brings him down to their level and he can move around very easily. Saves his back and makes his job a lot easier.

I had a mini owner down the street call and ask about my farrier. She called him because her mini could barely walk. He went and trimmed her horses and they were running through the pasture. She was amazed it took him about 1/2 hour to trim the hooves. She said her previous farrier took only 10 minutes per horse. So I am guessing he simple put a file to the hoove and nothing else.

Good luck with your new guy.

Traci

 

[shaepony]

He seems to track up okay. I took him out in the arena today and he ran all over without much trouble. when I look at him on flat ground the rolled sides of his feet cause the fronts to turn out slightly and the hinds to turn in. The hind feet are the worst when he walks, it seems that he twists his ankle slightly when pushing off the ground because he doesn't have the support of a heel on the outside of his hooves, the severity of it is not constant throughout his strides. Sometimes the inside half of his hoof lifts off the ground wile he pushes off and other strides he keeps it down. this is what leads me to think that maybe the problem can be fixed by simply getting those rolled in heels to grow out. maybe useing flat shoes so he isn't constantly grinding down the weaker sides of his hooves?