HealthyHoof.com

Hoofcare & Information for Barefoot Soundness

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

Nipper

Wry Foot &
Crack Due To Coronet Injury

March 14, 2006 _ Shoes Pulled
March 24, 2006 - Dropped Flare & Decontraction

May 12, 2006

August 25, 2006 - Rear Feet Still Thrushy & Wry
October 15, 2006 - Relaxing Heels!

Two months into rehab and Nipper was looking good. Her progress wasn't as fast as I would have liked because she was still being treated for a severe hip injury so couldn't be ridden, but her feet were growing fast and her heels were de contracting and getting stronger.

Concerns about the crack in her rear foot were a thing of the past; as the old edge grew out and the imbalance corrected itself, the hoof began to look almost normal. We still worked through some minor imbalance issues using my old friends a black Sharpee and a Save Edge rasp, but were at that stage where we were waiting for strong wall to grow out to support the evolving sole and future concavity.

This was when we started thinking about her wry foot problem being related to Thrush, and Jill began soaking her feet. I trimmed her frogs moderately in May, then got more severe in June when I again located pockets of thrush. Next month? Great results! Stay tuned!

Nippers heel buttresses are still too far under her foot, so I keep pulling her toes back and leaving the heels alone as they begin to get more and more solid.

Her coronet flare has completely resolved itself and her growth rings are level and regularly spaced.

Here digital cushions are looking better every month, even though she's getting limited exercise.

The solar diagrams below show that she still has imbalance, with longer exterior walls on her wry feet. She's beginning to get some concavity, minimal because her walls are still thin and delicate....

She's been sound on her feet all along, now we have to wait for the hip to heal...