Why a risk, you ask? Because you never know how people will react to advice from a stranger.
Fortunately AC welcomed my comments and has worked very hard to make improvements to these hooves. Just look at how good they look only a few trims later!
Good work AC!
Wow. They do look nice. I have a question though, is there an issue in bringing a hoof down too fast? If a horse grows upright naturally, is it due to the tendons being tight and contracting it? If it comes down too fast, could it cause a horse to be lame? These were questions I had when I first tackled Beautiful's club feet. Or, had this horse just been trimmed to be that way?
ReplyDeleteThe hooves above are not clubbed, they just had a LOT of excess wall past the level of the live sole. So in his case taking off the excess wall and bringing the hairline closer to a 30 degree angle will only bring this horse relief. He finally gets to take his high heels off!
DeleteIn the case of a club foot you DO have to be careful about bringing down the angles. For instance I have to leave the heels on Coriander's club foot high or he gets sore and unbalanced. A club foot is caused by something higher up in the leg, the trick is figuring out what it is. For Coriander he either has one leg shorter than the other or there's something up with his shoulder. I'm not sure which yet.
Yep, these are not club feet. #1) both front hooves are symmetrical. #2) I never invaded live sole to get these heels down. I simply took the heels down level with the sole once a week. When the sole is finally supported by ground pressure, it moves up in the hoof capsule.
DeleteTaking heels down quickly absolutely increases tendon tension. I think changing the angle 1/2" in one trim is the generally accepted maximum. That's why I trimmed once a week to get them down. But keep in mind, I lowered the wall all the way around, not just in the heel, so it was easy to stay in the 1/2" angle change rule.
Thank you for saying that- I went back and changed the wording in my post slightly to reflect your weekly trims.
DeleteI was probably taught differently than you (so many different teachers and methods out there). My mentor thinks it's better to just take them down at once. But every horse is different, you know...
Absolutely! There's more than one way to skin a cat! ;) People think that hooves are so delicate, but they're actually extremely resilient and adaptive! Even within barefoot trimmers, every trimmer does it slightly different. I have no experience with lowering the heels all at once, so I tend not to, but I truly believe that any of the different barefoot trims are better than most farrier trims.
DeleteWow, well done AC! I see huge improvements already.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to point out, though, that *muscles* contract, not tendons. The term "contracted tendon," while used widely, is incorrect. There's no contractile tissue in tendons--they have a "resting" length and they can be *stretched* beyond their resting length, but they can not contract.
Oh, and so glad I can finally comment on here again. For a while, I couldn't even open the comments section. So weird. Technology and I don't really see eye to eye, lol.
Yep! That's why I usually say 'increase tension' when discussing tendons. But it has been proven that even slight decreases in palmar/plantar angle of the coffin bone results in increased tendon tension. (can't remember exact numbers, but I think my mentor/prof said a decrease of 1 degree results in 8% increased tension when the horse is standing still)
DeleteBig improvements!! Looks so good and that frog is already starting to widen quite a bit as that hoof is spreading back out.
ReplyDeleteLaz has a club foot on his right front, and I'm finding out, it is perhaps caused by an old shoulder injury, where he 'wants' to hold it in/close to his side versus letting it go and relax. We are working breaking up old scar tissue (maybe an old racing injury) so as it changes and loosens, I'm curious to see how it effects his 'club' foot.
The hoof looks fantastic! The change in the frog is pretty impressive too, considering it has only been a few trims. The hoof is truly amazing an thing...
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much the profile of the foot can change after frequent trim adjustments. These feet are on their way!
ReplyDeleteThey really look much better than they did. The horse must feel much better too.
ReplyDeleteWow, amazing change. AMC, I hope you'll consider putting up another update in the future!
ReplyDelete