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Stretch - a Missouri Fox Trotter

Before, September 9th, 2005

This Fox Trotter is a teenaged gelding with a very unusual gait anomaly.

When the current owner originally saw him, he was being ridden by an experienced rider, and his right rear leg was so weak that he literally started to fall down. Her thought was to wonder why anyone would buy such an unsound horse.

She was later coaxed into riding him and she discovered the reason... he loves to go, has a wonderful forward personality and makes the best of whatever is on his schedule for the day. While he can easily be ridden by a novice or infrequent rider, he still has lots of spirit and a great desire to enjoy being with his rider and the trail before him.

Like the other horses owned by the same person, he had stretched growth rings, contracted and under run heels on his front feet .

The shoes were removed from this horse with two weeks of wear on them. This meant that the walls were too short to do much with, aside from reshaping them by adding a slight bevel.

He's in a stall with a paddock that is bedded in rice hulls and gets ridden or ponied weekly in Epic boots.

He's on a 2 week retrim schedule until we get his feet balanced.

Shod rear feet

Below: Right Rear foot

Setup Trim

Front left sole

Front feet

Right rear foot

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January 16, 2006 - Four Months Later

Four months later, Stretch has VERY thick soles, dense balanced walls and great concavity. He is much stronger in his rear end and is moving better than he ever has. We want his heel to be in a better position, and would like more concavity and a better toe, but he's come a LONG way!

His right rear used to twist as he moved over it, where is stays firmy planted now. He isn't perfect - he's an older gelding and can't be expected to revert to a 4 year olds conformation - but his owner says he is a dramatically different horse to ride.

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Linda Cowles Hoof Care
Serving the greater SF Bay Area & Northern California
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