My mini has little or no frog and hollow hooves in the front!!!!!

[Tremor]

Our vets here know nothing about horses, just how to give them shots and take coggins. We are limited to only a couple of farriers in the town I am in. We will try to give her the best hoof care we can! Thank you so much for your advice!! I will see what we can do about farriers, because he does an awesome job on everyone else's hooves, just not hers, and I think part of it is because she isn't a huge fan of gettin her hooves trimmed, so he always cuts her session short. We have a hoof file, is there anything we can do with that to help a little In between trims?

I wanted to make a couple notes.

Just because a vet is predominantly a cattle/pig/sheep vet they have to know something about horses. I think you're underestimating your vet.

Secondly, the fact that your farrier takes as little time as possible on this mare is a warning sign to me. They may not be paid to train that mare but they are paid to do a quality trim. You as the owner are supposed to make sure that your mare stands for the farrier. No excuses. Your "farrier" ought to be trimming your mare and charging you extra for the poor ground manners. They can and do get injured; size doesn't matter.

I trim my own minis (No I don't recommend it. I do it because a farrier isn't allowed on the property but I'm planning on becoming an AFA certified farrier when I graduate and have the money.) and it can take me an hour plus to trim one of my minis. In that time I am critiquing my own trim, soaking hooves, training my horse to stand for me, and actually trimming. (Soaking is a god send btw) I've had to deal with long hooves recently. It sucks.

Lastly, I would take a VERY careful look at your other horses' hooves. The problem may not be with just this one mare.

 

[Minimor]

We have a hoof file, is there anything we can do with that to help a little In between trims?

You would have to do a lot of filing to take off the amount of hoof that needs to come off.

 

[rubyviewminis]

Oh geez. Listen, I stopped reading the posts at the pictures. Those heels need to be closer to the widest part of the frog. She most defintely has a fungus going on in the frog and bulb, see the slit ? Waay too long. Her toes will probably need to be backed up with regular 4 to 5 week trims. Instead of giving you the whole history of my nightmare farriers and learning to trim barefoot I'll just try to help even if others think I don't know what I'm talking about.

Most vets and farriers DO NOT help or know anything about hoof care in the respect of trims, balance, length, etc. and have no idea when they come across minis. Once she is trimmed down correctly her legs would probably go straight, and right now the way she is overgrown so much her coffin bone is pointing down on its tip, and all her joints are stressed. Hooves should be concave to allow expansion with each step like the arch in your foot. Minis don't have as much weight so everything in the hoof is "not so much". I learned through trial and error/lots of error with vets and farriers. www.barefoothorse.com. Someone sold a nice Pete Ramey book for horse owners on the little horse barn auction for the chapman's and that book is wonderful if someone wants to learn how to read a hoof and trim their own. I lied I went back to read and believe me not just the frog *pumps* the blood through the hoof tissue, the whole hoof does! I am still trying ot bring the long heel down on one of my mares, and I give leeway with the minis because they have heel height in proportion to what regular horses do. But heels need to be at or close to the frog and bulb. NOT an inch or so.

I trimmed to normal 3 miniatures that had foundered so says the previous owners. Even if they had, a normal trim is what they still need. It has nothing to do with properly trimming their hooves. I had help with my foals hooves from kind members here, and a master farrer turned barefoot trimmer that I still very much appreciate.

She does have nice hooves even overgrown. Ditto what Tremor posted 100% and every single mini (except the ones I bought from Susan O) were not only overgrown but flared so bad with so much thrush and filth I can't even describe it. Most mini owners I have come across in this area don't give them any care at all. Makes me so angry.

 

[Marty]

These feet don't even look like they've been trimmed in many months at all. When a frog is lost like that it is more than likely due to thrush. Get some Thrushbuster or some kind of thrush medicine and start putting it in that area daily. I also feel your pain about not having a lot of good farriers in your area. The farriers in my neck of the woods are a joke and I cannot use them.I'm all about "cheap: and cutting corners where I can but not at the expense of my horse's welfare. You have a problem that needs to be corrected by a knowledgable farrier which you do not have. Spend the money now before this comes back and hits you in the wallet tens times as bad. Do not throw good money after bad and try to make do;. That's like getting run over by the same train twice. My farrier drives 2 hours to get to me and I do pay a trip charge. Her services are well worth it. I suggest you look in another area and bring in a knowledgable farrier and bite the bullet and pay the higher fee. Do not attempt to rasp these feet yourself. Again, look out of your area by a simple google seach and bring someone in that is worth it. You can also call some professional stables with a great reputation and ask them who they use. Best wishes to you and your horse for complete success!.

