Athena
Four Year Old Arab Mare - 7/2005
Its September 2008, and I'm updating my web site, and as I open these old case studies up I start realizing how far I've come in my understanding of atypical feet, how much we all know, now, compared to 3 years ago.... and how much more we all have to learn.
Athena's feet perplaxed me three years ago, and now? I see that hard, dry cracked frog, and I see THRUSH! The whole reason her feet had retained sole and high bars was because she had thrush in those cracks and crevices.
Now, I would never trim this heel into the live sole. I would clean up the frog, and treat the thrush until the sole in the heel buttress region was ready to shed, remove that shedding sole and take the heels down.
I'm going to leave this page as is, so we can all experience some of my improved prerspective... Hind-sight, eh?? Yep! |
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June 2005 - Every time I trim a new horse,
I learn something valuable...
I keep remembering what Pete's
told me - "Never say "never"".
This trim showed me how callous
can look healthy but be causing
problems....
Several friends have 4 year
olds out of the same Arab stallion.
All of these youngsters are
compact, race-bred athletes
with smooth gaits and great
personalities. My friend Judith
Ogus's filly had a very upright
club on her front left foot.
Judith had talked to several
farriers and vets about possible
options, including surgery.
She had asked me to look at
the filly earlier in the year,
but as I didn't have time to
work on her, I was hesitant
to offer advice.
After spending the week camping
and riding in the Bay Area,
I stopped by to visit Judith,
and she asked me to look at
her mare. I was running late,
but couldn't resist the opportunity
to perform a quick setup trim
and offer a prognosis for lowering
the heels to a better level.
Helping her out is scary...
several experts have looked
at the mare without providing
solutions. Judith is hoping
that this girl will be an FEI
level athlete. And Judith and
her partner Beck Hart are good
friends and very respected endurance
riders, important members of
our tight Bay Area endurance
community. I wanted to be absolutely
sure that what I did would help
her horse. |
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I was in a hurry to get started,
so didn't start using my camera
until I had lowered the filly's
heels by almost 1/2".
I was perplexed by the unusually
dense sole in the heel buttress
area. Usually I see some indication
that I'm approaching the "live
sole" after I've removed
so much heel... or I see bruising
or injury, an indication of
why the heel isn't wearing as
fast as the rest of the hoof.
The sole at the heel buttress
looked nicely compacted, an
indication that she used the
heel comfortably. Her sole appeared
to be calloused, and normally
I don't disturb callous. But
this callous had cracks...
One indicator that this wasn't
a "normal" club foot
was the slight bruising on the
bar where it approached the
sulcus. Another was the white
line separation and wall crack,
signs that the wall was too
long. |
Testing the cracked callous
on the inside of her hoof brought
off a huge chunk of sole almost
1/4" deep, and as I felt
the fidgety four year old's
leg relax into my lap, I knew
I was on the right path. I normally
don't trim sole, even on a set
up trim, but this was one of
those times when I'd give my
knives a workout.
As I gazed at her sole, I noticed
how deep it was adjacent to
the sulcus, and realized that
this wasn't a "club foot".
This mare has a very normal
foot distorted by a thick layer
of retained calloused sole!
I raced to get my camera, and
passing Judith, blurted out
"You aren't going to believe
this! Yes, it's good news!"
My friend Danielle took pictures
as I used my knife to pry chunks
of unshed dead sole away to
expose a wonderfully concaved
hoof. I knew where my live sole
was, so I trimmed her high heels
down to a very nice level, and
rasped the wall to remove flare
and bevel the edge. |
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As I started working on the
more"normal" right
front hoof, I saw a small amount
of retained callous and calloused
bar packing the sole in the
sulcus area.
Most of the callous on her
front right foot was the good
kind, hard shiny callous over
live sole. I removed the chunks
near the frog and left the rest
alone.
I didn't touch the frog on
either hoof, because the mare
seemed comfortable with it.
My my experience is that it
flattens out quickly under the
pressure of the horse... I let
the horse tell me whether I
should trim something. |
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I pull out bonsai
nippers and use the rounded
edge to pull overgrown bars
and chunky sole away from the
hoof before trimming it back. |
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Taking the flare off of the
front right foot revealed a
nice scoop in the quarters.
I use to rasp almost all quarter
flare off, but it can leave
a horse tender for a day or
two if there is a lot of flare,
so now I take extreme flare
off in two or three trims.
The heel on the front left
is still much more upright than
the front right, but it is a
dramatic change from where we
started... I wish I had taken
pictures before I started! |
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This profile shows the differences
in the "normal" hoof,
which flared in the quarters in
response to excess wall length,
and the false club foot on the
right. |
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