Apache’s Trim

 

 

I called my farrier on Monday morning to set up Apache’s trim. He likes to see her every 6-8 weeks during the dry season because hooves tend to grow very slowly around here when there is no moisture.

This is what our ground looks like most of the year. (Much the same way that Apache’s feet look like)

I also wanted to give Apache a week after her chiro treatment to see if there was any difference in her lameness issues. There is, but it’s very slight. Most of the changes are in her movement throughout her back and hips. She definitely is able to trot and canter more freely. But she is still off-and-on lame when walking uphill. The morning after her trim I even got my hopes up, because when I opened the gate, Apache trotted all the way down to me, and then as we walked up the hill, she walked briskly, with no apparent lameness at all. But then when I went up to feed her lunch, she walked down to greet me and then heaved herself up the hill behind me, favoring that left front leg again. Bummer.

 

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Note: I took the following “BEFORE” photos 5 days before her trim, the day after the vet was here to give Apache the nerve block and her chiro adjustments.

Note: The “AFTER” photos I took on Tuesday, right after the farrier left. I should mention that my farrier, Scott, was pleased to see that I had remembered to soak Apache’s feet with water before he arrived, because sometimes I forget (bad horse owner!) and he has to work extra hard trying to trim her hard-as-rock hooves. This time her feet were much softer and more pliable, and a lot easier to trim.

Note: Please excuse the dirty hooves and not-so-great photos. I was by myself with Apache unhaltered and munching hay while I tried to pick out hooves and pick them up, along with trying to hold the camera and focus. I probably should have asked for an assistant, but hopefully the photos aren’t too bad.

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Front Left Before:

(You can still see some of the dried blood from the nerve block injection on the back of her hoof, and lots of chips and sand cracks from our hard, dry, rock covered ground ) 

 

 

 

Front Left After:

(My farrier was advised by the vet to take some pressure off her toes, especially on the steep hills she has to walk up every day in her paddock. After watching how Apache moved up and down the hill, he went to work squaring the front toes, which I believe some folks call a Mustang Roll? She’s still getting used to the shorter toe and sometimes seems to forget that her toes aren’t long now. But I can already see how much easier it is for her to walk up the hill now)  

 

 (That’s a smooshed flower above her frog)

 

Apache sloughed off a huge chunk of her frog and had a lot of loose frog. My farrier only took off what her foot was willing to give, but it was still a large amount. Normally he doesn’t touch the frog or much of the sole, unless there is anything obviously loose. Surprisingly, Apache wasn’t tender or ouchie on her foot. Scott has always been very good about being conservative with trims and my horses (Baby Doll and Apache) have never been sore after he’s done. But still her poor crumbly frog looks pitiful to me.

Back Left Before:

(Sorry about the gunk, but trying to photograph one of the hooves that clocked me in the head a couple months ago still gives me the willies, so I took this photo purposefully trying to spend the least amount of time back there.)

 

Back Left After:

 

Back Right Before:

 

(Same explanation,as above, for the gunky foot. This was probably the actual hoof that made contact with my face.)

Back Right After:

(Notice the red bruise just to left of the middle of her hoof. Do you think that my skull caused that? gah!)

 

I’m not sure what that little bit of redness is located in the white line area of the toe. Bruise?  

 

 

Front Right Before: 

 

  

 

Front Right After: 

 

Both Front Feet Before:

(This photo was taken with Apache standing on a slight incline, so her pastern and hoof angles aren’t quite right)

Both Front Feet After:

 

 

Both Back Feet Before:

 

Both Back Feet After:

 

Something interesting that my farrier did notice during his examination of her. He saw and felt a small hard lump on the outside of her front left pastern.

Scott called it sidebone. Sidebone is the name given to the calcification, ossification or bony deposits in the otherwise flexible lateral cartilage of the foot. It’s a common condition in horses and most often occurs in the front feet, and it doesn’t usually cause lameness unless there are complications.

These supporting structures are found in all horses above and just forward of the heels of the horse's feet. They are part of the anti-concussion mechanisms of the horse's foot - which also involve the frog and the navicular bone. Most horses get a degree of sidebone in the lateral cartilage of the foot as they get older without showing any signs of lameness.

Sidebone can be detected by feeling around above the coronary band - when there is loss of the normal flexibility of the heel over the affected cartilage.

 

The coronary band of the foot may also bulge over the cartilage and the conformation of the hoof wall may become more upright. Lameness can occur in horses with sidebone if some of the bony area fractures - or if 2 separate ossifications develop and rub together.

This will present itself as an acute or sudden lameness. A vet will be able to to X-ray the foot to confirm the diagnosis and assess the damage, which is something I may be doing for Apache if she continues to be lame. For now, I’m giving her daily massages and soaking her feet. She does seem to enjoy the cold water on her feet and lower legs, so I’m hoping that will help. I’m also getting some bute to act as an anti-inflammatory, in case that may make her feel better and heal quicker, too.

 

 

 Poor Apache. I think she was also getting confused as to why I kept pointing my camera at her feet for so long.

 

It’s disappointing that I’ve owned Apache for less than 8 months, and out of those 8 months, I’ve only been able to ride her for 4 months. The other 4 she’s been lame or dealing with sage sickness symptoms. I try not to compare, but it’s amazing to me that I owned Baby Doll for over 2 years and she was never sick, injured, sore or lame that entire time.

Maybe Baby Doll was just a tough old broad who was made of rusty nails, but it’s interesting how two horses can be so different, while even being kept on the same property and cared for in the same way, too.

I was hoping to ride Apache in the back-to-back Halloween ACTHA rides at Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue, but I was asked today if I’d consider working as a judge on Saturday and possibly Sunday, too. For now, I’ve agreed to be a judge on Saturday, I kept Sunday open, just in case Apache shows me she’s ready to head out on the trails by then.

Come on, my pretty girl, let’s blow this taco stand and go have some fun together. Feel better, please?