People who like looking at feet - here you go!

[capalldubh]

I attempted to get pics of Jackson's feet last week. I'd love comments and feedback from anybody who likes looking at feet - and if anyone would like to attempt a prognosis, fire away ;)

The photos are not professional standard - people may be aware that we do not have hardstanding, so these were feet at the end of our little walk in boots one day - the time when they are cleanest (but I admit, far from pristine :D ). He was loose on the road :eek: at the time they were taken, and got bored by foot no. 4 - hence only 3/4 of it in shot. Don't worry - he doesn't wander off and I can hear cars coming up the hill about 5 minutes before they arrive...

I have been playing with photoshop, so areas of interest (to me anyway) are highlighted. OK, here we go...

Near hind from the side:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/Nearhindside.jpg
Near fore from the side:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/Nearforeside.jpg
Near fore from the sole:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/Nearfore.jpg
Off fore:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/Offfore.jpg
Near hind: (hinds are not as flat as they appear - I am a crap photographer :p )
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/NearHind.jpg
Off hind:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/seventines/Feet/Offhind.jpg

[Bebe]

Nice looking feet.

In a perfect world, I'd like to see the heels shorter than they are on the front feet. In one or two of the pics they don't look to be balanced to each other and whilst it's possible that this is an optical illusion due to the angle the pic was taken at/way hoof is being held I don't think that's the case here.

There's some flaring in the quarters on the near hind that could easily be taken care of. The side view of this hoof makes it appear to be bullnosed, which would bother me as it's usually an indication of a problem higher up the limb unless the trimmer/farrier is dubbing the toe to make it look shorter.

Other than this, they look to be nice and strong and I'd be very surprised if the horse wasn't very comfy on them.

[capalldubh]

Nice looking feet.


Thank you - I have been wondering if I did the right thing for the horse, but to me, the feet are looking better. Although the pictures don't show it, there is some concavity on the hind soles, slightly less on the fronts.

You are right - the back foot is bullnosed. It is the hoof that has had all the problems - 4 weeks of abscessing in December, a huge hole pared in the sole by the vet because the abscess had underrun, and then what seemed like "low grade laminitis" while the poor horse remained on endless box rest - I would not do things this way again. The abscess - I believe - happened because the horse twisted off the shoe on that foot and then stood on one of the nails. The shoes had been on at that stage for (we are told) 4 months, while the horse stood in a field... He went repeatedly lame on that foot from January through to about 4 weeks ago - he is now sound, but the fetlock joint clicks alarmingly, so I do wonder if there is something else going on. Time will tell...

[Yann]

I agree, they look nice :) The bits and bobs you highlighted don't look like anything to worry about to me anyway.

[Bebe]

Although the pictures don't show it, there is some concavity on the hind soles, slightly less on the fronts.

I can see it, the key is to look at the join between the sole and white line, if there's concavity you can usually see a slight rise there. My mares hooves look much the same as she doesn't have much concavity (work in progress, we're 2.5yrs in and her front hooves are still changing and growing in a tighter connection).

It's amazing how quickly and subtly hooves can change when something is wrong elsewhere in the body. My mare has a chronic sacroiliac problem and the last time she tweaked it I noticed immediate changes in the balance of the corresponding hind hoof, it threatened to bullnose on me but I managed to head it off via chiro & bowen work on her body. At the same time though she got a bit of WLD and thrush in the frog, something that hasn't been a problem all winter so it just goes to show how the hoof reacts to the body.

Re: the bits you've circled on the near hind photo, are you concerned about the quarters appearing to be too high or flaring? Either way if I was trimming those hooves I'd balance the heels, then take down the height at the quarters until it was 1/16" above the sole, taking care to blend the change so you don't end up with a step between heels and quarters. The red circled area appears to be laid over bar. It's likely that it's gone this way to compensate for an imbalance/weakness elsewhere in the foot. In this case I'd guess it's the slighlty too long heel on the same side of the foot. If you balance the heels you should be able to safely trim the bar back to where it should be. It'll look like you're trimming sole in that area but it's not the case. If the bar continues to fold over after more than 2-3 trims you've probably got something going on elsewhere that needs to be addressed. (I'm not a professional trimmer though so this is purely my opinion based on the pics, don't take it as gospel).

[capalldubh]

Thanks for the feedback - it's a long time between EP visits and quite long enough for barefoot newbies to work themselves into a frenzy of angst, worrying that their poor beastie is (a) going to be discovered lying in the field with all 4 feet in the air or (b) be reported to the SSPCA because observed hobbling over rocks in the stream :o

Actually, it's a bit reassuring that the heels are looking a bit long - EP and I were worrying because there has been very little growth in the length at all between first and second visit.

The flare on the back one is a bit nasty looking, but is - kind of - sorting itself out. It was pretty well the reason the shoes came off - when the vet pulled the shoe for the abscess, she started sucking her teeth and muttering about WLD - she poked about and a massive hole appeared in both quarters. The farrier came the following week, said it was nothing to worry about and whacked the shoe back on. Three days later, horse was hopping again, vet removed shoe - again - and I phoned EP.

The funny lumpy bit on that near hind seems to have been associated with the abscess. When it started to heal, the sole went weird - I think the right hand side started to improve, but horrid lumpy sole that stuck out formed all over the left hand side (the abscess exit hole was about level with the point of frog on the left, actually in the white line). The vet pared it back, said the sole was underrun, and kept paring. The hole was about the size of a 20p :eek: . She kept poking the hole and saying "see this soft stuff? This is corium" - and I kept thinking "yes, I can see that, stop poking it..."

In the last few weeks, as I cleaned the foot, chunks of sole would come off. All that's left of the odd stuff now is what you can see circled in red - I'm hoping it will just come off of its own accord too, but if not, EP is due in two weeks :)

The wee fella has been on MagOx since beginning of Jan when he had the bad footiness (it's so good, me and OH are on it too now ;) ). He also got biotin on advice of the vet, but I have now changed to TopSpec Comprehensive - so hoping for even prettier feet over the next few months.

I wonder what will happen to the feet as the growth rings on the back feet get nearer the ground? Will they get a lot more flare? I will do more pics if anything interesting happens :) Thanks for the encouragement, folks - what would I do without NR?

[Bebe]

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I wonder what will happen to the feet as the growth rings on the back feet get nearer the ground? Will they get a lot more flare?


They'll look more flared because of the tighter connection above it, but it won't actually be any worse than it is now (if that makes sense). It's simply a case of keeping it under control until it's grown out.

The funny lumpy bit on that near hind seems to have been associated with the abscess. When it started to heal, the sole went weird - I think the right hand side started to improve, but horrid lumpy sole that stuck out formed all over the left hand side (the abscess exit hole was about level with the point of frog on the left, actually in the white line). The vet pared it back, said the sole was underrun, and kept paring. The hole was about the size of a 20p . She kept poking the hole and saying "see this soft stuff? This is corium" - and I kept thinking "yes, I can see that, stop poking it..."


Nice of your vet, not! The funny lumpy sole is an emergency measure, it'll have been put down to support the foot when it was compromised by the abcess. I'd have left it be at that stage, if the hoof has put it down then it needs it, even if its just temporarily. Once it's no longer needed it'll wear off in it's own time given the right conditions.

FWIW, you can't get underrun soles! Heels yes, sole no.