We are barefoot!! (warning gruesome pics)

Cortrasna

Cortrasna

Grumpy old nag
Aug 5, 2009
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Ireland
Well hopefully won't bore you to death, but feel this could be a very useful exercise to help me chart Dolly's progress on her journey to healthier tootsies....or not as the case may be!

Well the deed is done, cant speak highly enough of the young lady podiatrist who travelled for an hour and a half to sort Dolly out with shoe removal and her first trim. Unfortunately I had to let her go 10 weeks since last being shod as I had to wait for the trimmer. But now we are done!

Frankly I was even more horrified than I thought I would be to closely study the underside of her feet without shoes...not a pretty sight.:poop:

We are waiting on her hoof boots, so she will have a few days in the field just getting used to the new feel.....I wanted to see her trot and canter to see if she was sound on grass, but felt that would be unlikely as it isnt her habit to hoon around unnecessarily. How wrong was I? We were treated to a full lap of prancing dancing canter around the big field...and then a very eye catching and elevated trot around...I could almost see here clicking her heels! Sound as could be, phew!

Surely it isn't possible that she has sighed a huge sigh of relief to get rid of the iron? Could that happen?? Hmm...time will tell.

I had intended to get as many pics as I could, to more precisely chart her progress over the next few months. But donkeys being donkeys, Joseph chose the exact time I was trying to get pictures to choke! But despite throwing the camera on the ground...dashing into the field to give him the good old Heinrich neck massage...and then retrieving camera and trying to take pictures whilst keeping a side eye on him to watch the poor little chap dribbling and drooling as he recovered, I did get a couple of the sole of her fronts...ghastly is all I can say!:poop:

They are taken sort of half way through being tidied up, as usual with Dolly there was very little growth to mess around with and very little was done other than a little tidy up....far less aggressive than my farrier trims, at this stage I really don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Time will tell.

So firstly - her shod feet (10 weeks in):

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and her fronts half way through being tidied up:

nearside front:
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offside front
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Any comments or suggestions would be great - you maybe as harsh as you like, you cannot think any worse than I am thinking myself#!......we are as ever fighting thrush....and now some white line disease is uncovered without the shoes.....but it was so much easier this afternoon to treat her feet without the damn shoes in the way!
 
Can I firstly say Dolly is lookin lovely!!

Am really pleased you are happy with the podiatrist and Dolly seemed happy too!

Difficult to say anything about the hooves, but will be interesting to see how her hooves change as you go!

How long until the next trim?
 
Well would you believe the podiatrist is moving to Scotland next week - how flipping annoying is that? But she has said she will be back home every 8 weeks or so and is happy to come down and just check her out and trim if necessary......she did say if I felt that they were growing very quickly (highly unlikely with Dolly) get my farrier to do a little trim in sooner when he comes to do my donkeys.

I just hope I can get my farrier onside......but he is a really nice type and very approachable so I am confident he will happily listen to what she has explained to me and go along with it all. He had already agreed in principal that a good few months without shoes might be worth a try.
 
Its difficult to get a decent farrier too! A barefoot trimmer is like hens teeth. I did think I had found one nearer to me...but she was extremely evasive about her training etc. and I couldn't find a mention of her anywhere - needless to say she wasn't getting her sharp old knives near my precious!:giggle:

I have actually got a pretty good farrier now, but I only recently found him and unfortunately a lot of the damage (under run heels especially) I think is due to many years of less than perfect shoeing.

I asked my last farrier what he thought about trying her barefoot....he nearly had a seizure...and when I mentioned perhaps hoof boots? He had never heard of them!:eek:

The pity of it is that when I lived in Norfolk I was lucky enough to have one of the very best farriers I have ever known (and he was easy on the eye:giggle:) so I was a bit spoilt I think.
 
Oh I've been waiting all day for this post. Thank you :)
Dolly is looking lovley but I too can't really comment on her feet. If your anything like me you'll probably dream about hooves all night tonight!
If it's any help Belle has been barefoot for one week today and is doing remarkably well so far.
 
