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

[Lizzie]

I'm so glad you found a reliable and knowledgeable farrier for this little girl. This especially, since I know you also offer riding lessons on this Mini. I remember on the other huge forum message thread, her feet were a bit long. Not as long as they are now, but obviously needing some quality work. If you look on many Mini websites, where it shows winners and/or Minis in show condition on flat ground, you can save the pics, blow them up and see how Mini hoofs should look. I don't think we can blame all farriers. Many have never worked on Minis or even huge Draft horse feet. Is really is up to the owner, to show them pics if possible and educate them.

I have always thought it an extremely hard job to be a farrier. I wonder sometimes, if a small ramp to something higher (such as a goat milking ramp and stand) might not make it easier for farriers to work on Minis.

Lizzie

 

[kay56649]

sorry for the long wait on the pictures, it has been so busy around here and not enough down time to get them on the computer! But here are her new feet from the same farrier that made them look horrible! We just explained what we wanted, and he said sure and they look alot better than they did! Tell me what you think! He cut them down to the bloodline, but did not get any blood (thank God)!

 

[kay56649]

Here are her feet!

 

[kay56649]

Here are the before and after pictures! The first one is before and the second one is after!

 

[Renolizzie]

What a difference.

 

[chandab]

Much better on length. Looks like a little more heel will need to come off, especially on the one closest to the camera in the pics, but that will take a little time to correct. [Might just be my persception based on just this one photo, but definitely a better length.]

 

[kay56649]

Is it a good difference? Is there anything that should be done still? Should we do one more short trim to correct it or are they good now?

 

[kay56649]

Ok, we will try to fix that on the next trim! See our farrier knows how to cut feet right, but he doesn't unless you tell him you want them better. The same thing happened with our big horses, we just said we want you to leave more heel on and now they are beautiful. It's weird but it apparently works ok. Ha ha

 

[kay56649]

Well I guess we can stick to our $8 farrier!! He seemed to

do a very nice job this time!

 

[chandab]

Ok, we will try to fix that on the next trim! See our farrier knows how to cut feet right, but he doesn't unless you tell him you want them better. The same thing happened with our big horses, we just said we want you to leave more heel on and now they are beautiful. It's weird but it apparently works ok. Ha ha

Well, that's kind of scary; if he knows how, but doesn't do the right trim for the horse, unless the owner tells him to. But, glad you got things going in the right direction for your mini. At least he'll listen to you.

 

[kay56649]

Ha ha I guess, we were afraid to say anything but he gladly and happily said sure and made them as best he could on the first trim! Weird situation but if it works, $8 is a lot better than $45 for a trim!

thanks for your help! I just thought she had hollow hooves, I thought they looked long but our farrier said she just had weird feet. Ha ha...I wouldn't have thought they were super overgrown!

 

[rubyviewminis]

I'll keep my mouth shut, but could you take bottom pictures we could see?

 

[Jean_B]

Is it a good difference? Is there anything that should be done still? Should we do one more short trim to correct it or are they good now?

No, in my opinion it is a VERY poor trim. The heel needs to come WAY WAY WAY WAY down. She should not look like she is standing on a beer can. Look at the angle of her pastern. It is at approximately at a 45 degree angle to the ground. That slope should be a smooth, continuous line along the top of her hoof until the very toe. As you can see, the hoof is almost at right angles to the ground! This will put an INCREDIBLE amount of pressure on her knees and become very painful, which could eventually cripple her. And to compound and make matters worse, he has two completely different angles on those feet. In my opinion he should NOT be allowed a 3rd chance.

Take a look at this and compare - the trim on your mare is far worse than in example B:

 

[Minimor]

Jean is right--it is a very poor trim. The one foot looks pretty good as far as angle, but the foot closest to the camera is horribly steep. This incorrect angle will affect her movement and it could very well make her sore because it puts tremendous pressure on bones and ligaments. You need to get this fixed immediately--not 'next time' the farrier comes out for routine trimming.

A good farrier doesn't need to be told how to trim--he doesn't need to be told to correct angles after he trims...or while he is trimming. A good farrier knows what a proper trim looks like; he will check angles and make sure that they are correct. He will make sure the foot is trimmed level, and he will know what the proper hoof length looks like.

I grant you that paying $45 doesn't ensure that you will get a good farrier--locally I know some poor farriers that charge top dollar, and I would not allow them to trim my horses. However, the $8 your guy charges is no bargain when he can't do better than this!

 

[PaintMeFancy]

They still look too long/upright to me - maybe she is partially club footed? It is easier to see with them held up at angles and then from beneath -

could be the photo - but the angles of each foot look completely different - need to be more symmetrical if they are not. She also seems to have a dish in the hoof which means the toe needs to be brought back in as well

Changes can't be made usually all at once and takes many trims for corrective work - usually I have found frequent trims (4 weeks) to gradually make changes is best - but definitely better then the first set of photos you posted

The heels are hard to tell if they are long - did he trim off heels? It appeared that some was gone, but can't tell from your photo. My guess is there is a frog in there where the hoof belongs

It still makes me very nervous to have a farrier who doesn't know how to properly correct a hoof trimming any of my horses

 

[Lizzie]

I'm confused now. Is your farrier licensed by any of the farrier licensing bodies, such as the AFA etc? You said at first, he was doing a great job with your large horses, but just not the Mini. Then you said later, he only did a good job with the large horses, when you told him how to do it. Seems to me, that even if he'd never worked on Minis, he should at least have a reasonable client base of those with the usual light horse breeds.

Since you say he's a family friend, I'm sure it is difficult to replace him, but I don't think he's been doing you any favours.

Lizzie

 

[disneyhorse]

Hello... Just saw this... The feet look just as bad, only shorter. I'd still recommend a new farrier. Over time this can cause a lot of damage. A lame horse isn't worth a bargain basement farrier...

 

[kay56649]

The feet are obviously not perfect yet, he just took off all of the hoof until he hit the bloodline. At the next trim he will fix up what he needs to, because the blood will have gone back. I will show him the picture you posted for sure, but for now this is all that could be done by any farrier. You have to gradually bring back a long hoof, you can't do it all in one trim. In my opinion, they are much better than they were compared to some show minis I have looked at. We are still working on it. I will post more pictures next time she gets them cut!

 

[kay56649]

I don't know if he is licenced or not. He now does a good job on our big horses after we told him what we wanted. He was cutting the heel off so it didn't crack, but we had him leave more heel. This is the best we could do for now because we hit the bloodline all of the way around the hoof. I will post pictures of the underneath of her hooves soon!

 

[Minimor]

There is no excuse for trimming a foot at such an incorrect angle, as the one is in that photo! i would say her angles were better before the trim, when her feet were so over long. He should have trimmed them to the correct angle rather than just chop them off as short as he could all around!