Bowl shape gone from sole of Right Front!

It happened so quietly I almost missed it.


Everyday Sonny’s front feet change. I could take photos each day & a difference would be noted.


Cas Grant, the farrier, came again today to tweak my trim. I have chosen not to touch any of the sole & leave it to her to choose the right time to start shaping it. Today she said that could happen. She used her knife to carefully smooth the lumpy bits & create a good shape along the collateral grooves. The bowl shape was finally gone!

Yesterday I was able to move his heels back 5ml again. That’s now about 15ml the heels have been moved back. And still, or rather yet again, there is another new protrubence emerging that will be next week’s new heel position. Last week's leathery heel bulb becomes next week's hoof heel as it hardens into horn. It's been amazing to feel & see it happen day by day.

When I touched up the ‘flares’ on Sonny’s feet yesterday I exposed a line of blood around the whole toe of his LF. Finally we are getting into the long toe of that foot. Cas says it is the residual blood from the white line being stretched as that toe ran forward. I remember the first time I saw that over a year ago on one of his feet. I was beside myself thinking I had broken through the sole/ wall connection! Also Sonny put his head right down to look at what was hurting him, as he did yesterday too. So even though it is old blood & not live tissue, it somehow causes him pain when it’s exposed. Hopefully once the new wall has grown down there won’t be anymore stretched white line so no more pain from that long toe. However change is much slower on the LF.

All this good news doesn't mean he is right to go across all terrain. He is absolutely & totally gimpy still on all but soft grass. So there is still a long way to go yet.

His back feet are also doing well & have quite a nice shape to them now. There is even a little concavity. Cas says it’s as much as I can expect on this ground & pasture.

Sonny’s new boots arrived today. Easyboot Trails. Unfortunately they are too small. His size 1 Epics are a tad large & swivel around a bit on his front foot now. So I was careful to measure all 4 of his hooves right after a trim & also took a few ml off because as the trim works it’s wonders his feet will reduce a tiny bit in size. But still I’m sure these size 3 Trails will be too short in length. The width is spot on, but there just isn’t enough to overlap the Velcro tabs at the back of the boot to make it secure enough. So they will have to be returned. Luckily I had Sonny on the carpet under the house & he had freshly trimmed & cleaned feet. Hopefully the next size up which will still be only just long enough, won’t be too wide & allow sideways movement.

So here are 2 of today’s photos taken after Cas finished tidying up the trim I had done.


See all the other photos from today including some of the back feet here dated 24May2012:- http://photobucket.com/BBB_May2012

A bit of a milestone with new heel positions apparent now

A bit of a milestone yesterday when Cassie Grant visited to personally inspect Sonny's feet (& Jude & Cassie's too! oh dear..2 Cassies :-D)

It was good to have someone who actually knows about this coastal region grass & soils & understands how that is affecting horse's feet. She put me at ease regarding how their feet go flatter on this grass covered country & how if I moved back to rough country their feet would all change back to how they used to be.

We looked over & discussed my horses feet for some time then Cassie showed me how she does feet by doing 3 of Jude's & leaving 1 for me to do. She certainly takes them closer to the heel than I ever have! But obviously that's the difference & why I have been failing to get things in order.

POWER GRINDER Cas also uses a power grinder. I must learn to use one too as it was much easier than rasping & nipping. My horses are all used to my dremel but I haven't used that for a few years due to their feet mostly being too hard here for the dremel sanding pads to work.

Here are just a few shots I took today as I was too busy yesterday to take photos too.

NEW  HEEL POSITION  In my last post I wrote on one photo that I thought there was a new heel position evident on the LF. Well that was indeed acurate & Cas made that the new heel position which can be seen in this lefthand shot. When I look at Sonny's feet now I can see the new steeper angled capsules emerging out the back of the old angular capsules. Like fat insects coming out of old shells. Progress at this point is so rapid they change every day.

MORE PHOTOS     A few more of today's photos can be viewed here http://photobucket.com/BBB_May2012

I have started numbering each photo to make it easier to discuss a particular photo. So for example one of today's is the one above 18May2012  RF 4  being the 4th photo I saved from today's shots of that hoof. Usually I post more than one photo of each hoof either here or in photobucket so being able to identify a particular shot by what is written on it is so much easier.