 

[kay56649]

I wanted to make a couple notes.

Just because a vet is predominantly a cattle/pig/sheep vet they have to know something about horses. I think you're underestimating your vet.

Secondly, the fact that your farrier takes as little time as possible on this mare is a warning sign to me. They may not be paid to train that mare but they are paid to do a quality trim. You as the owner are supposed to make sure that your mare stands for the farrier. No excuses. Your "farrier" ought to be trimming your mare and charging you extra for the poor ground manners. They can and do get injured; size doesn't matter.

I trim my own minis (No I don't recommend it. I do it because a farrier isn't allowed on the property but I'm planning on becoming an AFA certified farrier when I graduate and have the money.) and it can take me an hour plus to trim one of my minis. In that time I am critiquing my own trim, soaking hooves, training my horse to stand for me, and actually trimming. (Soaking is a god send btw) I've had to deal with long hooves recently. It sucks.

Lastly, I would take a VERY careful look at your other horses' hooves. The problem may not be with just this one mare.

I am honestly not underestimating our vets! They don't have enough experience with horses. We have tried to get their opinion on some horse things and it's either "I don't know" or some common sense reason. We have been working on her standing better for the farrier and touching her feet more, so hopefully the next trim will be better! We are having the farrier out very soon though. We have an equine vet but he said he can't do much with minis, so that's the kind of luck we have here. I will post pics when she gets her feet done!

I wanted to make a couple notes.

Just because a vet is predominantly a cattle/pig/sheep vet they have to know something about horses. I think you're underestimating your vet.

Secondly, the fact that your farrier takes as little time as possible on this mare is a warning sign to me. They may not be paid to train that mare but they are paid to do a quality trim. You as the owner are supposed to make sure that your mare stands for the farrier. No excuses. Your "farrier" ought to be trimming your mare and charging you extra for the poor ground manners. They can and do get injured; size doesn't matter.

I trim my own minis (No I don't recommend it. I do it because a farrier isn't allowed on the property but I'm planning on becoming an AFA certified farrier when I graduate and have the money.) and it can take me an hour plus to trim one of my minis. In that time I am critiquing my own trim, soaking hooves, training my horse to stand for me, and actually trimming. (Soaking is a god send btw) I've had to deal with long hooves recently. It sucks.

Lastly, I would take a VERY careful look at your other horses' hooves. The problem may not be with just this one mare.

I am honestly not underestimating our vets! They don't have enough experience with horses. We have tried to get their opinion on some horse things and it's either "I don't know" or some common sense reason. We have been working on her standing better for the farrier and touching her feet more, so hopefully the next trim will be better! We are having the farrier out very soon though. We have an equine vet but he said he can't do much with minis, so that's the kind of luck we have here. I will post pics when she gets her feet done!

 

[kay56649]

Oh geez. Listen, I stopped reading the posts at the pictures. Those heels need to be closer to the widest part of the frog. She most defintely has a fungus going on in the frog and bulb, see the slit ? Waay too long. Her toes will probably need to be backed up with regular 4 to 5 week trims. Instead of giving you the whole history of my nightmare farriers and learning to trim barefoot I'll just try to help even if others think I don't know what I'm talking about.

Oh thank you for understanding!! Ha ha...so if you had to give me instructions on what to

Do with her feet what would it be? Like in the first trim, what should be done?

