Feet

I trimmed Ruby's feet this morning and took before and after pics.  For anyone who might come along - I am learning and far from perfect (I already see some things I need to take care of when I go to the barn tomorrow).  Ruby's left rear is very out of whack - her sole seems to be more built up on the inside.  Anyway, without further ado...

Left front before trim:

Holy stretched white line, Batman!

Left front after trim:

Left rear before trim:

The wonky foot.

 

Left rear after trim:

Wonky sole - I took the wall down to the sole in the hopes that the higher side will want to flake out in the future.

Right rear before trim:

Right rear after trim:

I'll be revisting this foot with the rasp tomorrow - I just didn't see the imbalance until I looked at the picture. 

Right front before trim:

Right front after trim:

Things I see - I need to get better at seeing the flares and rasping them off.  I borrowed Heather's hoof knife to trim the frogs but it was too dull, so I'll have to pick up one of my own.  She has quarter cracks on a few feet so I tried to take the quarters down more on those feet.  I need to get better at the mustang roll.  I picked up some Desitin for her heel bulbs today, which should help with the super-soft, pitted tissue.  Finally, she was developing a few toe cracks and has white line stretching all around, so I will be trimming every week or so for a while.  My big fear is that I'm going to get 'rasp-happy' and make her sore.

Feet and an update

Here are the first pictures I have taken of Ruby's feet.  They aren't very good and I haven't taken the time to take solar shots, but they'll get me started so here goes.

Front feet

Front feet

Hind feet

Hinds again

Not too bad to start with.  There isn't much flaring, though her quarters are jammed up, especially on the front feet.  I don't know what's up with the cracks in the fronts either - they don't go all the way through the hoof wall, so maybe it's nutritional?   What you can't see is that she has very thick hoof walls (her feet are HARD), and some white line stretching, but nothing major.  She has deep frog clefts, so the coffin bones are way up there in her feet - but she is flat-footed.  I haven't seen a nice, concave hoof since I've been here but I'm not sure if it's an environmental or management issue.  The farrier is coming out on Monday.  If he's the type to take direction (don't cut out any sole, really roll the edges, etc), then I'll continue to use him. If not, it'll be time for me to break out the rasp myself.  I've got to dig out my Pete Ramey book.  Unfortunately, there are no real 'bare foot' trimmers around that I've been able to find. 

All that being said, Ruby has me pleasantly surprised. She has been great and tries very hard to please.  She's also been very easy-going - if I'd had my helmet, I would have ridden her bareback this morning, she was that good.  Alas, I haven't brought out a helmet to keep at the barn (I take my lessons at another place, so keep the helmet at the house, doh!), so we practiced giving to pressure.  I also climbed up on the fence and waved my arms all around - in preparation for teaching her to line up to things for me to mount.  We also went for a stroll down the road.  She was checking everything out but not spooky.  There are horses (not part of our barn) at the corner that came galloping up to meet the newbie - she did not lose her cool or forget that I was there, woohoo!  On our way back, a truck came zooming past - no response.  And, she doesn't seem to be the least bit ouchy on asphalt. 

She's doing so well, it's hard to know when to stop everyday.  I'm asking a lot out of her and don't want to push her too far, too fast.  She does not know a lot, but she picks up on things VERY fast, and takes everything in stride.  I'm going to have to keep in mind that it's probably time to stop when I most want to keep going.