Initially we tried having shoes on them, but this didn't work because Daisy kept stepping on the back of hers and pulling them off. We then went barefoot with them, but this made it more obvious that they had a lot of white line disease (which is an anaerobic infection between the hoof and the foot itself) - this may actually have been part of the problem with shoes. Owen then keeps getting an abscess in Spring, and problems in his heel where it is being eaten away by thrush.
We have been trimming the hooves ourselves now for sometime and this has improved things somewhat, but there were still issues and we were never sure if we were doing it right or not - and potentially causing other issues in their joints or whatever.
I thought about doing a course, but then while looking for one I found Sabots Libres who are not that far from us. We arranged a day where they came and showed us their technique on our horses and talked us through all the reasons for doing what they do.
It was very interesting and a great relief as their theory involves more drastic trimming than we have ever dared to do. They recommended four major changes to what we are doing.
1.) Instead of trimming to the level of the sole as I have been doing up until now, cut the hoof away from the foot just enough to have the white line showing all round. This cut is done at 45 degrees rather than straight at the back and vertical at the front as I was doing before. This means that where the white line is healthy you are cutting about level with the sole, but where it has the black fungus/bacteria thing going on you have to cut higher.
2.) Trim the heels to the level where the frog joins the heel. I have been trimming the heels less. The theory is that too high a heel causes navicular pain - this then means the horse tries to land toe first which means the heels aren't getting worked as they should potentially causing issues in the heel such as we see with Owen.
3.) Trimming the frog. Some people think this is bad, some think it is good. The aim here is just to cut away black thrush infected bits as well as any bits that are stopping air get in to the grooves down the side of the frog. I was previously not trimming it so much.
4.) Cutting the bars. Like the frog some people think you should cut them and some people think you shouldn't. I have not been, but now will be. We want to avoid double soles and again remove any places where the thrush can be hiding.
In addition it might be good if we can ride them on the road more to toughen their feet off - we tend not to much because we like to take Poppy and she is suicidal on the roads...
All this results in a rather unfortunate and uneven looking foot - mainly due to the white line cutting
This is Owens as done by me under Tim's supervision
Owen had an abscess two years ago which has just not been fully growing out. Tim cut it so that all the black is gone, we need to maintain it like this and it should now grow out as it will not be being eaten away by the thrush as fast as it grows.
This is Daisy's front foot that I have hacked to pieces today, the day after the course.
This is before (bit hard to see what is going on...)
Daisy is a bit of a monster about having her feet cut. It took Tim about 10 mins to do her two back feet yesterday (after I had failed to get her to hold still for one of them). It took me TWO HOURS today to do her two front feet - which are EASIER!!
This is Tim doing one of Owen's front feet
We also got useful advice on tools that would be better than the ones we have
File...
... and a wire brush (and new hoof snips)
I was so excited after all this I have also cut the cows feet and Poppies claws.
One 'toe' has been cut here and not the other. Hopefully Buttercup will be more comfortable after this. Normally their toes break off in a neat way but for some reason they have not recently. I think perhaps the wet weather has made them more flexible.
We haven't seen the results yet of our new trimming technique, but overall I would thoroughly recommend Sabot Libres. The level of information about the mechanics of the whole horse and how that relates to the health of their feet was AWESOME and the tips for easier handling of the tools and feet where very good too.
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