Do boots work on the east coast. Heck yes. Boot Maine-ia is hoof boot perspective from an East Coaster. Sharon Levasseur will be posting her experiences under Boot Maine-ia.
On Sunday 8/16, I was horrified to see damage and bruising on the hairless part of the skin on Zephyr’s heels on his hind feet. I couldn’t take pictures that night, but this is what they looked like the next morning. I applied Equine Relief as soon as I saw the damage, and it looked SOOO much better in the morning! Instead of raw soft skin, it looked like a nice dry/hard frog. That’s what you see in the pictures below. I couldn’t even see any bruising, even though it was obvious the night before.
I have no idea what caused it, it appeared overnight when he was spending his days hanging out with his cow/horse friends in the pasture down the road. His last glue-ons were removed two weeks ago (on 8/2), otherwise I would have suspected the heels of the boots had been too tight.
Please forgive/ignore the mud on the bottom of his hooves that makes them look wonky.
EasyCare was about to send me a set of the new EasyBoot Gloves with the prototype gaiters, and I needed to double-check sizes. He’s been wearing size 1s on his hind feet, but due to the bruising/damage I was considering whether he should bump up to 1.5s instead. So on 8/19 I trimmed his hind feet in preparation for a fresh fitting.
Here’s both hooves after their trim. I’m still relatively new at this, so feedback from knowledgeable professionals is welcome! Looking at these pictures though, YES, I can see that his toes are creeping forward; it’s especially obvious on the left hind.
LEFT HIND: Farrier trim first(photo taken in early June), and my trim second (I’ve been trimming him since the June photos).
Right Hind: Farrier trim first, my trim on second.
Here’s his right hind hoof in a size #1 Easyboot Glue on. The first photo is the original version of the Glove, in June after the farrier removed his shoes and trimmed him, and the second photo is the new thick-toe Glove. (I realize his hair looks brown in the new photo, but it was just the lighting and the dirty leg!) I don’t know if his hoof got bigger in addition to the toe getting longer, or if the thicker-toe version is also less stretchy, but it definitely fits differently. His hoof doesn’t go all the way in.
And here’s the same hoof in a size 1.5. Again... farrier trim photo is first, mine is second.
My conclusion... it’s clear that his hooves are all a little longer than they were when I first did the fit kit. I keep trying to get the hoof wall even with the sole, but when I do, he’s really ouchy on any kind of rocks or pebbles. He may just need some hoof wall! I’ll continue to take pictures and compare them as I go along.
Sharon - can you take photos of his hooves as they are now, taken from the side without the boots on? The photos with the boots on make it look like he has got major toe flare going on.
Posted by: Lucy Chaplin Trumbull | August 27, 2009 at 06:02 PM
It appears to me the whiteline is stretched, and may benefit from rolling the toe and quarters back to the edge of the sole. See Pete Rameys site for how to information and his whiteline strategy.
Its not uncommon for horses hooves to expand and 'grow' in the barefoot state and certainly going immediately from shod to boots won't immediately see a change but maybe over a month it could outgrow the initial gloves boot.
Posted by: Rae | August 30, 2009 at 04:22 PM