Sorry to clairfy, a long toe is what I meant to say. "...nor was it caused by a short shoe as the literature seems to say."

sorry deb

Hi
To get to my question. We are hope you might have some suggestions as how to correct this. He currently as a short toe that we (on reading) cut off to the white line, we had him in plastic, but with his weight we had trouble keeping them on, although they helped. Joe has now pared out the bars in his feet, as this has seemingly helped the right foot, and so we tried it on the left just as of today. We had to put steel back on him for now. Angles aren't possible to raise any higher, as there isn't the foot to do it, and each shoeing Joe has done what can be done with the foot he has.... we are afraid to try bars, since they can ruin the ankles on a stb due to the stress on the track, and we cannot try anything like rocker shoes for the same reason. Aluminum shoes made him a million times worse, due to the lack of ability to take concussion. He wears St. Croix shoes right now, and they seem to help if he is to have to wear steel. He cannot go bare foot as the track would tear the feet off of him, or I would do that. This is a top flight colt, that I want to show eventually when his career as a stb is over. He is a part of the family as well. We are searching for answers and ideas to help him. One thing that did work was extending the shoe back and building foot with Vettec Super Fast. He went great, but we could not keep it on. So if you know of a product that would stay on we would be grateful to know of it. Also he at this time had flip flop pads with a full shoe, but this was too heavy for him, and it was hard to keep on, it changed his gait which is bad for his joints and so we abandoned this idea. I will send pics if you are interested, and thanks for any ideas you might have. take care and thanks from Che and my family. Deb

Hi Barney,
I saw your video's and thought I would see if you had any ideas on my 3yr stb colt. He had a chronic colic problem (hopefully now resolved) that left him with serious problems with his feet. This horse came with excellent feet- one reason we bought him as a yearling. He has become underslung and has 'no foot' if you will on the outside. This is due mainly to a rough patch of colic this winter, after months of it leading up to it. In one month his feet became underslung, and by the next the internal structure had changed so radically that we are now left with bulbs that protrude, a heel that is horribly underslung, and although that has improved a wing to the inside that is plainly foot drift. Che no longer has natural movement in that foot, and if pressed will show tenderness and becomes sore footed in the extreme. We don't push him past this point, but we cannot cut his food back due to his necessary diet, he is an easy keeper and is a race horse, so must be kept at a training center, and a stud, so we cannot turn him out somewhere. We are currently jogging him and lightly training him, so he keeps the weight down... he is currently 16.2 or more and at about 1 200 pounds he isn't small (especially for a stb). My husband is a farrier and has been shoeing stbs since he was 18, and is 55 now, so he is not short on experience. This was not caused by his lack of taking off toe etc. nor was it caused by a short shoe as the literature seems to say. Joe shoes with a short toe (Che is a pacer) and a rounded foot, with his goal always to end up with a level not tipped result. The other thing Che did do I might add was to make temper breaks last summer and this contributed to some of the damage he now suffers, but the colic was the real problem. Neither Joe nor I have ever seen such a foot change occur in such a short time...
Che stands slightly toed in (a good thing for a pacer and a trait we desired for his gait-to keep him off of his knees).

Hi Barney,

Her are the new changes at HorseJobs.ca we talked about http://horsejobs.ca/blog/?p=268

Hello Mr. Barney. =)

I just recently visited my horse and was checking her hooves and I noticed this strange horizontal ripple effect going down her hooves (all four) that I've never seen before. They've only just shown up in winter. All spring, summer and fall she had beautiful smooth hooves. So I decided to look it up and some sources say it could be due to stress or sugar overload. I don't think it's sugar overload because she eats nothing but her hay in the pasture. I'm not too sure about stress...She is only a year and a half and nothing much gets done with her. I go out into the pasture and run around and play with her a bit. There's nothing really stressful about her environment seeing as she just stays outside all day in a huge pasture with a bunch of pasture mates eating the same hay she's had since she was a baby. One thing that has changed was my visits. I saw her, literally, every day for at least 6-8 hours all spring, summer and fall but then the winter and snow came and now I only visit her every 5-8 days. Could this be one of the reasons for stress?

Also, the sole of her foot is looking a tad strange but it could just be old sole falling off. She has never been shod, either. I'm not too worried about it at the moment because her personality hasn't changed and she doesn't walk with any pain, etc. I wish to ask your opinion because, honestly, I don't trust the farrier that comes to this barn...

If you need me to supply any photos and/or videos, I will be glad to do so if it helps you get a better idea.

Thanks for your time and I hope you are well. =)

Tiffany.

hey stranger how's it going these days ? I'm thankful all the time that you taught me to trim feet all those years ago, it saves me big time now I'd like to learn to put shoes on my horse mainly cause David is so hard to get here. He's a great blacksmith don't get me wrong, just it takes me forever to get him here and usually by the time I do get him here my mare has lost shoes and her foot is all torn up. Are you ever in my area I'm still just north of HALTON. I have 1 with shoes ( at the moment she's lost them)and 1 that probably should have fronts atleast.I think he might have a slight club foot or is just very short he raced and did well is almost 5yrs. message me if you think you can help even this once

Happy New Year Barney.

Hi Barney - Sending you warm wishes from England. Have a great Christmas see you when I get back.

Sarah

Hey Barney! Thanks for joining the Toronto CADORA reunion group and your very generous silent auction item. We appreciate your support very much. Be well ... Dorothy :-)