My mini has little or no frog and hollow hooves in the front!!!!!

[HGFarm]

Perhaps you need a farrier that is more specialized in getting her feet straightened out? Have you had your vet take a look at them? I have seen farriers trim feet, but didnt trim what they should have, so sounds like the mare needs a different type of corrective trim?

 

[kay56649]

Our farriers and vets in or area are pretty poor, but our farrier does a beautiful job on our quater horses and mini donkeys! Even Jasmine's foal! Her feet are just very different!

 

[kay56649]

sorry it took so long for the pictures to come up! There was a horse show today!

 

[kay56649]

They are about 2 inches deep in the deepest part of the inside of her hoof! She has a tiny little frog at the bottom of the hoof in the deep part of the hollow hoof but you really have to pick out her feet to find it!! The frog is like 2 inches into her foot!

 

[Lil Timber Buck]

In my estimation, she could stand to lose a lot of that extra hoof. She is really standing up on those. See this post about it http://www.ponypros.net/blog/tag/mini-horse/

 

[Tremor]

You need a new farrier.

Those heels and toes need taken down A LOT. If your "farrier" was competent enough he/she would realize that. It's not just weird.

Get a new farrier. An actual one.

 

[horsehug]

Her feet are just too long by far and need trimmed a lot. But the frog will grow back. It is as I thought it might be.

Susan O.

 

[Mona]

Those feet almost look like she may have been foundered in the past??

 

[Jean_B]

You need a new farrier.

Those heels and toes need taken down A LOT. If your "farrier" was competent enough he/she would realize that. It's not just weird.

Get a new farrier. An actual one.

Have to agree. The trim on those feet is non-existant. She needs LOTS of competent TLC on those feet. It appears like she may have had a serious case of thrush in the past and that's why they are gone...and with her heels that deep, it was impossible for her to put any pressure on the frog, which is what stimulates blood flow and keeps them healthy. Also, heels that deep encourage manure to remain impacted in the hoof, which breeds more thrush.

 

[kay56649]

Those feet almost look like she may have been foundered in the past??

How can you tell if a horse has foundered because before we bought her she was on a 10 acre pasture. Also, how can you tell if he may have had thrush? Maybe I can look closer than the picture can show and see if she has

Either one!

 

[kay56649]

Yeah, thank you so much because we couldn't figure out why they looked so long! They are trimmed regularly, but we have been hesitating to get a new farrier because he charges $8 a mini and $15 for a big horse or every other farrier is $30 a horse and we have 6 animals that need fatter work! Do you think we should just mention to him to trim her hooves more

 

[Kiss This]

You need to take off at least 1 inch all round the foot. The heels only need to be 1/2 inch tall. The frog should touch the ground as it is the thing that pumps the blood around the foot. Pay the money for this mini to get her feet put back to where they should be & maybe the other one can continue afterwards. But they won't be able to take if all off at once. Too much of an adjustment. But who knows.

 

[Jens]

If it were me, I would just get a new ferrier. You get what you pay for and her hooves really need someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I wouldn't presume to specify that she needs "one inch" off; that is a LOT,on such a small animal...but I certainly agree that her feet are much too long, and need a uniform trim(meaning not just of the toe or just of the heel, but 'all around'.) It may not be possible/safe to take off ALL the excess length in one trimming, because the 'quick' tends to advance downward in a hoof that has gotten too long, and may need to be 'driven back up' by repeated moderate trims, usually closer together in time than the 'usual' interval of 6-10 weeks.

I also very much agree--you need a farrier who actually knows what he/she is doing! Lack of genuine ability may be why your current one gets so much less than others for his work!

Margo, who has been trimming her own miniatures' feet since 1984

 

[disneyhorse]

I will echo sentiments about needing a new farrier. Your horses feet are much too long.

No hoof, no horse. Cheap doesn't mean good... When it comes to feet, don't scrimp.

 

[disneyhorse]

I wouldn't use the current farrier... Even with just telling them to take more off. Hoof trims are extremely basic, and if they can't do a good basic trim, they might screw up your horse and injure them. You are paying a farrier for their expertise. This one obviously doesn't know what they are doing. They should be talking to you about the nuances of your horses feet every time, not having you sense something is wrong and needing to go to a forum about a basic trim.

I pay $40 for a mini trim here, by the way, and it's money well spent. Whether you've got one horse or fifty, you can't scrimp on foot care. The horse is helpless to help itself.

 

[chandab]

I guess I'm going to pretty much echo what others have already said... Get a new farrier! She needs someone knowledgeable to bring her hooves to where they should be.

As someone who has way too much experience with laminitis/founder, I really don't think they look like foundered hooves, but they are extremely over grown and starting to get out of balance. Don't be too surprised, when you do find that new farrier, if she has some abcesses in her hooves or they do bleed just a bit wiht a proper trim. Talk to your vet and see if they have a farrier they recommend.

 

[Minimor]

The others are right, those feet ate way too long. I don't think she is foundered, her feet are just a bit dished from being left too long for much too long. The pressure on the toe causes the hoof to become dished. Nothing weird about those feet; I think your farrier is not too knowledgeable

 

[kay56649]

Our vets here know nothing about horses, just how to give them shots and take coggins. We are limited to only a couple of farriers in the town I am in. We will try to give her the best hoof care we can! Thank you so much for your advice!! I will see what we can do about farriers, because he does an awesome job on everyone else's hooves, just not hers, and I think part of it is because she isn't a huge fan of gettin her hooves trimmed, so he always cuts her session short. We have a hoof file, is there anything we can do with that to help a little In between trims?

 

[kay56649]

Also, all of the rest of the farriers in town are usually booked and most of them won't even take new people! The good farrier in our town won't accept anyone else new. We have ready called him. So we are pretty much stuck with the one we have. Next time we are over we will ask him to correct her feet and get them straightened out. He is a good family friend, so he will understand. I wish we lived in a bigger town where we could get better farrier service but unfortunately we live about 2 hours from the closest let's just say, big town. Lol