Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Soxy is fine! He didn't even have to sedate her. He did all the things I had done, but I hadn't been able to see a thing. A more experienced set of hands (and an assistant, which I don't have) are absolutely worth the exam fee. I feel much better now. And I enjoyed visiting with my vet, which I haven't done since the spring.


In other news, I was able to trim Anchor's front feet today. First with the help of the rope, then without. He sometimes would regress back to needing the rope to get his foot up, but then he'd hold it up pretty nicely for me. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Check out these monster bars and ultra long heels:


I just couldn't nip some of that hoof one-handed, so I tried and was able to put his hoof behind my knee in my modified farrier hold. I don't actually clamp down with both legs like a farrier does, I just gently hold their hoof in the crook of my knee and they have to cooperate by leaving it there. He was a good boy, mostly. Sometimes on his bad side he'd try to scoot backward, which is awkward when I have my knee behind his foot. Had to get out of the way pretty quick, which kind of scared him.

But anyway, he's trimmed.
You can see where I sawed off a bit too much toe at 10:00 there. That was back when I took his toes off. It's an ugly mistake but it'll grow back.

Here's another before shot, but on the other hoof. I didn't get an after on that one. It looks much like the other, but without the too-short toe quarter. This frog had a rotten layer that needed to come off. Smelly.

I didn't have time to practice trailer loading with him, but if I get up early enough I can do that in the morning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good progress on his feet! He is such a sweet boy!

Laura said...

Wow, those are some monster bars, Andrea! But his frogs/heels look nice and wide. Good job on the trim. I'm learning how to trim feet. I posted some pics of two of my Arabs' feet on the Moms/Daughters board, to illustrate a hoof with contracted heels versus a healthy hoof. Horse's hooves are so interesting.