It's been a busy last couple of weeks. Several exams, including one yesterday and one today, which means that I was pretty busy studying this weekend. I really dislike studying on the weekends since that is my only time at home with family and animals, but sometimes it has to be done! Even so, I did trim a couple horses and worked with Griffin a bit. And I realized that I have not posted many pictures recently so I took some as I walked through the pasture...not super exciting, but better than nothing! The first picture is Cody, my oldest mare and most dominant horse in my herd. The picture below is her hooves which are at 6 weeks of growth, meaning she was due for a trim (and got trimmed on Sunday).
Cody is one of those horses that I think have feet that are too small for the size of her body, given that she weighs about 200-400 lbs more than any of my other horses and their feet are the same size as hers. In fact, Catlow's feet are BIGGER than Cody's and Catlow is definitely about 300lb less than Cody. She also has chronic thrush that I've never been able to get rid of (but not too sore from it), and has thin soles and has always been ouchy on hard gravel.
I caught Catlow snoozing at one point as I walked through the pasture. She was so cute. Her eyes were closed and everything. She woke up when I walked past, but lay still as I patted her on the head.
Catlow's feet are only a couple weeks out from having been trimmed, so she still looks nice and tight. Chico's feet are last and he was trimmed at the same time as Catlow. I love horse feet.
The other horse that was trimmed this weekend was Griffin. He was long overdue. My neighbor was kind enough to sharpen my tools for me and then hold Griffin while I trimmed him up over at their place. He was pretty good, except for not really being excited about standing still to let me trim his hinds. It took some consistent following him and asking for his hoof back before he stood and relaxed. It also took some time to get used to letting my neighbor handle him. Griffin's feet tend to spread out when they get long like platters, and not in a good way...they get too shallow in the sole and he gets significant separation of the white line with the leverage produced by the long hoof wall. So when I trim them the right length, his soles have very little concavity. I've made a promise to him and myself that I am going to keep up with him and trim him every 6 weeks or less with the goal of tightening up his white line and building some better sole concavity. He has thin soles too, although they are not as ouchy as Cody's.
1 comment:
All of this hands-on with your horses is going to make you a much better vet!! I've been surprised at how little many vets know about the hoof. Thank God you're doing some practical learning all on your own and have wisdom about the most vital part of the horse!!
Are you going to learn chiropractic, too? Because of TTouch I've been very interested in acupressure points, alignment and how stress in the body affects those things. From what I understand, in some states, it's only the vets who can do the chiropractor work.
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