Honestly, it was mostly just the trim and getting rid of all the extra exfoliating material. It rained a LOT this week, but that doesn't seem to have affected anything much. She has put out almost 1/4 of an inch of growth in two weeks (!!), so she'll need another trim pretty soon if I want to keep the integrity we're regained. Unfortunately, being a fat pastured slob (sorry Gogo, no offense!) whose horn output is still nearly as high as it was when in full work, it's a matter of constant vigilance. When her pasture was dried up and abrasive, she went nearly 8 weeks without hardly needing a trim. Now that everything is soft and plush, I need to REALLY keep up with it. It's not possible for her to self-maintain when she's out of work, living where she lives.
As for the RF that is pictured, her frog isn't quite as robust as it was, but looking at comparison pictures from last winter it's really quite a small change. Her white line is still somewhat compromised, like always, but it is MUCH tigher than it was. I'm still waiting to see whether or not going soy-free is going to tighten it up further, or not. Her heels and bars are, as always on her clubby foot, growing quite robustly, but again when she is in work she normally maintains this herself... she just needs a little help right now to trick those feet into thinking she's doing more than toodling around and eating.
Feet really are amazing in the way they respond to their environment, aren't they?
My little science brain is fascinated...
ReplyDeleteReally nicely framed comparison shots! Glad to see pretty Gogo feet again :)
ReplyDeleteThey ARE amazing!
ReplyDeleteMy horse is putting out so much foot that I think I will have to go to weekly mini trims to keep up.
They look much better!! I am amazed and fascinated with hooves. I was studying Ramey's website about how the hooves respond to differences in terrain recently and it's just so interesting. :D
ReplyDeleteHer feet look beautiful now... we really have to stay on top of our horses' feet when it gets wet... fast growth plus soft feet equals a lot of chipping and flaring if we don't trim often. Once a week when they're out of work.
ReplyDeletewow, what a difference!
ReplyDeleteThey are definitely looking better!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever figured out what the little V in the toe is? Saga has those too... no idea what's causing it - there's nothing in the exterior hoof wall that looks suspicious, but it never grows out, either. Any ideas?
Yup - she has matching V's in her toe which correspond to matching toe cracks in both fronts. 5 years barefoot and they STILL haven't grown out, under my care or under the care of very skilled professionals, so I'm not holding out for them. She has indents - dimples, if you will - on the front face of both coronary bands, and they correspond to where the cracks are.... maybe just a defect? Either way, the cracks never open up, never spread, and never cause lameness, so I just deal with them. They just look like a funny indented line on her fronts, you wouldn't know they were there unless you looked for them.
ReplyDeleteNow if I were to ever let her feet get long, they would MOST assuredly spread wider. I quite imagine that if they cracked wider, they would probably be pretty painful!
For as beautiful as her feet are, her fronts are nowhere near perfect. One foot is clubby, one foot wants to run under, both have toe cracks that never go away..... etc!
A picture of what the cracks look like: http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/205134_513728208973_158200011_30378072_5660883_n.jpg
Stumbled into your great blog and so happy I did! I'm a new crusader for barefoot / natural trimming. Have several books, dvds etc but am eager to learn more and watch how it's working for a fellow eventer. Mine are mostly fat or lesson/foxhunter types while I raise kids n ponies. I too am amazed (& overwhelmed) by what I see in hoof growth this soggy spring! I'm your newest follower and will be cheering you on and checking in to learn more. Thanks for sharing your story!
ReplyDeletehugs,
Leslie