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
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