Help: Wonky Hooves ((pics))

I need help/advice. I adopted my mustang in October. I managed to get his feet trimmed very crudely in February, and then once more last month. His angles look all wonky to me though, and I need help knowing what to tell my farrier when I get him trimmed again next week. I feel like his front toes are too long, and he has too much heel on pretty much all of his feet. Is this more or less correct? Anything else?

My pictures aren't ideal and I didn't get as many angles as maybe I should have. I apologize for that, but I was a little short on time. Also, the white powder stuff in the soles of his feet is thrush treatment/preventative. I didn't think to take the pictures until after I'd applied that of course. >_< Feel free to make requests for different angles or new shots on any of these and I'll try to get them in the next day or two.

Your advice is very much appreciated!!

General Confo Shot



Left Front







Right Front







Left Hind







Right Hind

Hmm, don't know how much help this will be, but his feet appear to be really similar to my Mustang's. A very long hoof capsule all the way around and somewhat mule footed (almost like a club foot, but not really) on the hinds. Very deep collateral grooves and a fairly prominent frog makes it seem almost like he's got a super thick sole so that his entire hoof looks long even if the wall is trimmed down and rolled the way it should be.

Hopefully one of the hoof expert folks will chime in as I have always been a bit curious about that as well.

Oh, and did I mention that you have one hell of a stunning boy there?

Yep your right. Too much heel and toe. This mustang had strong feet that tend to grow up and not out so much. He's just overgrown everywhere and needs a proper trim. His back feet also look clubbed to me from here which is conformational.

If you have to tell the farrier what to address, might wanna look for a better farrier. Any decent farrier or trimmer should know what to do to these beautiful feet.

Interested what environment he came from & how long he was off the range before you got him? How old is he? Agree that it's mostly just overlong feet, tho the apparent change of angle near the top of the wall may warrant more consideration. His heels don't look too robust, so while heels are overly high & need lowering, this may need to be done very gradually & possibly along with providing extra protection/thrush treatment to frogs.

Nice strong feet on a horse that is comformationally upright and slightly downhill. Good barrel length compensates for some of that.

Mildly club footed on the hinds, more so on the left hind than the right. Don't get carried away lowering the heels in an attempt to make it "look right". DDFT pull is an unforgiving taskmaster.

Fronts may benefit from a minor trim but appear generally healthy. Judging sole depth without radiographs could be tricky on this horse and get a person in trouble quickly.

Overall phalanx alignment appears close to correct.

All in all, count your blessings and employ a trim methodology of "Less is More".

Cheers,
Mark

Alright, I'm glad to know that maybe he's not quite as wacky as I feared... though those hind feet being as upright as they are confuse me a bit. He's just now 2 years old (I should have mentioned that earlier) so is it possible that he'll even out so that he's not downhill? Will that change anything about the weirdness of his hind feet?

My current farrier is a barefoot trimmer who does seem to have the 'less is more' approach, I'm just not sure if maybe her 'less' is actually too little. I'll be talking to her about some of this and get her take on what needs to be done. I'll also try to get more pictures after he's trimmed, so I'd appreciate it if I could get some critique then in terms of whether things have changed for the better or for worse (hopefully not).

Another question: My trimmer's schedule and mine won't coincide for another three weeks. She's only available on Friday afternoons... that's it. Judging from their current state (pics taken yesterday) should I really let his hooves go another three weeks?

Or should I find another farrier? There's another one that comes to the barn every week, so I might be able to get my boy in next week. If not then, definitely by two weeks from now.

Your trimmer is only available on Fridays? So she only works one day per week?

Is her business called TGIF Trimming Services?

No, I wouldn't go another three weeks.

Yes, I'd recommend a full service farrier with greater availability and a broader range of skills. Should your horse ever need more than just a trim, there's a lot of value in knowing your practitioner can meet those needs. It would be convenient to know he's around every week too, should anything ever go wrong. Of course, all of that presumes he has a clue under a horse.

Cheers,
Mark

I think his heels are way too high but overall his hooves/frogs/soles look good. Work on getting those heels lowered. Three weeks may be a stretch especially right now when hooves are growing like crazy.

Nice looking boy!!

That's the golden question, isn't it? I don't know if he really has a clue under a horse, but I'll be talking to him about my specific concerns and ask him not to change too much all at once. I'll probably share more pictures of how it comes out once he's been trimmed.

I think you're right though, I need to find a farrier/trimmer who is more available.