Here is a Friday puzzle for you...
...5 different chestnut horses...
...all TBs or mostly TBs...
...all with less than perfect feet, apparently...
...so can you tell who is the soundest?...
...and can you tell who would benefit from a good trim?...Go on - dare you - have a guess :-)
20 comments:
I know! I know! ;0)
Lol! I always fall for these quizzes and am useless! I'll play and be bottom of the class.
Second last the soundest, none would really benefit from a good trim.
Tbh I don't know! lol
All I know is, they're all the wrong colour.
LOL Amanda :-) At least you aren't a CHEAT like Krista ;-)
Colour bias is not something we approve of, Flynn... :-)
I'm guessing!!! Second one from bottom with flare looking hoof!
Top one looks like Red but I've been wrong before :) Soundest ? Maybe top one again, looks most comfy to me but maybe it's cos it looks familiar! Don't suppose there's any prizes going anyhow...
Second from the top is my guess for the soundest. All but the top two need a trim.
I recognise Dexter though :-)
None of them need a trim, just to carry on walking around your tracks all day :-)
C
Bottom one the soundest? None need trims?
Next to bottom the soundest - new hoof growth looks really good. I know you're generally not a proponent of much trimming, but the last one might be a candidate for some minor touching up (?). My best guess . . .
Last horse the most sound. And second to last and last need a trim. There's my 2 cents! :)
I would say second from the top - it looks like a lot of natural wear has occurred on that hoof. :D
OK, some great guesses :-) The answer is that the lamest is the top horse, the soundest is at the bottom.
The bottom 2 have "long" toes but need them in order to ensure an evenly loaded foot. With an evenly loaded foot both are sound and land heel first with correct medio-lateral balance. Trimmed unfortunately both would be crippled.
The top 3 have nothing which you could trim - you could take the toes back and remove the "flare" but again unfortunately they would be very much lamer than they are now.
One of the points of this post was to show how hard it is to judge from photos, so don't feet bad if you got it wrong :-)
There is a bit of a giveaway though as the last horse (the soundest) has the most robust palmar hoof, a sign that he has been working barefoot (and sound) for many years.
Thanks to everyone who commented :-) I'll be doing a lot more on these guys next week!
Ha! Told you I was useless. lol
I find it hard to tell how robust the palmer hoof is from lateral shots.
Dexter is especially interesting as he has what look like long, under run and collapsed heels.
Also, it looks like Dexter (last pic) is the only one without event lines, although I can't see the first pic clearly.
If you look closer at the first picture you can see lateral cartilages squeezed out of the hoof capsule ( I don't know how to say it in english )...
These horses ALL need a good new sharp rasp.
And they can use it to take the padlock off the feed room door in a midnight raid! :-) Thanks heavens horses don't have an opposable thumb!
I've always felt that trimmers obsession with shortening toes and removing flare is misguided. It's an adaptation, it's there for a reason. Grow it better, you can't rasp it better. Deal with the endocrine issues, feed it well, work it hard.
Laminitics are a special case and I found there is a right time to gently and progressively draw that toe back, but it is far later in the healing phase than many trimmers and vets normally do.
I have another case for a rasp. My horse has just had surgery, and the result of that is a very sudden straightening of his formerly action over less than two weeks.
He has one foot in particular which grew windswept as an adaptation to his movement. But that movement is now straight and he is not yet in work and he can't put is foot straight to match his new movement.
I don't want a bent foot to compromise his stunning new movement, so I've used a rasp in earnest to take his foot to a 'neutral' position and I'll be leading him out on the road to start him producing the foot he now needs to match his new movement.
I'm sure Nic will agree that this is an exceptional and justified use of a rasp, though quite possibly still not necessary if only I had her track system!!
C
Nic uses a rasp ;-) it's on the ground all around her place. Best rasp you can buy.
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