My Barefoot Horse: July Bar Trim

Harley is due for a full hoof trim right now, as these pictures are from last week.  I keep a close eye on his bars and any crusty material around the frog that might need to exfoliate.  Sometimes the bars get their own trimming day, especially because a hoof wall trim often gives the solar surface of his foot more ground contact and then I can see what he wants to wear off.  I let my horse's feet dictate how I care for them.  You will also notice that I do not pretty up the frog.  I almost never trim it, the only exception being a flap that is harboring moisture and therefore inviting bacteria or fungus to the party.  Thankfully, his feet rarely host parties, although I am not shy about applying some preventative treatment to the central sulcus.

Right front: The sole looked good, but a little trimming of the bars was necessary.  I gently remove bar until I reach the level of the sole.  Some of the initial material to come off was very soft and crumbly, which tells me that he wants his bars down.

Left front: Same thing here.  On a separate occasion, I also removed some flaky material just to the right of the frog in this photo.  I only take material away from the sole if it comes off with the lightest drag from the curved edge of my knife.  I do not cut live sole and I only ever need to help him exfoliate material close to the frog.  He takes care of the rest.

Right hind: Barely anything to trim off the bars.  You can see where I gently scraped the sole medial to the frog.

Left hind: The left hind required similar attention.  The lateral bars on the hind feet are a different shape than the medial bars or the bars of his front feet.  I am guessing that this has to do with the way the feet land (lateral side first).  Check out the giant flap hanging from his heel bulb.  There was no cut or scrape visible, so I guess it was just callous, but, man, talk about hard-working hinds!

I also felt like taking a picture of Harley's hind end muscles, although he told me that this makes him feel like a piece of meat...

...so I took another picture of his cute face, too.  I can never have enough!

The bar trim took about five minutes for all four feet.  Once I put his feet down and began talking to a friend, Harley started to yawn over and over again.  He yawned about six times in a row!  Some horses offer releases like this quite frequently, like after a ride or after a massage, but Harley is not quite as expressive in this area.  He will stretch and flex and do whatever is asked of him, but he is a tough nut to crack when it comes to visible releases.  He tends to get really fidgety with his mouth and face instead: sticking his tongue out, crossing his jaw, doing the Flehmen response (horse smile), pulling halters off the wall, shoving the fan or garbage can...

More than one person has said that he has ADD.  I just think he is hyper-vigilant, something that comes from being an alpha horse.  Oh and let's not forget, curious.  And nosy.  And a ham.

Okay, you get the point.

Harley yawning like that tells me that having his bars groomed felt very nice.  This confirms for me that he did in fact want them trimmed and that his feet even felt better after I helped remove the material that was trying to come off.  I used to never trim his bars and just let nature do her job, but I found over time that his bars became laid over and overgrown.  Now, I try to help when it looks like my help is needed.  I appreciate it when Harley gives me some feedback indicating that he is happy with my plan.