Crackers (dbL)
Crackers is an Appaloosa. He was in his late 20s when I pulled his shoes. He was lame in all 4 feet and couldn’t weight his left hind. After the initial dead hoof wall breaking apart that the shoes were causing and keeping together, Cracker transitioned pretty easily into bare feet. His left hind was the biggest issue and he started weighting that more immediately after pulling shoes. He was very stoic and the caretaker said he never showed any signs of affection to people when he was shod. After several months of rehab, he started being more present and giving some minimally affectionate feed back. Now he can be comfortable as an equine assisted therapy horse.
April 2021 - Pulled shoes and set up trim
The next 5 pics are of Cracker’s left hind. I think this was his biggest concern. I watched him try to keep from weighting it and I wondered how I’d get the right one if he couldn’t weight the left one. I decided to trim the left hind before I finished the fronts and that gave him enough time to get used to weighting it before I trimmed the right hind. He couldn’t fully lock the fetlock but by the end of the trim he was using it a lot better. I believe the swelling is from chronic toe loading causing compensation and lack of circulation.
Pre trim
Post trim
Post trim ( left hind only )
Post full trim
The red and blue arrows are just reference points to show where I saw the frog trying to exfoliate on its own before I helped it the rest of the way off.
The blue lines are the current horn tubule alignment. The blue arrow is the current heel contact point position. The green lines are my goal for the future horn tubule alignment and the green arrow is my goal for the future heel contact point position.
This recurve in the heels was hidden by the flat trim of the previous farrier. I did not trim behind the arrow. I just shaped the heel horn to tightly follow the calloused live sole at the seat of corn. This is how I plan to restore the correct heel position over time instead of propping it up artificially with a wedge and a steel shoe.
Before pulling shoes - immediately after set up trim
May 2022 - Second Trim
June 2021
July 2021
Top- Pulled shoes and set this horse up with a trim to go barefoot on April 27, 2021. I did the markup at the same time to show the forward migration of the hoof capsule including the recurve caused by improper trimming, steel shoes, and wedge pads. Bottom- almost 4 months later (about 5 trims)
August 2021
April 2021 - October 2021
October 2021
April 2021 - October 2021
April 2021 - November 2021
November 2021
February 2022
April 2022
July 2022
August 2022
Right Hind trims through phases of development for 15 months.
April 2021 - November 2022 (LF)
January 2023
April 2021 - January 2023
April 2021 - January 2023
July 2023
April 2021 - July 2023
September 2023