February 2023, 2nd trim. Hadn’t trotted in years and could barely walk. Trotting after the first trim. Still trotting at this trim.
March 2023, 3rd trim. Still trotting.
April 2023 - This is Lily’s 4th or 5th trim. Her owner tells me that she’s still doing better than before I started her rehab, but she was sore for the last week of this interval. The sole directly under P3 on her left front is very thin and gives easily to light thumb pressure. She does wear Soft Ride boots on her fronts with Cloud pads in them 24/7.
The part of Lily’s sole on her LF that is soft is directly under P3. I rolled her heels as low as I thought I could get away with to get her shifting more weight off of her toes so her soles will firm up.
December 2023
March 2024
April 2023 - March 2024
This is about 13 months progress for Lily. It may not look like much but that’s a huge improvement in her CE ( coronary band/extensor process ) relationship. This is one of the reasons she is moving around so well now after years of barely being able to walk. Another reason is that her HPA has improved.
It’s critical to get these extreme cases as comfortable as possible and as soon as possible. This mare has been on a 4-6 week trim schedule so she hasn’t been making as much progress as I’d like. She wasn’t moving before I started her rehab. She’s been moving really well for the majority of the 13 months, with a few months last year where she was pretty lame again from too many 6 week trim intervals in a row. I would be trimming her weekly if I could. The thing you have to realize is that until you get them committed to their heels, they are still toe loading and eroding coffin bone that they really can’t afford to lose.
Lily’s feet are still in terrible shape and she may always be dependent on Cloud boots 24/7 but she’s still making progress in structural and functional soundness. I have no idea how much more her hoof form and comfort will improve, but I know she’ll do better if I can get there more often.
May 2024
July 2024
The live sole in this area is very soft and thin at this point. The radiating rings show how the retained dead sole gets thicker and harder as it gets the the breakover. This is a wedge of hard dead sole that is covering even thinner live sole that’s closer to the breakover. This causes a painful pressure point when the rest of the sole has been exfoliated to the live sole. I carefully and gradually reduce the wedge of dead sole as I build the internal arch to shift the weight more comfortably over the heels.
16 months progress. The 2 most significant improvements here are: - the distance between the widest part of the frog ( black ) and the hairline ( red ). -the widening and filling out of the soft tissue ( outlined in red ).
16 months progress - She is still steadily improving, but it would go faster if the owner was more proactive and I could keep the trim intervals shorter.
September 2024
17 months progress.
18 months progress - Lily is galloping around at this point.
January 2025
Lily’s owner is taking her out on little rides now. Her feet look bad but they’re finally aligned with her distorted coffin bones now. That’s why she’s functionally sound enough for light riding now.
April 2025
June 2025
October 2025
2.5 years progress