Dali, 12 yr old American Saddlebred |
8/2005 It had been many months since
the 2 pasture-boarded Saddlebreds
had been trimmed, and owner
Jill had become very concerned
about their feet. She was very
committed to keeping them barefoot,
but had a bad experience after
the 19 year old mare was lame
for a month following being
trimmed in a clinic situation.
She was looking for someone
who could trim conservatively. |
1/2009 - If I was trimming these feet today I would spend more time cleaning up shedding frogs and beveling the heels. There are a lot of other tweaks I would make, balance the feet better. My trim has evolved! |
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August 13 trim
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Dali is a very active fellow,
as sweet as they come, but his
feet were beat up! They had
significant hunks of wall missing,
wall separation, under run heels
and lots of flare.
I was extremely pleased with
how the geldings feet turned
out. I was very conservative,
pulled his heels back and smoothed
rough edges. His heel needs
to come down, but the wall damage
needed to grow out first. Jill
said he was extremely sound
the following week - much sounder
than before the trim. |
Before
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September
10th Dali's Second Trim
Dali's feet held up
great and 4 weeks later he had
lots of wall to work with. His
toe was very long on the front
left, both front heels were
too high, and he was shedding
a lot of sole. I trotted him
on a lunge line to see how he
was moving, and he was basically sound
but was landing slightly toe first. |
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After
- I managed to get Dali's
heels down well without invading
the sole at the heel buttress,
and he had adequate wall to
support the sole parameter and
still get a bit of bevel to
keep the wall from chipping.
The growth rings on his wall
still indicated that his toe
was stretched out... I gave
him a secure heel buttress to
land on and moved his toe back
to anchorage him to use his
heel better. When we trotted him out, he
used his heels extremely well,
landing heel first consistently. |
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October 9th
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This trip was soooo rewarding! This was Dali and Stella's 3rd trim, and their feet look superb!! Okay, I'd like to have their heels down and both have sole that;s almost ready to shed, but their feet look super considering where they started. Check them out! |
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