Dancing feet

It finally dawned on me that I never posted the changes made by my farrier when I handed Theo's foot care over to him.  So here are some crappy, hard to see images of how his feet were updated.

I was too freaked about the possibility of white line to get decent before pictures, so they're just snapped off really quick and covered with sand from the indoor.  The after pictures were from a couple days after and are, naturally, also dirty.  I'm fantastic at documentation.

Front feet before:

Front feet after:

Please ignore Theo trying to paw with the right front, I swear he's not pointing.

A lot of the difference seems to be quality time with the rasp.  All the waves and bumps are gone.  He's also in a pretty substantial shoe now.  You can see the rocker toe that was added in the picture of the actual shoe.  It does seem to help with him flipping his toes and not tripping.  His toes weren't brought back that much, but it was only four weeks since his previous shoes were put on so the fact he needed a significant trim at all was a bit disturbing.

You'll also notice the complete lack of missing chunks of hoof afterward.

Hind feet before:

Hind feet after:

The hind feet were the ones that needed some adjustments.  First came the serious quality time with the rasp.  His toes were too long and the whole thing needed shaping.  Then he got the heavier shoes put on with just four nails to give the damaged parts of his hooves a chance to grow in.  They're also set back on his shorter toes, rocking the breakover point back.  And yes, there has been a difference in him not dragging his long toes and tripping on uneven ground.

The hind left was the one I was convinced had problems because it was constantly shredding and losing nails.  Looks like a totally normal foot now.  By the next trim, the last of the missing chunks should be grown out and his feet will look totally normal.

I gently asked my farrier what he thought of his previous shoes and he gently, professionally answered that there was nothing specifically wrong, Theo just needed more time with the rasp and slightly different shoes.  And to be fair, it did take my farrier a long time to reshape everything.  But yeah, cutting corners and saving time on my horse's feet just won't fly.

I got asked if I'll be splurging on aluminum shoes for our trip to regionals.  I laughed.  I'm going to be worried about teleporting randomly around the ring, not gaining 0.5 on my gait score because my horse's feet suddenly weigh less.  Maybe next year when he's done with his debutante season.  This year?  Heavy shoes may discourage him from turning into a kite because there are aliens hiding in the shrubbery.