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Not getting something right

6K views 51 replies 10 participants last post by  princessfluffybritches 
#1 · (Edited)
I think I did a really nice job on my mare's hooves 6 weeks ago. Then I went to a 5 day trimming course (HPT) and I am really near tears about this trim.

My method has developed into this over 7 years: clean up the hoof, bars, frog. find live sole in the quarters and toes and trim accordingly. Then take the angle back to the heels but not trimming past where horse has appropriate heel angle. This may be above live sole. Roll the edges, Back up the toe. I do really clean up the sole. Seems it gets the fresh sole to really harden, where leaving "protection" prevents the functional sole from really hardening quickly. I feel this method covers removing what the hoof is offering me.

This new method. Clean up the frog and find the true apex. Mark a line from frog sulcus to frog apex and draw a line thru both to the toe. Clean down to the junction of the white line and sole all around and mark. Make the sides of the frog 45 degrees Just the edges. Make a one inch circle around the apex and clean up and this should give you the angles of the heels. Clean out heels to live sole, then rasp level to healthy frog. Trim bars until straight. Next, Mark half the thickness of the hoof wall and do not trim the hoof thinner than this. Roll quarters outside the hoof wall 1/2 thickness wall up to breakover point. Rasp toe to equal angle of heels. Roll edge to 1/2 thickness of the wall. Address flares. Finish rolling edge.

Here's pics of six weeks ago-my trim, and yesterday using HPT method.
My pics are first. L/F
 

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#39 ·
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This was the current hoof. I went back yesterday and lowered the heels and toe. I was able to get the wall level with the frog. I just didn't take off enough hoof. Pictures next time I go out. The RR has so far taken me an hour one day and an hour yesterday, and needs fine tuning next visit. In 8 years, my mare has been being a real brat about that hoof and leg. It's only me. She continuously snatches it. Two days ago, I started working on the problem. Each time she snatched, she got backed up 20-30 feet. Repeated until she stopped snatching. For the first time, I actually dropped the lead while trimming that hind leg. I should have done this years ago, but she didn't do it with a farrier for the last 4 years.
 
#43 ·
go to barefoot horse.com it will help you out a ton. It explains and shows pictures so it is nice and easy to understand. It looks like your horse was shod for some years, the heel looks pinched. It also looks like maybe it was slightly foundered, I can see that the hoof is trying to grow out.
 
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#45 ·
Hi. No, there's been no founder or shoes. This hoof has always been narrow and long. It's the high foot in the high/low syndrome. Compounded with an embarrassing booboo I made.

Loosie, your markings are where we're headed. I've already backed up the hoof more since this picture.

This hoof looked great to me......until I actually discovered the apex of the frog! What a shock. I must have trimmed over 1/2 inch back to get to the apex.

So I will be backing up that toe for a while. A farrier told me that I should utilize my pillars more (not put the horse on pillars), but leave as much wall area as I can (contact with ground). This was yesterday pic 1, RF, and the second pic is the LF.
 

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#44 ·
Sorry didn't reply earlier. Quick, rough drawings... Blue line approximately where breakover should be, pink line where I'd about back up to. Roughly.
 

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#46 ·
This is my first post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of horses and Happy New Year.


Maureen Tierney says:


The poor heels are innocent victims of runaway toes. Since the heels are part of the hoof capsule and are bound to the toes as securely as the rear end of your car is to the front end, where the toes go the heels must follow. It is simple physics. Yet who gets the blame, and suffers the abuse? The heels.
Backing the Toe


Maureen Tierney - YouTube
 
#49 ·
This is my first post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of horses and Happy New Year.


Maureen Tierney says:


The poor heels are innocent victims of runaway toes. Since the heels are part of the hoof capsule and are bound to the toes as securely as the rear end of your car is to the front end, where the toes go the heels must follow. It is simple physics. Yet who gets the blame, and suffers the abuse? The heels.
Backing the Toe

Backing the Toe - YouTube
Maureen Tierney - YouTube
This is a pretty cool video. I do think that if you can't move breakover back by trimming the toe back enough, a rocker from true breakover to tip of toe relieves the capability of drawing the hoof forward.
 
#50 ·
Greentree and princessfluffybritches: Thanks you



The toes need to be backed up and prevented from pulling to be able to work the heels back without sacrificing proper hoof angle.
Maureen Tierney says in his book: Natural Barefoot Trimming.The Hoof Guided Method​
Therefore, to get the heels to move back where they belong, we must address the true culprit, the creator of the distortion – the toe. As we get the toes to come back, the heels come back – all by themselves.
The Hoof Guided Method is simple. There is no measuring of angles, no aggressive trimming, and no guesswork. The sole is used as a guideline for trimming and the foot itself dictates where and what will be trimmed. The trim focuses on removing material the horse is unable to remove on its own and nothing else.
 
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