It looks like she took a lot of flare off the front wall, thinned it, then didn't bevel and the tremendous breakover torque at the toe has chipped the remaining wall away exposing the sole.
Your horse is very flared forward. If you look at the side shot, you will see a much different hoof wall angle compared to the existing fetlock angle. This has also pulled right back on the heels. It's going to take awhile to correct this and get that hoof back under the horse's descending weight. (optimal is when horse is standing straight, draw a line down the middle of the cannon bone to the ground..it should touch the ground at the back of the heel platforms, not the heel bulbs. You're line just hits the ground. The blue lines should be one and the same. This is how how much flared foreward the hoof is and needs to come back. See the bulging heel bulb? Trying to help the heel platforms that have left the building...ouch!
When the inside is high, the horse will toe in. When the outside is high, the horse will toe out. This is inside high...makes sense?
The heels are short enough, just tweak the higher one so that the two lines are parallel. You want to keep the heel height because you have to go after the toe and you can't work both ends of the stick at the same time, plus you want to preserve a heel first landing. When you get the pull off that toe, it will stop pulling the heels forward and things will straighten up. Keep the heel platform surfaces flat-to-ground,(see how the left heel surface slants upwards? Should be also parallel to the bottom line at the heel bulbs) put the rasp in your hand backwards and pull straight back on them to extend the surface back to help heel support and relieve the bulb above it. Always obey live sole and don't get too short on them, but think "back"
Actually, I was thinking she had fantastic concavity until you told me that it was reamed out. This reamed part would be the sole on the outside of the collateral groove that runs tightly around the base of the frog. The bottom of that groove will not lie to you and I still see depth compared to the hoof wall height at the side and still feel promise. The lie is, that when you look at the outside hoof, it appears short, but on the inside, appears long and that's the reaming out that's doing that. Ignore all that. Find the edge of sole and obey it all around...period, and it will be right for the horse.
Anyone who reams out sole like that should be hit with a rasp! You obey the sole and do what you are told everywhere, according to sole. Basically, she's ripped all the pages out of the book. I feel your confusion and it makes me mad. The truthful guidance of how to trim this foot has been lost. Basically, what she's done is weaken the integrity of the hoof capsule and left the pull on it. Chances are, the sole will fill in again with a vengeance...let it, just keep obeying it no matter what it does.
This next pic shows approximately the edge of sole, but run your hoof pick around the rim and see if you delineate a line between sole edge and wall coming up out of it for guidance. (soaking the hoof and getting it really clean to give yourself half a chance to see.)
Get the wall height down even with your hoofpick mark so that its dead even with your mark and the wall surface is also flat-to-ground. When you look at the heel shot, the heels should be balanced points with the rest of the foot in the background looking like a perfect sunset between those points. (no high spots) You'll be biting more length at the toe and relaxing that bite as you get around to the heels...just follow the sole. This will bring the toe down, leaving the heels and making the hoof just a little more upright and not looking like the conformation of a human foot.
Now check everything and make sure you got there with everything written above.
Now the bevel and here is where you work your magic of taking the torque off the hoof and that strong pull that you are going to dealing with for awhile.
Your white lines are fairly tight, so with a really clean hoof. (set the hoof down on a towel to keep it clean.) Look at the edge of sole, see the white line (which is not white) then the water line (which is white) and then the hoof wall, all running around the sole in that order. Find the inner edge of the water line. From 10-2 o'clock rasp a 45 degree bevel, leaving a hair of that inner edge of that water line still even with sole and start the leading edge of that bevel just outside of it. As you carry that bevel on around to the sides to the back of the quarters, relax that leading bevel edge out to leave more support at the quarters, leaving 1/2 of the wall still intact and on the ground at the sides. Pick the hoof up and look at it from the side and make sure you got there with your 45 angle all around. Go back to 10-2 o'clock and without disturbing your leading edge of that bevel, coax the angle to be a 60 degree steeper angle and meld it in with your 45 at the sides. Set her hoof down, see her lick and chew with relief and take her for a walk and see the flow as she rolls over that toe. No more running into brick walls. When you set the hoof on the ground, you should see that bevel lifting the wall off the ground like someone's underpants showing. That wall's torque has been disengaged and the chipping at the toe has just been eliminated and become a past memory.
Take your time, find the edge of sole, obey it. This hoof needs to be sculpted more than shortened. Just do the fronts, don't overwhelm yourself, can do the hinds later.
The heels do need to come down, but address the toe first and concentrate on heel balance plus wait to see what the sole is going to do for a bit. Think down and back as much as the sole in front of the heel platforms will let you. (1/4" above live sole is optimal), but your pages have been torn out on that. In the meantime, keep them balanced and comfortable and with enough height so that you are not spinning your wheels at the toe efforts.
When you get done, post pics again and we'll fine tune things if needed. Also get more pics of the hinds and we'll address them. Whew!
Lyra - New Horse
May 25 2008, 11:33 PM
