Hooves

One of Cricket's hoof trimmings which the dogs didn't snatch up

Today was farrier day for my boys.  Red went first, and was a little squirrelly, even though I'd ridden him for about an hour before the appointment.  

Kevin working on Red's left front - the view we horse owners most often see of our farriers!

Kevin grins while working on Cricket's foot on the hoof stand.  Everyone grins around Cricket - he just has that effect on people.

Cricket went next, and offered up plenty of hoof trimmings & sole flakes for the dogs.  Kelso especially likes the flakes of sole.  

Kelso actually leaves the hoofprint shaped piece of wall to snuffle up flakes of sole - his favorite.

With the easy ones done, it's on to Rhio.  He can be very fidgety for the farrier, plus he has the coronary band wound which we need to address.  Kevin has to be careful not to bump or press the wound while holding the hoof between his knees for trimming, and also watch out for the rasp when he has the hoof up on the hoof stand - the wrong angle and he will rasp the wound!  This wound sure is in a bad spot.  Rhio stands incredibly well for everything, probably the best behaved he's ever been for a trim.  When we shoe him, I typically have to sedate him so he will tolerate having the shoes nailed on.  He's just a sensitive guy, I guess!  Red used to have to be sedated for shoes because Kevin hot shoes, and Red was completely freaked out by the smoke generated when a red hot steel shoe was pressed to his hoof.  Red learned that the smoke wasn't going to get him, and now will tolerate hot shoeing (with carrots provided in abundant quantities at the critical moments when smoke billows up from his feet).  Rhio doesn't care about the smoke, but hates having the nails driven into his hoof wall.  

We "float" Rhio's hoof wall beneath the injury, trimming it shorter than the surrounding wall so that it does not touch the ground when he stands on it.  In theory, this will help the coronary band come back down into a normal position by preventing the upward pressure of the hoof wall in that area.  

"Before" picture

The dark holes or "cracks" you see near the toe are old nail holes from the last set of shoes he wore in the fall.  This horse grows a lot of foot - his last trim was 6 weeks ago.  Compare the length of toe & height of the heel to the following "after" picture.

"After" picture

You can also see that the nail holes left over from his last shoeing in October are finally all gone with this trim.

The view from the bottom of the hoof.  You can see the flatter, more white looking area on the left - this is the cut-out area of the hoof wall you can see in the previous photo.

Kevin will be back in 3 weeks to work on Rhio again - everyone else will wait 6 weeks for their next trim.

Freshly bandaged & ready to go back out to his buddies