Jewel 

"My horse trips a lot..."

Nov 6, 2008

Today, Pam called me to see about looking at Angel that I placed for sale. She came to my house and was looking at her as well as three of my other horses I had tied to the trailer to keep Angel company. We started talking about all things horse and then I showed her that I had trimmed Angel's hooves before she came out. That struck up a conversation about trimming and lots of questions insued about how I would fix this or that. My mare, LittleGirl, was standing there tied and she was due to have her feet done so I just got out my tools and showed her right there how I trim. She was sold and asked if I could come the next day and trim her mare, Jewel.

Nov 7, 2008

Here she is before trimming. Pam said that she's only had Jewel for about a month and that she trips when she trots and also doesn't want to lope. She is short strided and isn't exhibiting a lot of free movement under saddle. These pictures before the trim just show that there is an overall imbalance to the hoof because of the excessive wear at the toe region meaning that the heels are taller than they should be. From the dorsal view the foot appears to have flaring in the quarters. The heel shot shows that the heels aren't really all that high but they do need to be lowered slightly and brought down to live material. The toe area is simply left alone on this trim since it has self-trimmed. Jewel's frogs look very healthy. I tell Pam that her horse has very healthy feet but just need some balancing!

Here is Jewel's hoof after trimming. Notice I haven't really taken any real height from the foot but rather have it sitting up at a better angle at the heel. Almost looks like an entirely different horse's hoof from before to after. I have also removed some of the flares in the quarters so that the hoof is more underneath itself instead of wanting to 'pancake' out. The bottom view does show a little smidge of the flare left on the outside pillar that I probably could have rolled back further into the white line but I left the foot alone since it was telling me to STOP when the shavings were sticking at that point. I have not taken away any heel height but just taken away the flare to help with the breakover in Jewel's stride. Her feet are very healthy and she has strong walls.

Here is Jewel after her trim with her friend Miss Ana tacked up and ready to go riding. Notice how differently Jewel is standing after the trim and how her hind legs are more under herself not instad of camped out behind her. She does have a blemish on her right fetlock on the front of her leg that looks deceiving but it is purely cosmetic. She appears to have straightened up in the pasterns after the trim. Pam went out and rode her in her round pen and there was absolutely no tripping. Jewel was full of P&V and wanted to go a little faster than Pam was used to her going. I was able to also ride her and also experienced no tripping. I did ask for a lope and got a pretty good crow hop out of her...like...whoopee...I feel good. Never did get her in the lope that day but Pam said she was anxious to work on that after I left. She was just happy there was no more tripping. Anyway, it was a pretty fun filled day and I spent the rest of the day talking all things horse...I hope to have started a great friendship with Pam.

For a better comparison of the before and after differences here are side-by-side shots: