01/29/2025
So often, horses arrive for training not quite set up for success for training the way we would like, which means we have to get them there! This particular horse was not a training one, but is a fantastic example. Obviously if the horse is unhandled, we don't expect their farrier work up to date, BUT, there is no excuse otherwise for a lack of hoof care. It isn't fair to the horse to expect them to be able to handle the stresses of training when their feet are in poor health as it can lead to a multitude of other issues that end up more expensive than the bit of money you "saved" by not caring for their feet. We are lucky to have a pretty great trimmer on site.
Pictured is the left front of a 4yr old mare, who was getting trims every 8 to 10 weeks, clearly needs to be on a shorter schedule, but that is a separate conversation. What this post is for, is to help spread some AWARENESS as to what we are even looking at here. On the picture with the different coloured circles, we want to pinpoint some specific things that says a LOT about this foot.
To start with, a base line, 4yr old 15.2 hand mare, visually sound (but clearly loading her leg funky, but more on that later), this was her left front, that same leg has a pretty decent old splint injury/splint bump about mid cannon bone on the lateral cannon bone which is uncommon, which can be seen in the stance pictures. No lameness was noted at time of that injury which was approximately a year prior to this trim and current movement was observed and nothing of note was “flagged”.
For us personally, the first thing that caught our eye was the length of hoof wall around the foot, which in this specific cause, mare was about 10 weeks from her previous trim, so though the amount of growth made sense, look at the BLUE circle specifically, which denotes a longer hoof wall on that side (which would be the medial side) of her foot compared to the lateral side. There is a difference in length on the inside edge vs the outside edge of her hoof wall, which suggests, even though she seemed to visibly move sound, she is loading her limb and/or foot unevenly. Was this a result of going so long between trims, and the fact that she has clearly chipped off a couple spots, perhaps. Or, it grew this way BECAUSE of the way she moves, which could be natural, or due to body issues that would have to be addressed in the future. Which then leads to the purple circle right at the tip of the toe which shows clear wear compared to the rest of the overgrown hoof wall. That part was flat, almost as if it had been rasped a bit, compared to the rounded look of the rest of the hoof wall. The mare was on a netted round bale, with no feeder around it, so it is safe to say that is likely from pawing at the net, so with regular hoof care, is not a concern (at least not to us), with proper 6 week trim cycles, it likely wouldn't be noticed much between trims on a much shorter trim cycle, which is more beneficial for the majority of horses than folks realize, even if it costs a bit more money annually per horse.
The next thing I want to draw attention to is the red circles. There are a couple issues here. The first, and most notable is the location of those red circles. These are where her heels are currently, in this “before” picture. Ideally, the heels should be in line with the widest part of the frog for proper hoof function, movement, loading of tendons/ligaments etc and is all part of a correct hoof angle. So this particular mare is decently underrun with her heels BUT, then notice, that even though she is underrun, her heels are not evenly underrun. That medial side of her foot with the longer hoof wall on that side, the heel is more underrun than the lateral side. Nothing that cannot be fixed over the course of a couple trims, but its still worth noting when looking at that foot, as it is all a piece of the puzzle on how her foot grew, how she was moving, and the overall health of that limb. Though we do not have pictures of the right front, it was not nearly this off balanced. Following the heels to the yellow circles, we take a look at the bars. With the information we have noted on the foot thus far, it makes sense that the medial bar is overgrown, and rolled over, where the bar on the lateral side is only very slightly overgrown right near the upper part of the frog at the top of the yellow circle on that side.
And finally, we look at the orange circle on the frog. Though this isn't the worst frog we have seen, it was unhealthy and contracted, she also did have a minor case of thrush going on which is typical in these overgrown hooves as they really pack in and hold manure, bedding, footing and other debris and moisture in the foot, especially if not cleaned out on a daily basis. If it has been winter, she would have been packing snow badly as well in her feet. Our personal preference is that the frog would be wider, though her heel bulbs didn't look too bad, we still consider this a contracted heel, which thus “squishes” the frog, which is due to her heels being in the position they are, which changes the way the foot can flex, and thus actually changes the circulation of blood within the hoof capsule, as well as the frog itself. We generally don't do a huge amount to the frog unless there is a reason to, such as thrush, or a clear indication of a reason to go in there with a hoof knife. You do ideally want a nice, open “groove” along side the frog for the hoof pick, if it catches as the top and wants to go under the edges of the frog, we will open that up a smidge with the hoof knife but we tend to be as conservative with the frog as possible. There is a picture to show the side view, hoof on the ground to show the angles before and after as well.
The “after” picture shows incredible improvement. Yes, that is the SAME foot! Look how that frog opened right up in just the time it took to do a trim by dealing with that access hoof wall, taking that overgrown bar back, and getting those heels sorted. Yes, the heels aren't EXACTLY where they should be, you don't want to take them all the way back in 1 trim, or at least we don't. A second trim in 4 to 6 weeks will get them back to where they want to be without sacrificing heel “depth”, they aren't supposed to be walking on the hair of their heel bulbs, that means the heel has been taken right off and isn't right either! Nothing wrong with doing some corrections but being a bit conservative and then doing a touch up trim in 4 weeks. It also gives the hoof some time to rest and open up a bit with the relief this mare has already experienced. As you can see in the “after” stance, she is still a bit underrun, that will “stand up” a bit more in another trim or 2 and be just about where she needs to be. That “after” picture was also taken before we touched up the frog tissue a bit, especially at the central sulcus, or that “hole” at the top, where she had some thrush that we treated right away after this picture and continued treatment as needed (good ole Coppertox). The lateral heel is still a hair unlevel compared to the medial heel BUT, had we taken that back anymore, the heel depth would have been scarified, and we would have had to take the other side “down” to be level which would have further mucked up her angles that we had been working on. Another bonus of another trim in 4 weeks is we can address that, without having to sacrifice the depth of heel. Corrections cannot always be done all at once, it takes several trims, often at 4 to 6 week intervals, over the course of months, to correct a weird hoof, and the only issue with this particular mare is that she was simply left too long between trims. It does not take as much to “mess up” a hoof as folks think and why farriers and trimmers are so adamant about keeping a horse on a specific schedule. They don't appreciate their hard work going to waste when owners don't keep their horses on a specific schedule and you certainly can't correct anything specific without a proper schedule either.
So to finish off, although she isn't standing perfect in the side view shots, from the side, you can also see a decent difference in the angle of her pasterns on all 4 feet, but since we have been using that front left (front closest to the camera), that is where we are focusing. Yes, there is still some work to be done, as stated, that comes with multiple trims on a much tighter trim schedule, in a few months, she will be just about perfect! Though she is standing more square with the front feet in the “before” picture, her knee is tight, and she was rocked forward, which is partly due to the long pastern angle, the underrun heel and the overgrown hoof wall and long toe. Her knee is much more relaxed in the after picture, and her pastern not quite so angled and she is able to stand more “under” herself rather than rocked forward with that front end. No, we are not professional farriers, we are simply trimmers, and honestly, we are mostly self taught (though Sam had received a course while getting her equine degree so thus). This post is simply to bring AWARENESS to all these points, and to say that the hoof can be a window to the WHOLE horse as well. The saying “no hoof no horse” is not just some old wives tale phrase. It has valid meaning. Improper hoof care can cause issues through out the horses body that unfortunately, generally either get bandaided, or although the horse may get lots of body work, the real reason their body is so out of whack all the time (generally due to hoof maintenance but not always) is never addressed so you just keep fixing the same body issue over and over and it never “stays” fixed. At some point, we will find a nice little case study to be able to show movement before and afters, and whole body shots as well, as often time, you can see a huge change in their body tension as well almost immediately once issues like this are addressed. The rest of the angles and other things will continue to be addressed in the next couple trims to get this mare back to 100%, as it can't all be corrected in just 1 or 2 trims.
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