05/30/2026
This sweet gelding has some hoof distortion issues that are heavily influenced by his upper body. These images are before my first trim, and after my third trim on him on six week cycle length. During his first trim with me, he had difficulty lifting his hinds back for trimming, he was much more smooth this time and didn’t need as many breaks.
The wonderful owner has been getting him bodywork, he’s been treated for ulcers, and recently started a mineral supplement.
The most notable distortion is his front left. Likely a symptom of his upper body compensation, his primary weight bearing surface of this front left hoof is the medial side- making it overly worn and forcing the whole hoof the be slanted. This distortion will take a while to totally resolve as the horse continues to get bodywork, strengths his muscles and thoracic sling, bearing weight and moving equally on his front hooves.
The hind left surprised me in how quickly it has been improving over only three appointments. As stated, he used to be very stiff and limited in lifting this hoof for trimming. At the first appointment his heels were very low and run forward. This was causing a lot of strain on the DDFT, which was tipping the coffin bone upwards and creating this “bullnose” effect to the hoof wall. Just after a few trims his heels have righted themselves up, and he has significantly more base of support in the back of his hoof.
I look forward to seeing the progress over a year.
