Since I last posted I have been doing mini trims, just one thing each time. About 2wks after last full trim I redid the toe bevel, then a week ago I made the groove around the toe behind the wall. Now today a full trim again. That seems to be a way of not getting him sore after a trim. With winter coming on his feet have slowed down growth somewhat. Which is ok.
With the toe coming back nicely it is now time to begin allowing the wall to grow down beyond the sole a tad. That is what will help concavity develop as sole builds up behind the wall. When the tubules are growing straight down again perpendicular to the ground as they are starting to do now, the sole backs up behind the wall & thickens creating a raised zone. That lifts the whole foot off the ground a little allowing the scooped out shape of the sole to develop.
So this is where we are at. The heels could be better but that will flow in once the new steeper toe angle has grown right down. Here below is a pair of comparison shots showing just how much better the toe angle is now. You can see how the new angle is growing down much steeper. The frog tip has receded back my about 1cm so far. I could have taken more off the toe today but I have previously found that taking too much off at one time does make him sore. I can take more off the toe length next week.
The old compromised wall on the Right Front is growing out now too. See in todays photo (above) the medial side of the Right Front behind the left front where the old horn is breaking away, there is quite solid horn growing down above it. That was one place where the abscesses kept breaking out at the same place & finally damaged the coronet band.
In this photo it looks like the frog is eaten away but its just an illusion. The ground is quite wet from rain again so the colours are a bit off. The frog is quite thick & the walls have grown down beyond the sole about 3ml. The sole still is trying to grow over the wall so I am still making the groove around to break the connection. But each trim it gets just a little bit better.
Now in the trimmed photo it's easier to see the frog is right. Also it is receding (getting shorter or less stretched from the heel) So the dorsal wall can be taken back quite a bit over the next week or so. There is still quite a bit to remove. But the horn quality is really good as can be seen by the way the light is coming through the wall on the medial quarter. After these photos were taken I did a bit more digging around & applied some Thrushbuster in various places.
The Right Front is looking really good now with
a nice round shape developing. Both fronts are pretty much even now with just small things to adjust each trim.
This foot is looking so much better now with just these bits of compromised wall on each side. Such an improvement to what it was like not that long ago.
Some great shots of his back feet this week which are coming along very well now. I wanted to include this one in the post because it clearly shows the sole bunching up behind the wall of the toe in the very early stages of developing more concavity. This is not to be confused with toe callous or toe ridge or whatever else it might be called which really does look a lot different in the flesh.
More photos from todays trim are to be found at this link to my online album.
http://s340.photobucket.com/user/claireT_2008/library/2013%20%20all%20photos/2013%20May%20Sonnys%20Feet
here is a very interesting shot of Sonny after the trim where he is standing quite straight & square but note how downhill he is like his shoulder has collapsed........ I'll have to get back onto those chest lifting exercises I think.
So all in all things are very positive. Sonny is bounding around & when it was feed time after todays trim he launched himself down the slippery slope of the back paddock at speed, then dug his back feet in for breaks like he hasn't done for a long time.
Soon be time to think about a test ride again. woohoo!
It's all good!!! :) :) :)
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