Annie - A Cracking success
Annie spent most of her life as a brood mare before finding Justine. Justine spends time with Annie trail riding and working on their horse and human-ship.
Annie had what can best be described as a patchy history. Her
feet were very neglected, overgrown, with loads of splits and cracks
when she arrived, but she was sound
to ride on
tarmac. Justine
initially
had her shod, however little progress was being made in resolving the
cracking problems, so she decided to take her barefoot in February 2006. |
 |
| Resolving the cracking was the main challenge, however her feet also had a lot of infection in the frog and white line, separation, flat soles and flaring. In her hinds the farrier had attempted to stabilise the cracking using an extra toe clip. Whilst the cracks didn’t go all the way up any more, progress was slow, and there was a lot of leverage opening the cracks at ground level. Annie showed some signs of metabolic imbalance in her general condition. Her coat was dull and she had pasture mites infecting her feathered legs. |  |
De-shoeing and set up trim, removing excess bar, hoofwall, defoliating sole
and frog tatters, and eliminating leverage on the hoofwall at the quarters
. Annie showed increased sensitivity on stony ground, so was fitted with boots.
Justine diligently
attended to her feet using Hibiscrub, with great results regarding the infected
areas. Her mite infestation was eradicated using repeated applications of Frontline.
Justine also alter her diet of, grass, Hi Fi Lite and pony nuts.
This presented something of a challenge with Annie being kept on grass livery
with her respect (or lack of it) for electric fencing, however she has limited
her access to grass and increased hay intake and exercise.
 |
In ten months the worst crack was on its way out. This hoof still shows by the pink fever line that Annie has had a laminitis episode a few months previously. Over time, we have observed that she is sensitive to her annual shots.
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Draft horse crosses like Annie really use their frogs and soles to bear weight. Notice the difference in the healthier foot on the right, ten months out of shoes.
Cracks are pretty straightforward to sort out - remove the leverage, treat infection, stimulate healthy hoof growth and encourage better heel function!