Any advise on current trim?

[Spoof]

This guy at 5 years old had never had a trim. His feet were ok, but the wall was folded under and white line stretched pretty bad. Getting a farrier that doesn't terrify him has been a huge issue. When I do find one they don't seem to do a terribly good job, so I've started trimming myself.

These are all the same front foot. Any recommendations/Observations?

First photo: After third trim by farrier last summer.

Second photo: Different Farrier, four months ago.

Last three: My trim today.
I see from the pictures that his foot is a little warped? I'm also fighting cracks up the center of both front feet.

Thanks in advance! :)

[Tatooed Lady]

by the second to last pic, it looks like the hoof wall is too long? the sole looks concave...maybe it's just the pic, though, as the last one doesn't look like that.... :confused:
here's a thought....roll the walls....the cracks are probably from too much pressure at the toe, and if the trim is good otherwise, rolling the wall should help the cracks grow out.

Another thing to consider...good hoof health starts from the inside, and in what I said above, I assume the diet is good.

Try this site for more ideas:
http://www.ironfreehoof.com/trimming.htm

[MelanieD]

I like your trim much better than either farrier trim :) Especially the trim in the second pic :eek:

You could maybe roll the toe a bit more to take pressure off if there's a long toe (looks like there might be?) and help with that crack, hard to tell how much exactly to do wihtout seeing the feet 'in person' so won't get more specific than that!

Have a look on ironfreehoof and on hoofrehab.com, both really useful.

[wonkeywoody]

Good job Spoof! Ditto the above re rolling. Try rasping more often to gradually reduce the length of the wall and the thickness outside the white line.

[Yann]

Looks like you're doing a pretty good job to me too, they have the makings of great feet :) Agree the toe is on the long side and it might be beneficial to make the roll a bit steeper there and bring it back towards the white line. Smoothing the edges of the crack at ground level may also help. Hard to tell for sure but the balance may be slightly out in the quarters, the wall looks like it might be slightly longer on the left side of the last photo, but it's nothing major.

If you can run to it Pete Ramey's DVD set is a great resource for any owner trimmer :)

Agree regarding that second trim, what was that man doing thinning the toe:eek:

[Spoof]

Thanks everyone!

I was feeling like I took too much off the toe, and was afraid to go further as I took more than 1/4" off already. I can't see his white line in person and last trim I made him bleed in the heel a bit.

I will go back for a bit more today and get current pics. Hopefully there will be some solid ground I can take pics on as well.

Re: the farrier - all four farriers I tried here did that! I would have to go back and roll the toe myself, plus they would leave the heels long.

[MelanieD]

If you're not sure its better to take too little and go back and do some more later than to take too much :) It doesn't look like you've taken too much in the pics, looks good.

When you got blood did you only get a small amount that stopped quite quickly? You can get a sort of blood blister inside the horn that appears to bleed when you hit it and its usually only a small amount. Looking at the trim in those pics you aren't anywhere near really finding something that'll bleed.