Kallis' barefeet - opionions and boot options. Piccies!

[Pink's lady]

With pictures since every barefoot freak loves foot pictures;)

Kalli has had her front shoes off. She'd never been shod before the dealers 6months ago and now the grounds better and I have time, she's got then off again.

I've been trimming her feet myself. The farrier does them all at 8-10weeks to check them over (and shoe Kim) but I roll and balance them between times. I'm saving pennies up to have a EP out but it would have to be a one off (it's horribly expensive (would cost £150 each time as apposed to the £45 it cost now!) and not an 'essential' as their feet are good) and the farrier is good if of the 'if it's not broke don't fix it' school of thought and doesn't do much to them other than roll toes and take off flare if the horse seems happy.

I have a picture in my mind of exactly what I'm trying to acheive, but other opinions are always welcome.

Kalli's feet are a little unbalanced. She dishes and conformationally isn't quite straight so her right outside and left inside wall is longer and flared.

So far I have managed to balance the feet so she lands a little more evenly, although she walks markedly landing outside wall first, esp with the left foot. She lands perfectly heel first though.

She has lovely healthy big frogs and a very thick sole, which I'm not going messing with. She is sound on all surfaces and a proper gravel cruncher. Although one side is a little flared she has an otherwise tight whiteline and no WLD. If I can get the balance as good as possible and eliminate the flare I'll be happy.

Front right
The outside wall is a little flared and she shows quite marked asymmatry with her toe rocker, from landing on the outside wall.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves021.jpg

This and the next photo shows what's hard to see in real life. The heels are same length (although for some reason they don't look it here:confused) but the outside wall is considerably longer. I'd already take off a fair bit and thought it not too bad, but will be back off with my rasp again tommorow.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves020.jpg


The inside wall is a little high off the sole but I'm leaving well alone as she does a HUGE amount of road work and will need a little lea-way until her feet catch up with the work. If I can get the outside wall to look like the inside I'll be a happy bunny.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves019.jpg

Left fore - she lands outside first heavily on this foot, with a loing inside wall. I'm going to have to do some thinking........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves025.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves024.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves023.jpg

[Pink's lady]

This shows the inbalanced:eek: but she's leaning sideway.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves026.jpg
This is after I did some rasping and walking about - less flare, better balance, she's walking a little better.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves075.jpg

She also looks to be a little long and flat footed here? for some reason, as she's definintly not go under-run heel and not long in the toe. Maybe I'm just used to Pink's super short, upright feet. The pastern/hoof front axis matches though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves076.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v715/Pinkslady/Kalli/Kalliandhooves077.jpg

Thoughts?

And (the reason I started this orginally then got sidetraked) WHAT KIND OF BOOTS? She does a LOT of road work on occasions and will need something to stop her wearing her feet off. I have a pair of Boa's for Brodie (sadly she's not going to fit into a size2:() and althoght they are otherwise great, the dial bump on the inside of the tounge isn't so great.

She has very round feet, same width as length (even once the flare goes) and they're huge- 165cm, which is a size5 boa boot.

Any recommendations for good boots that might be suitable, and their comparison to Boa's (my default choice)

Or if anyone would like to sell me a cheap pair of size 5 boa's (or swap for a size2) that would solve the problem......;)

[Showjumper]

They're looking good, and 165cm - she's a giant nedworth ;)

[Bay Mare]

How come it costs £150??? What are they using, a diamond studded rasp? :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Yann]

They look like absolutely superb feet :) I'm only a novice at this but personally I wouldn't be trying to do anything clever with wall heights to address any issues, and I'd be going after the wall flare like mad, it looks like there are cracks forming as a result of it.

Personally I would use the sole to set your wall length once the heels are level, rasp it to the same height above it (not much either) and then check your balance by sighting down the foot and imagine you're looking across the top of a wine glass. You want everything on the same plane, but if there's any slight variation at the toe leave it alone. On this basis the feet in the pictures look quite unbalanced. Once you've done this it can be helpful to grade down the height of any hoof wall standing proud above the quarters to sole level, ie put a quarter scoop in. This will reduce the forces that cause flare there.

I've got two horses who move a bit funny and it definitely appears to be the case that if you ignore that and follow the sole then the foot tends to come right of its own accord. Rio now needs very little adjustment to her balance at each trim.

As far as boots go with feet that size and shape I think you're pretty much stuck with Boas. You could try easyboots but they're not ideal for wide as long feet. Could you use padding or vetwrap to help with the dial issue? Putting a comfort pad in might help too.

[MelanieD]

They look pretty good. Do you balance the heels to the sole? They look balanced in some pics but slightly off in others, not sure what is real and what's just angle of pics and it being hard to tell whats going on in 2 dimensional pics. I think Boas are the only ones that go that big and suit wide feet.

One of mine has similar wear and lands more to the outside but she's totally sound and it doesn't cause her any problems. I usually take the inside wall down to match the outside, basically make it equal height above the sole, doesn't seem to make any difference whether I do live sole plane to get a flat surface or just follow the sole so the quarters are slightly scooped, she's fine with either. Keeping the height down would take pressure off the flare and allow tighter growth to grow down without flaring more.

[Pink's lady]

Nice feet aren't they:D Thanks. Well done Kalli!

Baymare - sadly not a diamond studded rasp (but how cool would that be......). To have each horse done by the EP is about £50 each (once travel is included), so for the three of them (Kim would be included) that's a LOT of money each time. :eek: The farrier at present charges £15 for a full trim and £5 if it's just a quick roll (all Pink usually needs). Kim has fronts on at £25 and rarely needs anything done to her backs. A lot less money!

Yann, having had a look again at her feet tonight, and bearing in the mind the photo's, I think I will just take off all that flare on the outside, to the sole. Orginally it looked like it might leave her outside wall too short but on second thought I don't think so.

Do you balance the heels to the sole?

yep, symetircal to the sole, but not quite level - the bars are about 2mm longer than the sole as thats is what she natural had and I don't want to mess.

I think the short term plan will be getting rid of the flare on wedneday (the next time I have a couple of hours to faff) then leave her a couple of weeks to see how she's doing. The inside wall of her right and outside of her left are near perfect so I think I'll copy them for the other side and see how it goes.

Thanks guys. Pictures to follow once I've been rasping........

[MelanieD]

yep, symetircal to the sole, but not quite level - the bars are about 2mm longer than the sole as thats is what she natural had and I don't want to mess.

I think the short term plan will be getting rid of the flare on wedneday (the next time I have a couple of hours to faff) then leave her a couple of weeks to see how she's doing. The inside wall of her right and outside of her left are near perfect so I think I'll copy them for the other side and see how it goes.


Sounds good :) Opinions vary on bars, some think they should be trimmed to sole level. If you're happy with them the way they are, they aren't actually above the level of the wall and she's sound over everything there can't be too much wrong there :)

[Bebe]

I'd do what Yann said. You can get into very sticky ground if you start leaving wall height, particularly in some places and not others. They shouldn't actually be bearing weight purely on the wall anyway so by allowing this to happen you're immediately setting yourself up for flaring to occur, and you'll get cracks and chips too.

Other than that, I think they look like nice feet and potentially could be very, very nice indeed. I think having an EP out as a one off is a very good idea, they'll be able to do the manicuring bits that will remove the flare and other imbalances leaving you with a really good idea of what you need to continue to do after that.