PICS: Crushed heels (Kristene and Abby)

[Karen Standefer <hrschk@yahoo.com>]

John put the pics up for me.  

http://www.goldhill.com/feet.html

The bottom is Roy's hoof 2 months after we started
trimming him the way I outlined in a previous post. 
You can see tremendous changes from the previously
very underrun heels.  In the top pic, he doesn't have
the typical long toes (at least not as long as they
were) because he has just finished trimming his hooves
himself over 20 miles of crushed gravel.  He also
didn't have that hairline the previous day as it was
almost horizontal to the ground.  His coffin bones
were not ground parallel, but after months of keeping
his hairline as close to the hairline in the top pic,
it has reseated itself in the hoof capsule and is not
ground parallel (confirmed by x-rays).

I wish the top photo had been at exactly the same
angle as the bottom photo, because you would have seen
even better how underrun the heels are.  But, I think
you can get a good idea from this set of pics, anyway.

karen


Kristene  said:
What cheeses me off, is that the owners / farriers
carry on with this!  Then you see them using tendon
boots to "protect" the horse.  Ugh
 
Abby Replied:
It's a self-perpetuating problem, and one of the
toughest ones to fix.  You have to know what you want
to do, be willing to provide plenty of  heel support
with the shoe, and reshoe often ... the combination of
 which is uncommon.

Karen Added:
Or, you can fix it easier and quicker with more
frequent trimming while the horse is barefoot.  It's
easier to decontract the heels and get the bars under
control if the hoof is bare.   All of these things
need to happen when correcting underrun heels.  
Trimming at least once a week can fix this issue in
just a couple of months.  I have a set of before and
after pics of my horse in Aug and then again in Oct.  
I'll have to find a place to publish them.  In Aug his
heels were horribly underrun.  But Oct, he has a good
sound heel base and they are growing at good angles.  

Karen



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