Most vets and farriers DO NOT help or know anything about hoof care in the respect of trims, balance, length, etc. and have no idea when they come across minis. Once she is trimmed down correctly her legs would probably go straight, and right now the way she is overgrown so much her coffin bone is pointing down on its tip, and all her joints are stressed. Hooves should be concave to allow expansion with each step like the arch in your foot. Minis don't have as much weight so everything in the hoof is "not so much". I learned through trial and error/lots of error with vets and farriers. www.barefoothorse.com. Someone sold a nice Pete Ramey book for horse owners on the little horse barn auction for the chapman's and that book is wonderful if someone wants to learn how to read a hoof and trim their own. I lied I went back to read and believe me not just the frog *pumps* the blood through the hoof tissue, the whole hoof does! I am still trying ot bring the long heel down on one of my mares, and I give leeway with the minis because they have heel height in proportion to what regular horses do. But heels need to be at or close to the frog and bulb. NOT an inch or so.

I trimmed to normal 3 miniatures that had foundered so says the previous owners. Even if they had, a normal trim is what they still need. It has nothing to do with properly trimming their hooves. I had help with my foals hooves from kind members here, and a master farrer turned barefoot trimmer that I still very much appreciate.

She does have nice hooves even overgrown. Ditto what Tremor posted 100% and every single mini (except the ones I bought from Susan O) were not only overgrown but flared so bad with so much thrush and filth I can't even describe it. Most mini owners I have come across in this area don't give them any care at all. Makes me so angry.

 

[kay56649]

So if you had to give me advice on what needs to be done in the first trim, please explain what it should be? Should I be putting thrush medication on it or is it just due to her hoof being to long?

 

[kay56649]

Should I be soaking her feet? I am totally blind on what I can do at this point except for getting her hooves trimmed! We have had a few people look at our other animals and our farrier does a beautiful job on them, it's only her that he doesn't do good on!!

 

[kay56649]

Should I be soaking her feet? I am totally blind on what I can do at this point except for getting her hooves trimmed! We have had a few people look at our other animals and our farrier does a beautiful job on them, it's only her that he doesn't do good on!!

 

[kay56649]

Also, what should I do about the fungus in her hooves??

 

[shorthorsemom]

Pardon me... you are sweet, your farrier is incompetent. He shouldn't be trimming feet even for free. sorry.

I know personally what you are going through because I had the same problem when I used a bargain farrier and he began to ruin the feet of my guys. He was cheap, I was reluctant to change and I ended up finding a new guy and paying $35 per trim for over a year and finally have decent healthy feet. I will never do that again I am sooooo glad I made the change. Wish I could post before and after photos of my guys. The feet as pointed out by everybody are way long. Almost should be trimmed back to where they are lighter in color for healthy length. The feet are throwing "flares" to compensate for being overly long. They are angled totally wrong. If your farrier is not measuring angle (he can't be by the look of the feet), then he is trimming wrong. The foot response to the wrong angle and too long of toe and too high on heel is why your horses feet look hollow. The frog will grow back. I suggest spraying the feet with some dilute lysol solution for now to clean up any bacteria and to clean up thrush if you have it. If this incompetent farrier starts chopping back hoof he could make your baby sore. My bargain farrier did just that... I mentioned how worried I was about the length angles and high heels... he chopped way back and my guys were sore for 2 months afterward. That was the straw that broke the camels back. If your baby gets much longer, you run the risk of opening up the white line and having a major hoof infection (gravel)... shop shop shop... find a new farrier. Must bring the feet back correct slowly. Best wishes! Hope you get some help. I wish I could send you my guy... good farriers are worth their weight in gold, small increments in hoof angle can translate to way off in the legs. Mini hooves are much more important to get the right angles. google pete Ramey.. lysol hoof... I just make it up very dilute and spray it on, works wonders.

 

[kay56649]

Oh my gosh!!! I didn't realize how bad it was!! Thank you guys so much for giving me this advice!! I am going to get some of that spray and use it on her!!

 

[Jean_B]

It sounds like you are still trying to find a 'cheap' solution by spraying something in her feet or wanting to rasp them yourself. But honestly - you are doing your mare a HUGE dis-service by not listening to well over 200 years worth of combined experience that are all saying GET A NEW FARRIER. A few trims at $35 or $40 could save you from a horse that goes DOWN because her feet are so bad. No frog - means that she will eventually go lame, not be willing to get to her feet because of the pain. Suck it up and find a new farrier, even if you have to put her on a trailer and haul her 50 miles...or more.

