My Barefoot Horse: Side-By-Side Comparison

You will feed me carrots.

 
Spring is nearly upon us.  I can see it in my horse's feet.  The wall growth was slow during the winter, allowing me to leisurely trim every three to three and a half weeks.  If I was feeling really lax, I could have pushed it to four, but I happen to like trimming Harley's feet so there was no need to procrastinate.  I could finish all four feet in one session without too much trouble and the moist ground, although bad for frogs, made my rasp slide over his feet with ease.  March has just squeezed past the starting line and I can see a small increase in the growth rate of my horse's feet.  Has it been three weeks already?  Two and a half weeks of growth is looking like three.  Pretty soon, two weeks will be all I can wait or I will be dealing with flaring quarters and forty-five minutes behind the rasp.  At the peak of the spring to summer transition I will probably touch up his feet every week.  I adopted that strategy last year to avoid marathon trimming sessions and using nippers, which I do not own anyway.

Since I nearly trimmed his left front entirely before starting the right (I often switch back and forth), I decided to take some comparison photos.  Each foot is an individual, but I thought it might be interesting to see a before and after side-by-side.

Does his right front look like it needs a trim?  The toe bevel is still noticeable from the last trim.  His right foot has what I call the "duck-bill" look.  The quarters have grown down to the ground, but the toe is still rounded.  The foot is not flared, but will begin to flare, especially on the medial edge, if I do not help him remove hoof wall soon.  The bevel has been refreshed on the left front all the way around the quarters.  I put a pretty strong roll at the toe.  I have tried less and his feet usually crack at the toe or I see a little mechanical separation at the toe.  There is not a difference in hoof height, because I trim so often, which I have observed to be best for my horse.  I am fairly certain that my original farrier would look at these feet and say "See you in four weeks."  I am sure that he would not be alone in that statement.

The untrimmed right front: He squares off the toe, which is the roll being maintained at the toe and growing out at the quarters.  There is not a lot to take off, but enough to keep me busy for fifteen minutes at least.  The photo makes the outer wall look more overgrown, but this does not make sense, since the inside usually gets less wear as the horse moves.  The lateral and medial growth seemed pretty even to me, maybe a hair extra to take off on the outside (lateral).

The trimmed left front: The outer wall is gray and the inner wall (water line) is white on Harley's feet.  I removed excess hoof wall that is above the sole and beveled the edge so that the gray outer wall does not touch the ground.  Since the bevel is very rounded, the white inner wall basically does not touch the ground either, which ensures minimal peripheral loading, sole contact with the ground, and frog stimulation.  The frogs are looking rather withered right now.  I did not touch the frogs at all.

The rasp marks from the last trim are still visible along the edge of the untrimmed foot.  From this angle, the hoof wall that is just barely above the sole is apparent.  From this angle, it really does look like there was more on the outside, so maybe there was!  I think that he has a really nice toe callus.  That stays for sure!

The hoof is not flat.  I follow the curvature of the sole when I trim and I trim almost entirely from the bottom.  There is no need to try and make the surface flat, because this foot is not being prepared for a shoe.

The trimmed foot with the bevel just about to the heels.  I strive to bring the heels back and to the level of the sole.  I also want to see a nice flat landing surface that I can balance my rasp across.  I sight across the foot from the back to ensure that the heels are of the same height in relation to each other and the rest of the foot.

Bevel, wall pigmentation, and frog apex close-up.  I am not trying to make his feet pretty, but a nice foot just IS pretty.

Until next time, enjoy the sunset and the carrots!