The Shoes are Off!

Cash got his shoes off today! I got a call this morning from my farrier saying that he was in town and able to come by and take them off.  The timing worked out perfect and I was able to zip off to the barn to meet him after work. He was originally going to come last week but he came down with the flu and wasn't able to work for a couple weeks, yikes!

Since I'm running rather short on funds until my next paycheck, I said that I'd trim Cash myself, which is something I actually enjoy.  I'm no expert, but I know enough about the balance and function of a foot to be dangerous.

After the past two months waiting (im)paitently for Cash's feet to grow, I've definitely decided that we need to try keeping his feet (namely his toes) a bit longer than we had.  He just wasn't comfortable with them that short.  He tends to have very short toes, which means a tendency to be sore in the toes.  All I did was round the toes (took off length from the top essentially), trim off some shedding frog, and called it good.  He really didn't have any length that needed to be taken off.

His front left grows a bit clubby, so finding the right angle is tricky.  You want to go by the textbook and match the pastern angle, but, a club foot is often that way because of how the horse naturally is or at one point there could have been an injury that caused a lack of weight bearing for a prolonged period.  I don't know what the reason is with Cash, but I do know that one can only alter a club foot so much--you can't force a body to conform to a shape it's not built to be.  Anywho, this is what the left front looked like after I did the toe, I rasped the heels a fraction, but they were level with the frog so didn't go further.  It'll be interesting to see if the frog starts shedding now that it'll be more load bearing.  Looking at this picture you see that it would appear he needs some toe taken off. 

 But putting the foot down you see that, really, he's not that long in the toe after all.  I may try to take a smidge more heel off.  But again, I want to try leaving his feet a touch longer as I think he needs extra padding to stay sound.

  The right front is much rounder with a lot of width to it.  It's not what I would call a flat foot, but it's borderline.  Again, same deal with the toe.  Looks long underneath...

... but perfectly fine when set on the ground.  I have no want or desire to make his toes any less.

 Overall, for a thoroughbred he's got pretty decent feet.  Nice shape, open heels, healthy frog.  I'm going to be avidly using the Keratex Hoof Hardener this week and see how it helps.

Aside from that? My day was rather crappy :(  One of our chickens died, she was one of the older hens we had (prob about 3-4 years, old for a chicken), and I think the subzero temps did her in.  I found her very lethargic in the run, brought her inside to warm up hoping that might help, but after about 2 hours she convulsed and died. By the way she was acting, I wouldn't be surprised if she had a stroke.

Then, the really cruddy part of the day was that my husband said enough's enough with the little 6 month old kitten we have, well had.  She's been peeing on a lot of things lately, I'm 110% positive it was hormones as when we got her spayed last week she was in heat.... Today she popped a squat and peed on a backpack right in front of him.  He took her over to a friend's house this evening to be their cat....  Yeah, I'm rather upset....... she was my little buddy, even if she was kitty terror.  To say my husband is impulsive is an understatement.  It's epically frustrating since I am anything but.

Gonna miss that little face :(