This mustang mare had severely overgrown hooves due to her fear of people. A great trainer started working with her last year, and I got to join him in January. Her bars had grown forward enough to surpass her (extra-long) toes in some places, completely covering her soles. I gradually reduced the overall height of her hooves – a little less gradually toward the heels. Over the course of the last two months, the excess bar flaked off in some spots, and I was able to cut out the rest. On one hoof I release a stone from inside that “sandwich” of bar and sole. The visibly present thrust from January is gone now that the collateral grooves aren’t quite so deep and trapping tons of manure and mud. Despite all that, her natural genetics allowed her to remain sound. I think a bred horse’s hooves would be far worse-off if they were in her “shoes” the past few years; curled and what-not. (Although, she’s had a lot of freedom and really likes to move, so these things have been to her benefit.) She has a ways to go before her hooves would be considered ideal, but she’s well on her way!
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