Beckie Mabbutt

Below is a hind foot of a dressage horse that within 5 weeks grows excessively and really distorts. Despite being sound he has an ongoing abscess problem at his toe. Initially he was lame and puss pored out of the sole and coronary band, but now roughly 10 months down the line there is still puss lingering and his dorsal wall (Toe) keeps doming and it looks pretty horrid. Here are before and after photos showing the change made with just trimming, but in another 5 weeks that nice looking foot will be no longer!

This is a great example of Lamanitic growth rings. With Laminitis the heels of the foot tend to have accelerated growth and there for growing at a different rate to the toe you get these rings. Here is a before and after showing how much heel was needing to be trimmed off.

Below are the pictures of two front feet both from the same horse taken at the same time! I shared pictures of her feet when I last did them as due to a knee injury on the leg with the good foot she has had to take excessive weight on the other foot which has lead to the foot foundering. You wouldn't think they belonged to the same horse would you.

Below is a three year old Friesian Sadie that has fantastic conformation. I last trimmed her about 8-9 months ago. I wanted to share with you how well her feet maintain themselves. The feet don't flare and distort at all really and are as level 9 months after I trimmed her as the day I did them. This is what they look like without any farriery attention.

This sequence of pictures are of a hind foot that I had shod a few days previously. Falcor had a good play in the field and another horse would have come up close behind him and trodden on this outside heel. It was really bent, yet the shoe was still on really tight.

The only thing to do is take it off straighten it up and pop it back on no harm done.