I fired 4 different farriers after I moved to Arkansas to an area that is considered 'horse country'. And finally found one that is worth his weight in gold. He drives 50 miles one way to get to my house so I pay him a a huge tip just for gas money. And it is worth EVERY penny. And yes, back in the day when I had 30 head - he came here every 7 weeks and did 2/3 of the herd.....so I was shelling out HUNDREDS of dollars every month...and was happy to do it. (and at my job, I work for a fraction of what I made when I was up north)

There is a right way to do this....please don't delay in getting a new (and well-recommended) farrier. There are lots of people in northern Minnesota with horses. Contact members of the Minnesota Miniature Horse Club (they have a website) and see who they might recommend.

 

[Tremor]

Jean B,

Im glad I wasn't the only one who thought that the OP was looking for the cheapest route and taking this lightly.

I was worried I was being a judgmental hag. lol.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Theres no amount of spray thats going to fix that mess. This isnt just your farrier letting the feet a tad long, they are way, way, overgrown. They look like they havent been touched in months. The farrier you have cant fix this. This is physically painful to the horse. It causes stress on the coffin bone, stress on the joints, has the legs crooked which is probably painful, not to mention ruining her conformation. There are some things you can be a bargain shopper with, and some you need to suck it up and pay what its worth. $8 a trim is unbeievable, I thought the $25 I pay per horse was cheap (and I have several). The farrier probably charges that price because no one would hire them at the "normal" rate in the area.

Her frogs arent going to be fixable until a compident farrier comes out and fixes the mess the current guy made. They need trimmed so that her frogs are close to the ground to promote circulation and manure doesnt pack in them, and then they will grow.

Im all for saving a buck, but not at the expence of their health and well being.

 

[countrymini]

Ouch, looks bad. Its a wonder it hasn't flared worse than it has with that height on those toes. Good on you for asking for advice, with all these experienced responses you should be able to make a good start on her recovery. Good luck

 

[shorthorsemom]

The spray will help with the bacteria. Pete ramey recommends dilute lysol.. you can also soak. A new farrier is needed everybody agrees. Goodness knows everybody is trying to save money these days... she put out her story...she included photos..she asked for help... how about posting some normal feet photos for her to view.. it took me a couple of hard knocks to let go of my bargain farrier too.. when he lamed my horses he was fired..in reality he should have been fired long before it got to that... those feet are going to cause major problems.. I used the dilute lysol several times a day on my guys.. really helped for a starter...I cant post photos I have some I sent my new farrier by Internet and he was concerened enouh to make an emergency call for my guys.....my ex farrier did lots of big horses...seemed to have experience...but really didn't have a clue how to trim minks where small increments of change in the hoof can really skew the legs... education is the key...my new guy spelled it all out for me..the old guy told me I was wrong to worry... take care..hope you find help soon..the bigger bucks on a good farrier are cheaper than a vet..if the hoof sole recedes much more you can get into bone...infections in the white line take forever to grow out...trust me I know...

 

[HGFarm]

Her feet look way too long to me and appear they need a severe trimming! They also appear out of balance to me. Is the farrier dubbing her toes for a reason? If you look at the actual profile angle of her hooves, it is not in line with the angle of her pastern, and it appears her toe is being chopped off to try to make up for that. It also appears that her outside might be longer than her inside- hard to tell from the pics- but this would cause her to toe out even more than she does naturally. I would find a farrier that can get her straightened out and trim her correctly.

 

[ohmt]

Will you pm me with your location? I had no idea you were in MN. We are 30 min from the MN border here. If you are close enough, I could maybe stop by. I also trim my horse's feet. I am far from an expert, but I can do a decent trim amd possibly get her back on track until a good farrier is found.

Tremor-that was not nice and I sincerely hope this person still comes back to ask questions.

 

[LittleBittyBritches]

Will you pm me with your location? I had no idea you were in MN. We are 30 min from the MN border here. If you are close enough, I could maybe stop by. I also trim my horse's feet. I am far from an expert, but I can do a decent trim amd possibly get her back on track until a good farrier is found.

Tremor-that was not nice and I sincerely hope this person still comes back to ask questions.

I just wanted to say ohmt- that is a really nice gesture.