A Happily Broken Record

Time for some good news.  Ramsey broke a record this year - for the first time in his life he made it all the way through November and December without getting an abscess.  It might seem like a small thing, but it is a bit of a triumph.  His foot is doing well.

He still needs very careful trimming to keep everything in balance, but that is not new, nor will it ever change.

Since his fetlock turns inward and the hoof turns outward, I always leave the medial (on the right) wall unbeveled to give him added support and keep the hoof from turning under.  The lateral wall (on the left) gets trimmed very short to keep stress off of it, as that is where the coffin bone is missing and the wall has poor connection.  I keep the toe short to make break over as easy as possible.  The result might look like I've only trimmed half the foot, but this keeps him sound and keeps the hoof from becoming distorted.

You can see how, all along the left side of the foot, the hoof wall just doesn't connect well.  It never will since he is missing a third of his coffin bone.  The back of the foot looks a bit ugly right now as he is shedding the frog, but that is normal for this time of year and it will grow back.

It may not be the prettiest foot ever, but we made it through the Fall mud season without an abscess for the first time ever.  I hope I am jinxing us, but this was a record I was very pleased to break.  I hope we can continue the pattern for a very long time.