Adopting Gordon - Trim 1
Heeeeeeerrrrrreeess Gordon!
I have an amazing client who decided to add a rescue horse to their family. Gordon came from out West and had a hard wild ride on the kill train bound for Canada and slaughter. You can read more about his story on his FaceBook Page called Adopting Gordon. I was called in to rehab his feet. I am so honored to help this amazing boy find his balanced, happy, barefoot life.
*Note: Barefoot Rehabilitation (Rehab of any kind) takes time. You need plenty of rest and patience to succeed in this process. Everyone will give you an opinion and it's important you do your research not only on your professional consultants but all the treatments as well. I'ts important you surround yourself with people you trust and believe in, and do your homework so you can make informed decisions.
BEFORE
Front
Granted these aren't the best pictures but you do the best with what you have. This is primarily for a record of the progress we have made and to show the changes we are looking for as our trims progress.
Here you see the Left Front hoof (which was representative of both front feet). The picture on the left gives you an unobstructed view of the hoof. The Picture on the right gives you a better idea of what I am looking at when I trim and the indicators I use to determine the best changes for each trim.
BLUE Line:
This simply gives us a baseline of ground level so we can understand where parts of the foot are leaving and striking the ground.
GREEN and YELLOW Lines:
The green line represents the current mid-line of the leg. This tells you where the heel should ideally hit the ground (just in front of this line). As you can see Gordon's heels are quite off the mark. If you follow the line up, you can see that the impact of his heels are in line with the front of the leg, thus improper and inefficient distribution of weight on impact (along with the obvious impaired movement).
RED Line:
There are two red lines. They both represent hoof capsule distortion. The heels are long (distance from hairline to ground) and as we have already said, they hit the ground too far forward. The red line in front shows flaring at the toe.
These angles will change as the body adjusts to the more balanced feet. We should notice a more pronounced change in angle growing out of the coronet band (hairline).
Here is what these distortions look like from the bottom of the hoof.
The YELLOW area shows the forward and distended impact area of the heels. Often on feet like this the heels are stretched and hard to identify as they don't have a more singular point of impact...instead there is a large area making contact with the ground and thus effecting the hoof.
The red shaded area shows the portion of the foot in front of the tip (apex) of the frog. When the heels are set back closer to the heel bulbs, this red area would be 1/3 of the distance from heels to toe. Right now it's taking about 1/2 the area. We will notice big changes here as our foot starts to repair itself.
Rear (before)
Before: Underside of Hoof
Take a look at this False Sole!!
Gordon had a tremendous amount of False Sole (click to learn more about False Sole). This buildup of un-shed sole material was adding to his discomfort. Imagine you had large, hard, objects underneath the insole of your sneakers. The pressure and uneven distribution of weight in the foot while standing, let alone in motion, would cause tenderness not only in the foot but limb and body soreness from the alteration in gait.
Along with the sole, he had overgrown bars and distended feet in general. This is not uncommon of a horse with poor hoof care and nutrition for some time.
AFTER
My apologies...I got so caught up with doing the work that I forgot to get really good after pictures....not uncommon for me LOL
However we can see some good information.
*Note: You can't always make this drastic of a change in just one trim. We had a rest and after care plan in place to keep Gordon as comfortable as possible and minimize any ill effects from such drastic changes in foot position. The foot allowed me to make these changes, if his structures were different, his trim would have looked different. Each case is specific and individual.
This is the same view we have above with all the lines and notations. As you can see we were able to remove a good portion of the toe flare. The heels also changed in length and angle. It's always rewarding when one trim can bring you back to a normal'ish looking foot.
The sole was buried under layed over bars and tons of false sole. We uncovered some old abscess exit points and thrush. This was opened up and treated. Now we are able to see where the heels are and give them a more defined presence. There is also an appropriate and defined break-over allowing for efficient and productive movement.
Here is the kicker!!! I really wish I had better pictures because these don't do justice to the body position of this horse. From the time he was delivered to 30 minutes after his trim the owner noticed 2 inches of elevation in his back. I noticed an inch of change on the day of the trim alone.
The picture below was taken about 6 days after the first trim (after picture above) and there is even a greater elevation of the back and he is continuing to relax his shoulders and neck (he's also filling out nicely :-)
I hope you have enjoyed Gordon and this process. I am thrilled at the gains he is making and I hope you stick around to see how this lovely boy develops even farther.
If you would like to learn more about barefoot trimming I would encourage you to read this article...it is packed with good graphics and wonderful information.
Until next time...
