P's feet have been changing DRAMATICALLY since she went off to her summer camp and this past visit made it even more obvious how fast her hooves are adapting.
P is still bare behind and shod up front but all four feet are showing crazy changes.
It's most noticeable up front where her toe is looking more normal and her heels are widening signifactly with her new, bigger natural balance shoes.
The same is happening in her hinds, but the combo of running around all day on varied surfaces + barefoot is making this mare grow some Serious. hoof. I love it.
Take a look at this (bad) pic of P's front toes before camp (Sorry for the awful shot from Jan it's the only old hoof shot on my phone to compare to, and her feet looked worse after six months of shoes):
And a pic of them now:
I know the angles are different and she's standing on weird sloped ground... but the toe looks So much better, her angles are happier and her foot is damn near ROUND
Oh and check this out- the picture I can't stop staring at- P's shoes since she arrived at camp. Newest shoe on the left, oldest on the right (the pad was added for her first week since she was so ouchy)
Already she's gone from a size 0 to a 2! I could've cried when I realized how tight and compressed her feet had gotten without me realizing it...
I think the progression of shoes says it all... And I like the path we are on...
More later!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Her feet resemble bare hooves in those shoes. That is very interesting. Feet really are incredible. I hope the progress continues!
ReplyDeleteYou know sometimes I think that Natural Balance shoes are the complete devil. In theory, they SOUND great - but the last several horses I've seen in them have struggled and been really footsore. In fact, the last two I saw had their breakover pulled SO far back that they would land heel first, then rock forward and tip onto their toes, and rattle back onto their heels, and chatter forward again their toes... all during the period that their limb was on the ground, BEFORE they lifted off again. The balance of the foot was so off that they were violently unstable. Did I mention they were footsore for at least a week after every shoeing? "Oh that's normal," I was told. Uh... no, no it's not.
ReplyDeleteOh wait..... I just saw that your newest shoe was on the LEFT, still a Natural Balance shoe.... oh well, glad it works for P ;)
ReplyDeletelol, Andrea. Yes. I'm with you, I've seen the extreme-far-back-breakover with natural balance shoes before, and it's a little creepy. Fortunately, we aren't there with P at the moment. Right now, her heels are widening a TON, frog is growing and her foot is looking a lot more like a normal hoof.
ReplyDeletefingers crossed we stay in a happy place. So far I'm liking what Cowboy Man is doing.. good changes, but no soreness.
Quite a change. I'm just excited that Izzy's feet are actually the same size now, lol. So happy for you and P!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Pia's feet are improving so much! :) Now you're going to join our club of the totally hoof obsessed lol.
ReplyDelete