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Hoofcare & Information for Barefoot Soundness

Linda Cowles Hoof Care - Serving the greater SF Bay Area and Northern California

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Dali, 12 yr old American Saddlebred

8/2005 It had been many months since the 2 pasture-boarded Saddlebreds had been trimmed, and owner Jill had become very concerned about their feet. She was very committed to keeping them barefoot, but had a bad experience after the 19 year old mare was lame for a month following being trimmed in a clinic situation. She was looking for someone who could trim conservatively.

1/2009 - If I was trimming these feet today I would spend more time cleaning up shedding frogs and beveling the heels. There are a lot of other tweaks I would make, balance the feet better. My trim has evolved!

August 13 trim

Dali is a very active fellow, as sweet as they come, but his feet were beat up! They had significant hunks of wall missing, wall separation, under run heels and lots of flare.

I was extremely pleased with how the geldings feet turned out. I was very conservative, pulled his heels back and smoothed rough edges. His heel needs to come down, but the wall damage needed to grow out first. Jill said he was extremely sound the following week - much sounder than before the trim.

Before

After

September 10th Dali's Second Trim

Dali's feet held up great and 4 weeks later he had lots of wall to work with. His toe was very long on the front left, both front heels were too high, and he was shedding a lot of sole. I trotted him on a lunge line to see how he was moving, and he was basically sound but was landing slightly toe first.

After - I managed to get Dali's heels down well without invading the sole at the heel buttress, and he had adequate wall to support the sole parameter and still get a bit of bevel to keep the wall from chipping. The growth rings on his wall still indicated that his toe was stretched out... I gave him a secure heel buttress to land on and moved his toe back to anchorage him to use his heel better. When we trotted him out, he used his heels extremely well, landing heel first consistently.

October 9th

This trip was soooo rewarding! This was Dali and Stella's 3rd trim, and their feet look superb!! Okay, I'd like to have their heels down and both have sole that;s almost ready to shed, but their feet look super considering where they started. Check them out!

Linda Cowles Hoof Care
Serving the greater SF Bay Area & Northern California