Hoof Rehab 101

Exhibit A for "Why You Should Not Go Three Months Without Trimming Your Horse's Hooves!" Salem arrived with 8-mile-long hooves that were chipped, flared, cracked, and generally looking fairly horrid. His walls were separating from the rest of the hoof on all 4 and he had huge toe callouses and TONS of false sole. Despite several days of major rasping, this is the sight that greeted Candy when she arrived for Salem's trim appointment today:

Note the giant chip on the left side of the hoof

 

 

Candy marked Salem's hooves to show approximately where they should be, but explained that she couldn't take everything off in one trim because doing do so would make Salem sore. The markings are a great visual, though, because they show just how overgrown his hooves are.

Salem was mainly cooperative during his trim, but he was clearly uncomfortable when his back hooves were being done. Obviously, his back was a bit sore, so we just took things slowly and gave him lots of breaks. And after tons of nipping, cutting, and rasping, Salem's hooves were back to somewhat normal.

 Much better! (And I love my Kensington fly boots!)

You can see the Sharpie mark where his hoof should be,

but we just couldn't get him there in one trim

This is his left front, which is the worst of his hooves -- it has a long way to go!

In two weeks, Salem will get another trim; after that, he will be able to go back to a regular 5-week schedule. In the meantime, I'm supposed to do lots of White Lightning soaks in order to kill all the bacteria/fungus/random-nastiness and to loosen up all the retained sole so it can slough off by itself.

So far:

Deworming -- Done
Hoof Issues -- Resolving
Bath -- Done
Ulcer Medication -- Ordered
Weight Gain -- Resolving (as in "Throwing Ridiculous Amounts of Food at Him")
Spring Shots -- Forthcoming (this Friday)
Tooth Check -- (Same as Above)

We're getting there!