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Hoof Care and Owner Obligation Agreement
Barefoot Case Examples- Jerry
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Barefoot Case Examples-Tulsa
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Pete Ramey Clinic

                                                  "BE INFORMED"

Were you aware that  an 8 week or longer trim schedule is way to long for your horse? 

 A 4 to 5 week schedule is recommended, the reason behind this is the longer you go between trims the more damage you do to the hoof. The horse was designed to walk on his sole, frog and heel and wall. Not just the hoof wall. Think of walking on the hoof wall like to walking on your finger nail. Every step you take rips it more and more.

Ever since I have taken over my own trimmings I have rid my horses of flares, winging, high heels and underun heels,  toe landing, frogs that are thrushy . Flares are painful to a horses and cause damage to the hoof. Flares are caused by unbalanced trimmings. Winging caused by unbalanced trims. High heels and underun heels are caused by 8 week trims or longer. My horses move better then ever due to being "Informed"

My first horse started to stumble /trip and short striding long before I even thought about trimming. When I told the trimmer what problems I was having the reply was "it was conformational" Well it was due to high heels, toe landing first due to the 8 week trimming schedule. Think about it this way. Walk in a pair of high heels and tell me how you are landing on your feet. Do you walk on the balls of your feet and after a few hours on your feet do they burn and your toes hurt? Another way is to slightly raise your heel off the ground, How does it feel? Are you putting weight on the ball  of your foot. When you walk barefoot  see how you land on your feet, You land slightly heel first. This is the way the horse should walk not on his toes or walls.

Underun heels and long toes goes hand and hand. You need to treat both by very scheduled trims to eliminate it. My gelding that I purchased over a year ago had bad feet when I got him. I knew it. This is when I just started to trim. When I first rode him , he stumbled,  he short strided and had a limp and certainly was ochy on gravel. He had contracted hooves along with knucking at the knees , heel pain and  toe landing. I'm now in the finale stretch on rehabing him. I wish I had taken pictures so that one could see the progress we both made. Most people do not have time to wait so they put shoes on thinking that this will fix the problem, which in most cases is just a temporay fix. I wanted to heal the horse from the inside not conceal it. The changes that he has made due to weekly trims and now on a 4 week schedule his feet are almost there. His sole is telling me when to do more so I can take more heel off. His lenght of stride has increased, he is landing flat, next he will be landing  slightly heel first.  I have been walking him out in the pasture, we go 5 laps and are  just waiting for the ice to melt in the drive way so I dont fall. He needs more abrasion from the road. Another wonderful thing to witness is that he is standing square now. Its remarkable, truly exciting to see!

07-22-06 Jerry was fitted with boots and pads, to further his healing. His digital cushions are soft and with the boots and pads this will make him use his heel  and  get his digital cushions to firm up. He is now able to walk across gravel , his length of stride is huge and  is happy to go.

 

And you wonder why the horse is sore after a trim?

Do you experience any of these symptom's with your horse?
High heels can result in
Ringbone
Navicular Syndrome
Short striding
Side Bone
Forging
Quarter cracks
Over reaching
Stumbling
 
Long toes can result in
Navicular
Bowed Tendon
Pulled suspensory
Caudal Heel Syndrome
Under Run heels
Forging
Over reaching
Stumbling
Promotes toe first landing
Broken back Axis
Flaring

 
I care about your horse's hooves, if you can't  get yor farrier to help call me. I will be more then happy to show you where the problem's lie.  Prior to pulling shoes order a pair of boots and pads, If you horse has shoes on , have your Farrier pull them and let him be for a couple of days.
 
Read my Hoof Care and Owner agreement: Hoof Care and Owner Obligation Agreement
 
 
 
I highly recommend boots and pads and the ones I recommend are Easy Boot Epic  (with gators)
They can be purchased at Valley Vet  for $51.00 a piece and pads are under 5.00. And shipping is less then $8.00 via the post office.