If your horse was trotting and cantering round the field then it doesn't sound like you have a crisis on your hands :) Hard to tell too much from the pics but they don't look too terrible - make sure you don't fret if bits start breaking off, it's perfectly normal and won't cause any problems :)
 
Have you ridden or walked her out at all KR? I am thinking I need to wait for her boots as the long lane up to ours can be very stony in places...but the trimmer did say if she seems OK on it then walk her out for 20 minutes or so.....I am so nervous about this it is unreal!:cold: I have ridden so many good old traddy cobs barefoot without a remark...but this???:redface:
 
Thank you Yann - yes she did warn me they might looked very ragged edged as the old nail holes grow out and chip off.....would it be Ok if I get a file and just sort of round them off slightly as they chip off do you think?
 
Cortrasna said:
Thank you Yann - yes she did warn me they might looked very ragged edged as the old nail holes grow out and chip off.....would it be Ok if I get a file and just sort of round them off slightly as they chip off do you think?
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My trimmer told me to gently file any rough edges myself as and when I need too. :)
He too said don't worry about it as it will happen - she already had a chunk missing from when she ripped off her shoe in the field which looks awful to me but trimmer again said nothing to worry about.
 
Hens teeth where i am as well, especially if you have just one and no one else near you has them.
 
Pony is transitioning at the minutw :smile: has been shoeless now for 3months and not needed the hoof boots yet :smile: qont be putting them on unless really necessary and is happily sto$ping across tarmac and forest and field :smile:

Hardcore is a bit sticky but better than it was :smile:
 
would it be Ok if I get a file and just sort of round them off slightly as they chip off do you think?
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Definitely, in fact if you're comfortable doing it rasping a bevel round the edge of the hoof wall from 9pm to 3pm is always going to be helpful.
 
I think they look pretty good. A touch of white line disease is relatively easy to clear with good care, I believe - and Dolly is obviously happy with it!

I hope it all goes well for you.
 
Well day 2 of barefoot was taken up with getting herself in, giving her feet a good scrub with milton and then packing any of the little cracks left from shoeing and the very deep sulci (sulcus's SP?) with field past and spraying the rest with Silvastrol. She seems sound still, walking on the concrete in the yard or on the grass. But she does seem a little touchy on her near hind, even tried a little pudding stirring and snatching it away from me (*unheard of bolshy behaviour!:redcarded:) I guess it might be feeling a little tender.

I really struggled to lift all her feet, clean them out, scrub them and then repeat to treat with the paste and the spray. I have that awful sinking feeling that I am not up to the intense 'physical' side of doing this - sounds very pathetic but I just get so breathless doing this sort of thing.:redface:

Some good news though that might help with this. One of my sons, my 'hoof holder extrodanaire' and general yard muscle, was picked up from the airport from Dublin last night so is home again for awhile. He has already had words with me about doing this stuff without help....so from tomorrow I have someone to help. Very good news, I really dont want to have to give up with this purely because I am a knackered old biddy!:giggle:

So today, day 3.......I have just got her in, still seems sound, clean out her feet...she still seems 'snatchy on that back near side but did behave when I growled at her. Had a ten minute amble out to the main lane and let her have a little graze and then ambled back. Just an old tarmac farm track, a bit gravelly and stony here and there but with grass and softer going up the middle. I let her choose where she wanted to walk. For the most part she chose the side with the little bits of stone and occasional gravel on tarmac, occasionally she chose the middle soft ground. Seemed sound but lazy! Thats my Dolly!:biggrin: Picked her feet when I got back to the yard and sprayed with the Silvastrol, still a bit unhappy on that damn back...cant see anything obvious.

With sons help I will be back to a real clean out tomorrow and will use his younger eyes to check that back one over......and try another little amble up the lane.:smoke:

Onwards and upwards.:unsure:
 
Sounds good, apart from your creakiness :( One thing though, it's easy to blame any issues at all on the feet, other stuff still happens, perhaps the reluctance to lift the foot is down to something else? Also bear in mind that reluctance to lift a foot might in some circumstances mean the other foot is the problem, you can eliminate this by putting something soft under the foot that's staying on the ground or asking for feet on a comfortable surface.
 
I did wonder Yann if it was an indicator of pain in the other foot...but I have pretty much ruled that out...seems to be associated with me scraping out the white line at the toe area......but I cant see anything obvious. But younger eyes might spot a little bit of grit or something? Absolutely sound though so I am thinking it cant be too serious. Will see what my son can find out tomorrow. Thank you.
 
seems to be associated with me scraping out the white line at the toe area
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That wouldn't normally cause any discomfort on its own, could you be holding the foot differently when you do this?
 
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