Refitting Gloves/Glue-Ons

On Sunday 8/16, I was horrified to see damage and bruising on the hairless part of the skin on Zephyr’s heels on his hind feet.  I couldn’t take pictures that night, but this is what they looked like the next morning.  I applied Equine Relief as soon as I saw the damage, and it looked SOOO much better in the morning!  Instead of raw soft skin, it looked like a nice dry/hard frog.  That’s what you see in the pictures below.  I couldn’t even see any bruising, even though it was obvious the night before.

I have no idea what caused it, it appeared overnight when he was spending his days hanging out with his cow/horse friends in the pasture down the road.  His last glue-ons were removed two weeks ago (on 8/2), otherwise I would have suspected the heels of the boots had been too tight.

Please forgive/ignore the mud on the bottom of his hooves that makes them look wonky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

EasyCare was about to send me a set of the new EasyBoot Gloves with the prototype gaiters, and I needed to double-check sizes.  He’s been wearing size 1s on his hind feet, but due to the bruising/damage I was considering whether he should bump up to 1.5s instead.  So on 8/19 I trimmed his hind feet in preparation for a fresh fitting.

Here’s both hooves after their trim.  I’m still relatively new at this, so feedback from knowledgeable professionals is welcome!  Looking at these pictures though, YES, I can see that his toes are creeping forward; it’s especially obvious on the left hind.

LEFT HIND: Farrier trim on left (photo taken in early June), and my trim on right (I’ve been trimming him since the June photos).

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIGHT HIND: Farrier trim on left, my trim on right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s his right hind hoof in a size 1.  The left-hand photo is the original version of the Glove, in June after the farrier removed his shoes and trimmed him, and the right-hand photo is the new thick-toe Glove.  (I realize his hair looks brown in the new photo, but it was just the lighting and the dirty leg!)  I don’t know if his hoof got bigger in addition to the toe getting longer, or if the thicker-toe version is also less stretchy, but it definitely fits differently.  His hoof doesn’t go all the way in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s the same hoof in a size 1.5.  Again... farrier trim photo is on the left. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last photo... right front hoof... wish there was more concavity, but I suspect there may be a lot of dead sole there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My conclusion... it’s clear that his hooves are all a little longer than they were when I first did the fit kit.  I keep trying to get the hoof wall even with the sole, but when I do, he’s really ouchy on any kind of rocks or pebbles.  He may just need some hoof wall!  I’ll continue to take pictures and compare them as I go along.