Buttercup had a loose shoe, and my farrier was unable to make it to my barn, so I loaded her up and took her over. She was only four weeks or so into her rotation, but we figured we might as well do all four since she'll likely just loosen or pull another shoe in a few weeks (glum, I know).
Things are actually looking up, despite the loose shoe debacle. The summer has finally started to play out with her hooves and we are getting some fantastic hoof growth ... even hoof growth, which is even better. Her heels are also starting to come in.
Front left:
Front right:
I know, I broke one of my cardinal hoof-picture rules: take pictures on even ground like cement. The ground is uneven, the angle is off and the dirt obscures a good view. But, my camera broke and we've got to deal with bad pictures this time around.
This trim (and last semi trim and the trim before) we have focused on shaving down bulges in the outer wall of the hoof. Hooves are tricky: if they grow into pressure. So a bulge is likely in get more bulgey. And she was getting bulges on the outside of her front right especially. To also help alleviate pressure from growing unwanted areas, she is also being trimmed slightly concave along her hoof so it doesn't quite meet the shoe.
We have a mixed bag of news for Bud. The pros: she has finally developed concavity in the front left hoof and is growing lots of frog (a sure sign blood flow is coming in full force) and her heels have "turned" to start to grow down into her setback shoe and are unwrapping. The con: she has gotten a slight infection in her crack again (notice the bucket in the background of the front right pics).
Things are looking up. Let's hope progress continues and we don't have too many more obstacles in front of us! Her hooves are more and more looking normal.
As a side note, I have finally put together a full chronology of hoof pictures from October 2008 through July 2009 to give to my farrier. I think he'll appreciate seeing how much progress we've made.
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