Fairly Freaky Feet

Dutch has a LONG history of being a delicate princess, especially concerning his feet.

 

He does this A LOT!!

Which turns into this...

All of which is bad. We have gone to multiple vets, multiple farriers, multiple supplements, turn out regimes, bell boots, ect..  His feet have never been good.  Shoes make him sounder more often, but introduce new problems when he pulls them. When he "retired" here to this farm we went through a pattern of pulled shoes that were so bad he was ripping his feet apart.  Which is how casting entered our life.

Casting plus reusable pads has proven to be the best soundness measure by far!!!  They just pull of his feet if he steps on them, no hoof wall issues.  Plus I can reapply as needed.  It also lets me keep them off completely during the wet season when the ground is soft.

This is the boot he pulled off last night.  As you can see he wore through the toe.  This happenes pretty quickly since we ride on pavement and our pen has a gravel and stonedust base. The good news it that it is pretty easy to fix them.