Quick & decisive action for the Toe

Re the comment in previous post about needing to take decisive action to stop the new angle from being lost on the toe.

 I have last night had consultation with Linda Harris who did a mark-up for me & in the dark I made significant changes to the shape of Sonny’s front feet with yet more to come tomorrow.

I removed the ridges (toe callouses) totally that I wrote about on some of the photos (follow the link to my album in previous post). Linda said as they get stronger they push on the toe wall forcing it outwards thereby creating lamella wedge behind the outer wall. That is why I have previously lost the new tighter angle at this point. I did notice that the ridge (toe callous) always started to grow at this point but never knew why & still don’t.  But what’s important is that it had to come off asap.

Then following her mark-up I made a shallow rocker from a certain point forward of the frog tip to the front of the toe. Then from the top I removed a good 10ml of toe length. Went back underneath & rounded the ends at the pillars. I sent photos & Linda reminded me that the pillars were now longer than the toe which is wrong as it creates a square toe which results in the pillars jamming up the coronet band above them.

   

   

 

So tonight after the rain has stopped yet again, I will quickly measure the dorsal wall & make the pillars the same length. This time I will use aeroguard on both of us as last night the mozzies nearly carried us away!!

In the #3 photo it does look like the wall is the same length all the way round but in the #4 photo it looks like the pillars are longer giving the squared off look. Maybe it's just the camera lens playing tricks which it is prone to doing at such close range by giving a slight fish eye type effect. But you can see how the longer pillars are pushing up into the coronet band in the #4 photo making the coronet band wavy. If the pillars are indeed longer the shape will be quite evident now after 24hrs.

This new trim shape will have to be maintained for some weeks until the new angle has reached the ground whereupon he should have a new tighter connection all the way down the dorsal wall with little lamella wedge in there, so a steeper front wall. That will flow on to the heels as well.

My next job then is to straighten the Left Front where you can see the tubules are twisting outward a lot more than they usually do. During all this toe work I have forgotten to always make the correction for his turned out foot.

There’s always something to do with a horses foot!

Rapid Improvements Showing Now!

It's a year since the RF photo in the right hand column of his blog was taken. What great changes have taken place since then!

Wet Weather

It has been so wet for 2months continuously & this fact shows clearly in the soles of all my horses. Sonny has pits & erosions galore but I know from previous experience they will fill in once the ground dries up a bit. The frogs will fill out again too within days.

Weekly Trims are order of the day

I have been trimming at least weekly when weather permits but have not been uploading all photos. There are great improvements now. One week I will redo the toe bevel making it stronger, then the next week I will do the heels & redress the toe bevel a little (as I have done for these photos). I have found this method best to prevent soreness which can happen when having to take a strong bevel or toe rocker between the pillars to remove leverage off the toe wall as the new tighter angle grows down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heel height reducing

The periople & general heel bulb height is shrinking now that the heel tubules are standing straight up rather than laying down & running under & forward. That in itself is a major step forward. The hairline will soon be at the right angle again. Cleaning out all the ingrown bar material that was jamming up the back of P3 is what has enabled the back of the hoof to settle back into a normal shape again.

Plus a tighter new angle is growing down the toe which will soon need a lot more help to keep on track. It will need a much stronger rocker along with removing a fair bit of the toe wall at ground level. I have been at this point several times before & obviously not taken a strong enough action because I have lost the new tight angle every time. That has allowed the toe to run forward even more each time.

 

A Matched Pair

It is gratifying to see that both fronts now look like a matched pair again after 2 or so years.

 

 

Exercises!

Sonny is happy to fling himself around at speed in the very wet conditions. He digs his toes in & levers himself off them for full-on cavorting of twisting, bucking, rearing & cutting moves, although I haven’t seen him galloping recently. So his toes must not be sore anymore at least.

Here are is the link to the rest of todays photos in my Photobucket album here:-  http://s340.photobucket.com/user/claireT_2008/library/2013%20%20all%20photos/2013%20April%20Sonnys%20Feet