BUTE Sonny is also now only getting bute every 1&a half days, so morning feed yesterday & night feed tonight, then nothing tomorrow & morning feed next day, etc. He seems to have come through his most recent bucking & rodeo event unscathed which indicated I could start lowering the dose. I (& he) can tell he's a bit sore on the day he misses out, but not sore enough to be a big concern unless he starts running amok again.

VET The vet got back to me regarding the photos & update I emailed to him late last week. He said all looked good. So that made me feel a lot easier too.

NEW BOOTS  I have ordered more new boots for Sonny too. I was to get another RX when it came into stock but after reading about other new boots EasyCare now have, I changed my order. I have ordered a pair of Trails & another pair of BFB pads which are the 12ml thick soft pads usually used in the RX boot. http://www.easycaredownunder.com.au/page4.htm

Since I will be able to get Sonny back into light inhand work quite soon it is silly to only have 'hospital' type boots for him. He has 'blown' the gaitors on all his Epics now so I decided it was time to get him a boot that he couldn't destroy so quickly! :-D

So next week he should be reshod in new EasyBoot Trails with BFB pads inside. Happy times!

Changes are really apparent now at the 8wk mark

Changes are really apparent now. It's been 8wks since visit to vet for the xrays.  It's been 6wks since I took that photo in the righthand margin above showing the underside of the RF hoof in all it's horrible glory!

It's amazing how fast repair is happening as can be seen by the photo below of a hind foot showing the rings that announced the beginning of the various management strategies.

My main focus is to address the flares both heel quarters & toe quarters on all feet. I'm trying to just do a small roll so only a thin portion of wall remains in contact with the ground to relieve the flaring pressure.

It is amazing to see the waves in the upper part of the capsule disappear on a hind hoof once I have dressed the side flares. I never realised it happened almost straight away, within an hour of so. I first saw it when I dressed a hind hoof on 5th May. I had taken some photos which showed obvious waves in the rings & coronet band on the white RH. Then I dressed all his feet focusing on the flares which took 40mins, then I did some play with Sonny which all involved about 1hr20mins. Then the sun was shining on his back feet & I did a double take. Where were those waves?? I looked closer & it was quite obvious they had gone. Been relieved by me removing the upward pressure applied to the ground bearing surface of the hoof.

So now I look even closer & as soon as I see those waves appearing I know it is time to redress those parts of the hoof. This time it has only been 9days between trims. His feet are growing quite fast & I must keep on top of the reshaping. There is no point in allowing waves to remain as they will perpetuate the cycle of improper hoof shape.

I was recently told the new thinking is to let the heels be a little higher. However just right now I think it is better to make sure they aren't running under & that the platforms are well defined (not that Sonny has much in the way of heel platforms!) I'm intrigued by the swells that are occurring behind the existing heels which must be whole new heel positions developing.

The RF is beginning to show it's new angle which will be a lot steeper than the current one creating quite a duck bill shape for a while. Should I get more severe with the toe of that hoof to remove the pressure that creates the lamella wedge?


So here are a select few photos. The rest can be seen at this link all dated 14May2012 on the photos:- http://s340.photobucket.com/albums/o358/claireT_2008/BBB/Sonnys%20Feet%20photos%20for%20May%202012/

  

                                                              

New Photos & Marjorie Smith

Today I have taken new photos using my old video camera which has a data card in it. They are ok but not close enough or detailed enough for my liking. However at this stage I have no choice. They have a tendency to being a bit warped & fish eye lens like also. Comparing 2 or more photos of the same foot will give a better idea of it's true shape.

I have started also making sub-albums in my photobucket acount & in furture you will find a few shots here & the rest in a sub-album which I will link to in my post here. Today's full set of photos can be found at:-
 www.photobucket.com/BBB_May2012  I've confirmed that link so I hope it still works for you later.

