Hooves

Rhio's right front today after a trim

It's official!  Rhio once again has four normal hooves.  The saga of his right front coronary band injury last January is now completely finished and I'm planning to stop obsessing, worrying, and fretting about his feet...any minute now, really!  

October 20, 2010
It's a normal hoof! 

For a quick review, here's a series of photos showing the healing and progression of his hoof wall defect over the past 9 1/2 months. 

Januray 31, 2010

February 23, 2010
coronary band is nearly back to normal, farrier has relieved any upward pressure by cutting an arc in the ground surface

June 14, 2010
Defect is about 1/2 way down hoof & we're still using the pressure-relieving technique to encourage downward progression without lateral spreading around the hoof

August 1, 2010
The back part already broke off and the front portion is actually loose.

August 1, 2010
After trimming - no more loose section but still not a lot of support on his lateral quarter

September 1, 2010
It almost looks like just a really badly chipped area! 

Rhio & I had a quick limbering session in the arena, bareback, after his trim, then he got to free graze in the yard for a little while.  Tomorrow we're off to Point Chaser!  We're planning to do the 50 on Friday, and if everything goes well, also a 30 mile Limited Distance on Sunday.  I've never ridden more than one day at a ride before, on the same horse, so I am really looking forward to it!  Gesa & Paco will be riding their second LD on Sunday, so we'll have a great time riding together.  

Enjoying the grass

Old man Cricket has been enjoying a lot of yard time lately, trying to gain a little more weight before winter, enjoying the last of the grass.  Also, it is good for his feet, which got "accidentally" trimmed by another farrier and are way too short.  He was booted 24/7 and on Bute for a week just to hobble around.  He is now sound on grass, but still very tender on any harder footing.  Poor Cricket!  And the farrier thinks he did me a "favor" by giving me a free trim (it was his mistake - he didn't realize the bay Arabian gelding wasn't a black Appaloosa mare...).  I am none too pleased, to say the least. 

Cricket checking for treats in my pocket before going back to grazing

Hoof Update

The lower part of the hoof is shiny because I applied a hoof sealant in an attempt to keep any bacteria out of the crack.  We have had lots of rain and therefore have lots of mud in the pasture, so I thought a little extra protection was a good thing. 

Rhio's latest farrier visit and our hoof crack/defect is nearly grown out at the heel.  We are hoping that when it hits ground level, the unaffected part at the heel stays intact while only the damaged hoof crumbles away.  It's really a wait-and-see right now.   The new hoof growing down from the coronary band looks perfect - but it is bulging out above the crack so that's another thing to keep an eye on.

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