These are Molly's new feet. Nothing spectacular about them at all....until you scroll down the page and see just how far this little horse has come. Molly had been off and on lame for years. An off and on again founder. When I first pulled her shoes, she had absolutely zero wall attachment. The walls simply floated above the hoof, shooting straight out from the coronet band., the lenghthy toes further levering the hoof away from the internal structure of the hoof, and preventing reattachment and healing. Molly was in foal when I first started trimming her, which further complicated things. Her owner was able to get a dietary consult form Dr. Ellenor Kellon and the heat left her feet. She was no longer foundering, but even after a year of frequent trimming, her feet still were not quite right. I was following the somewhat crazy map on the bottom of her foot, and it really wasn't working. I was careful not to invade what looked like healthy tissue from the bottom of the hoof. What resulted was a hoof that had a good healing angle going on, but about 1/3 way down the hoof, the wall lost connection and levered out from the hoof. I suggested radiographs as I really had no clue what was causing the hoof to grow this way. Dr. Ann Bonda did the xrays, which showed that there was tons of extra toe beyond the coffin bone, and that because of the extra toe, the navicular bone was jammed up in a way that I knew would lead to navicular syndrom or at the very least, unnessasary heal pain. I had done a mentorship with Paige Poss a couple years ago. Paige trims mostly from the top. I had been reading the bottom of the hoof, and since it wasnt' working nearly as well as I wanted it to, I decided to trim these hooves like I had learned from Paige. On the first trim after the xrays, I did not even look at the bottom of the hoof. I put the hoof right on the hoof stand, and using the small healing angle as a guide, started bringing the toe back much more aggressively. Trims were increased to every two weeks, and before long, all exess toe was gone. These feet are still in the healing mode, but the toes are no longer levering the wall away from the inner structures. A lot of the old, dead laminae are coming out at the bottom. Chunks of dead wall are breaking off, but this horse if FINALLY on the road to recovery. She is not lame at all, and has regained her former spunk and wild attitude. This is the most remarkable case I've done. Her early feet, compared to what they are now...are night and day. Diligence will always be required though to make sure these feet stay on the right track...low sugar diet, frequent trims, etc. I thank Molly's owner, Dr. Bonda and Paige Poss for going the extra mile to help me figure out how to help this horse....and hopefully many others just like her.
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| April 2009 Molly's New Feet |
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These feet belong to a sweet quarter horse named Molly. Molly is a chronic founder, lame off and on for several years. She has been shod for about a year. She was recently shod in these pictures, so I took only a minimal amount of hoof, rolled the toe, and took off some of the flare at the toe. She is sore, but not completely lame and her owner has been riding her. We fitted her with easy boot epics and 1/2 inch pads. Her owner rode her around the round pen and said she strode out much better with the boots. I forgot to take after-trim pictures, but I really did not take much off the fronts at all. Her back feet are fairly healthy, with no stretched white line, although they are a bit flat. Her front feet have deep white line grooves, and the bacterial invasion is severe. I suggested soaking in lysol three times per week, and spraying with the lysol solution often.
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| Nov. 21, 2007. This is Molly's Left Front before her first trim. Although it is hard to see, she is wearing shoes in this first set of photos. |
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| Nov. 21, 07. Coronet band appears weak and fragile. Hoof wall is shooting straight out of this weakend band, neglecting to form any connection at all with the coffin bone. |
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| This is one of Molly's front hooves after her shoes were removed. She has very deep grooves where her white lines should be with lots of bacterial invasion present. |
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| Dec. 4, 07, A lot less of the "bulb" look to her foot. Toe running forward, hairline not at 30 degree angle...yet. Next trim we will work on bringing the toe back and getting her heels under her. |
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| Left Front. A very tiny healing angle is visable at the cornet band and about 1/4 of an inch down. I forgot to get a sole shot, but her owner has been soaking her feet regularly and they are really looking so much better than I expected on the bottoms. This horse has a long way to go, but she is getting excellent care and is well on her way. |
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| Jan. 23rd, 08. Molly still has a bit of heat around her Coronet bands. She is pregnant and due to foal in April. She has suddenly started shedding profusely. |
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| LF. Jan. 23, 08 A healing angle is quite clear in this picture, but I believe it's being compromised by the excess toe, which appears to be forcing the new growth upwards. Depending on comfort level after this trim, I will back the toes more aggressively at the next trim. |
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| Jan. 23, 2008 |
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| Feb. 18 Left Front...LOOK AT THAT HEALING ANGLE! |
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| Feb. 18. Left Front. Molly has come a long way in just four short weeks. Her diet has been tightened even more. She's put on a few pounds, and looks much better. Best of all, her coronet bands have absolutely NO heat in them at all. The healing angle is tight and these feet are going to be GREAT! Her heels are still a little high, but I brought them down and back with a small heel bevel, leaving her thin soles alone...till next time. |
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| March 23, 08 |
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| March 23, 08 |
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| May14, 08. Molly has come such a long way. We've been concentrating on bringing her toes back. She's been tender due to absessing a couple of times, but looks great! She also delivered a HEALTHY FILLY! |
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| June 11, 08. Molly's feet are still on the mend, and her connection at the coronet band has remained strong. She's tender today, possibly because of an absess brewing. She's sucessfully raising her filly, Tina, and hopefully will be able to get back out on the trail soon! |
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