CASE STUDIES
Thorough bred gelding, off the track. Used for English riding and light jumping. When I first saw him, the feet had very thin soles and ripples looking much like a wash board, indicating very high stress. There was lamellar wedge, and very weak caudal part of foot. Lamanitis that no one seemed to notice, he moved fairly well in shoes. There is about 6 month's difference in these pictures. Notice the later picture of the sole. See how sole depth has increased, lamellar wedge is almost gone. Diet was very crucial to helping this guy get a healthier hoof.
10 year old Quarter Horse Gelding used for trail riding. This horse was barefoot when I first met him, had been in shoes prior. It did not look bad when I was standing up, he was not lame. When you get to ground level and start looking at the foot, the toe was long, heels a little high, tighter angle of growth just below the coronet that really wanted to grow to the ground, but couldn't with the flare at the toe. The later picture is about 1 year later, a much healthier hoof.
20 year old Quarter Horse used for trail riding. In the first picture, notice the wall separation, ripples in the hoof wall, under run heels and the long toe. The second picture is 2 months after the first; you can see the much healthier wall in the top half of the foot. The last picture is 5 months after the first. This foot has a bit to go yet, but it already is much healthier than the initial setup trim.
8 year old quarter horse mare had been diagnosed navicular. She was not being ridden due to being lame. The first picture was what I saw on the first visit, the heels here way too high. She was not comfortable. The second picture was 4 months later; the last was 9 months after coming out of shoes. The real problem stemmed back to this mare slipping and falling, injuring her shoulder. It had nothing to do with the feet, but she was being treated as a foot problem. The feet were the easy part on her, the body issues due to the injury continue to require frequent attention to keep her moving correct. She is now being ridden regularly.
Diet changes helped all of these cases get healthier feet. Without the owner's helping me, the horse could not get healthier hooves.
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