Here are just a few shots from today while you can find the rest in the sub-album linked above. I will point out at this stage that last week I began using Marjorie Smith's founder trim which involves taking the toe back to the white line as a straight across rasping, then rounding the corners off. I did that on all 4 feet although maybe not to the extent that she might do it. I am inclined to be a bit tentative when rasping to the white line these days having so little hoof to work with. She also advises to let the heels grow a bit but I'm having real trouble with this as they still want to run under really bad. My thinking on this is that because the new hoof is still only grown down 1inch, there is still a lot of 'pull' on the heels from the upper front structures behind the coronet band. Not sure I can put that any clearer & probably doesn't make a lot of sense. She writes about that problem quite well in her Founder Chapter. http://www.barefoothorse.com/index.html

In one photo in the album you will notice the 'flare' that MS talks about which is the new hoof growing down from the coronet at a steeper angle because the structures behind that new part are properly connected which holds the front of the hoof in where it should be & not running forward filling with lamella wedge as can be seen on the old toes.

I have been able to get this new hoof growing in several times before but it gets half way down & disappears much to my dismay. I know I need to do something different regarding the trim at this point in the growth to prevent the structures falling apart as they grow down. That is the knowledge I down't have. Perhaps it's purely nutritional as Jenny Paterson says.

here are her details for your interest:-
Jenny Paterson B.Sc

Horsemanship NZ Ltd
P O Box 685, Rangiora 7440, North Canterbury NZ
Ph +64 3 312 0377
Fax +64 3 312 0371
Mob +64 27 241 7215
E-mail horsemanshipnz@xtra.co.nz
Horsemanship website: http://www.horsemanshipnz.com/
Nutrition Website: http://www.calmhealthyhorses.co.nz/

Today the weather was excellent with the grass dry, so halfway through his 6hr stall rest without boots, I took him walkies for a pee. Then I took his boots off(I put them on so he can go walkies)& took the photos of his feet then did a little play sesion with him. The grass in the photo of him above is growing over the same gravel as can be seen elsewhere & there is no fear of getting dirt in the hoof. Also it is a good footing for stimulating his feet. It was about 10-15mins worth which I would say is enough & won't happen every day for a while yet. I don't want to bruise the inside structures. But on good days such as this one I will try to walk him around a bit halfway through his 6hrs in his shelter. I will endeavour over time to extend the play time but it has to be only in this one area plus the driveway which you can see through the electric tape as the rest of the property is all dirt. Once the new hoof has grown right down & is sound without abscesses & holes he will be able to walk on dirt again unbooted according to the vet.

XRAYS & ORIGINAL PHOTOS

Well it's very hard to get photos to come out where I want them. Very time consuming actually. Too hard really. Now the format is wrong for the commentary but this blog layout is so limiting. 

Cas here are some photos that show the xrays which are dated, the photos I took after the bandages came off after that vet visit, & the next set taken on 20Apr. You can see that during those 3wks the bulge in the sole of RF did get less which was really good I can tell you!

I will take more tomorrow if the weather is ok (it was raining today so didn't take camera outside).

Sonny cavorts around when he is let out in the afternoon if I let him even though his feet are still a bit sore. But the boots & pads make him feel comfortable. He still gets 1 bute each morning per vet instructions against inflamation. I am trying to reduce it but after he has cavorted he is sore the next few days. So I have to just watch him walk in each morning & make a decision then.

Regarding the method I was prefering to use for this phase of his recovery is Marjorie Smith's way of allowing the bare hoof to help itself. Marjorie has the website Bare Foot for Soundness. Her chapter on founder was very enlightening. I have to say I had forgotten about her method although  I had included it into my trim method several years ago when I had the cattle property & it worked very well.

However I was then encouraged by a friend to go over to the Strasser trim method which is what I was still using when I moved here. It was the wrong trim for this soil/grass type. Moving onto different soil, I should have changed my trim accordingly. Not to worry. I just put it down to experience & learn from it in furture.

Ok Cas so I'll put new photos up tomorrow. Here is the link to my online album of over 1000 photos mostly of Sonny's feet where you can go mad with my blessing!:-

http://s340.photobucket.com/profile/claireT_2008

Reason for this blog

This blog is for the sole purpose of contact with the person who will mentor me through the process of fixing Sonny's feet since his founder.

I will post photos & give commentary & my mentor will give their opinion & instructions.