I shouldn't speak so soon!

I just love good news like anyone else but today it is not so good.

It was my plan to remove the last of the long toe today as a new angle with hardly any lamella wedge has almost grown right down, the best I have achieved ever, really. But Sonny's fronts are so sore he can not walk on any hard or stoney ground today. I noticed him a bit sore several days ago & pinpointed a soreness inside the quarter wall of the medial heel of right front (the worst hoof). It was a bit hot but the coronet was not sore.

I have given it time to see if it was an abscess but that doesn't seem to be the case. Now he just won't walk on any sort of hard ground. I did sit on his back 2 days ago & walk around for about a minute. I am thinking that is why his whole front feet are sore now.

So I don't want to lower his toes now due to the tenderness. I know that when I lower either the heels or the toes or both more than a small tad he does get sore for a day or 2. Therefore I only do one or the other & leave a few days inbetween for him to recover.

But if his feet are already sore & I rasp off that last bit of long toe it will make him even worse & might trigger an abscess cycle. The toe is well rockered & there are wear signs right over the whole rockered edge so it is working. I will just have to be patient & wait a few more days or a week.

This soreness bothers me somewhat in so much as if it was triggered by my weight for just a minute on soft ground it could mean the sole corium hasn't regrown since last year's abscess cycle. That would be very bad news this length of time since the founder. Luckily the paddocks are still quite soft & cold due to recent rain & the cold weather, therefore helping to reduce any inflammation building up in the soles & hooves in general.