Posted by Rick Burten on November 22, 2003 at 15:53:01:
In Reply to: hoof care posted by naomi whittle on November 22, 2003 at 14:15:22:
: Hello everyone. This is agreat site and very informative, thanks!
: I have a 6 month old shire/tb colt, who is a real gent! He is very willing to please me and lets me pick out his feet daily, with no problems.However the farrier came last week and not immediatley, but late the next day,when i brought him in from the field he was quiet lame on his front feet. This has never happened before, and i get them trimmed every 6 weeks.The ground has been quite wet, but i wonder if it is something i am doing wrong or if it is acombination of trimming and wet ground? I called my friend out straight away ( who is very Knowledgeable , and she seems to think it is just bruising.I kept him in for 2 days on good thick dry bedding and he has improved 95%. How can i prevent this from happening again, ireally don,t want him to go through that again.(By the way, i do have great faith in my farrier, )
: Thanks a million for your time!
Next time the farrier is out, tell him what happened. With wet feet comes softer feet, and the need to leave more foot in place. Most of these horses only need a bit of light trimming to maintain the balance and breakover correctly. Your farrier should only remove sole that is already ready to exfoliate(come off), and it is especially important to conserve the sole from infront of the apex of the frog, to the wall.
You might also consider painting on a sole toughner/hardner. Check out the Marketplace here on this site for a list of suppliers.
Rick