Due to being away on the cruise and barely seeing the horses at all in the past month, they have both gone 6 weeks without a trim. We are currently on a 5 week trim through the winter and will go back to a 4 week trim when it warms. Their feet certainly got weedy, but look at that wear at the breakover.
One odd thing, in the 7 winters that I've shared with Peanut, this is the first one where I am finding him having ice stilts. He is collecting snow and ice in his feet and bringing him completely off of the ground, more towards the heels. I knew shod horses experienced this, but never saw it in my guys before. They are quick to shed them when they hit non-snowy ground, however. Hopefully this is due to the overgrowth.
Peanut, left fore:
And Gene, right fore. Look at those heels that refuse to decontract - next to Peanut the contraction is obvious. Kate pointed out how he loads on the outside of his front feet first, probably due to his touch of pigeon-toe, and maybe that's one reason that he's not decontracting. She trimmed his heels unevenly this time to compensate for this. However, she noted that his frogs are callused, showing that they are being used, which is fabulous news considering the little sad slivers of completely passive frog way up in the hoof capsule that we started with.
For comparison's sake, how about a picture of his other front foot from 1-1-07?
Ok, enough memory lane.
Kate trimmed Peanut this time. I really, really like her trims. After pics of that foot:
I didn't think to get after shots of Gene.
One odd thing, that I didn't look for on Peanut, was that Gene has thicker wall growing in. I believe it correlates to when we started him on oats and minerals. I definitely did not expect this, but what a fascinating side-effect. Gene has also gained weight, both Kate and Joan have commented on it. That's right, the 23 year-old has gained weight in the middle of winter. :)
PUFFY PONIES! Puffy ponies specifically vacuuming up floor alfalfa. They are getting both grass hay and alfalfa right now, and of course they love the alfalfa best.
Look at the ID tag on the halter of this puffy pony!
4 comments:
Nice overgrown hooves! See, if Peanut lived on more sand and less mud, he'd wear off his toe callous too!
Classy dog tag, I like it ;)
Glad your cruise went well, and happy belated anniversary!
I still need to treat the heels and see if I can get him to stop wearing his toes so much. My lack of seeing him has stopped it for now. An interesting thing about the old Gene pics is that they show growth at the toe, and so do old pics of Peanut. They didn't used to wear their toes away. Bleh.
Thank you! :)
But what's the date on the old pics? I think the toe wear is due to terrain. Didn't yall get some snow and cold weather lately?
The date on Gene's pic is New Year's Day, 2007, with 24-7 turn-out. Without digging it up, I can't remember the time of year on Peanut's old pic. That one was probably from spring '05, but not sure. But, that was also 24-7 turnout, with much more riding hours than he gets now, but on a flatter terrain.
I'm not sure what to think right now. It seems that natural trimming sites and books usually show long feet with equally overgrown toes, and Kate was so quick to note that it is worn there on my guys, and is no longer so on her horse after treating the frog.
Could hilly terrain contribute to this, I wonder? Hmmmm.
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