The way the horse picks up his foot and tries to put it down at the tip of his hoof is a testament to how poorly he was walking before. Combined with the rolled under heel and the flare, it looks like he had something that was causing him pain at the posterior of the hoof and caused him to walk on tiptoe. Hopefully the trim combined with the high shoe gets him back to a normal gait.

If a horse's knee is on its front legs, where are its shoulders and elbows?

Yes I saw the knee too….good eye…not a nice life for this horse…

@@Conny-tk8md because they have 4 legs, everything is knees and shoulders (instead of hips in the front). But, yes, in the front you can count it as shoulders and elbows.

The US does not have uniform animal codes like I have read the UK has. The laws themselves and the enforcement are at the county level, and if an area is poor, there may not even be enough welfare officers to visit an area or a refuge to take sick horses to. Animals can really suffer, because the law sees them as property. It is quite sad. In addition, people in the US can suffer poverty unexpectedly and be unable to meet their own needs for food or medical, and then their animals suffer. I'm not saying which country is better, it's just different.

@@melanisticmandalorian8909 I never thought of it like this! LOL

Probably arthritis.

Thank you so much!

on

He's trained to have his feet worked on. He is sweet, but he doesn't realize that the farrier is helping him.

Not a lot of neglect to my eyes, just a sore hoof. Hooves grow about as fast as fingernails (because they're ultimately the same structure) and that looks like a only few weeks of bad walking to me. You'd be surprised how quickly a sore heel turns into a completely malformed coffin bone.

I agree to Elaine Meeker. Look at the bottom side at 2:44 - the hoof is neglected. I have been keeping ponies more than half of my life (now 77 y.o.), they never looked like this one - never!!!

I have 2 horses and they get trimmed and shod every 6-8 weeks. This is most definitely months and months of growth and poor to no farrier work. Proper consistent trimming would have managed this hoof before it got this deformed and over grown. In reality it needs radiographs to determine where the inner structure of the hoof is. This farrier is excellent and carefully trimmed and rebuilt this foot.

@@mackenzieroof8969 6th April 2023: I agree with you referring radiographs. But trimmers who don`t have the proper tools for trimming and shoeing at their disposal and who try to trim hooves by means of two tools only (one of them is dangerous) don`t think to spend money for radiographs resp. have more serious problems in their lives. I don't want to excuse this type of caring for hooves - quite on the contrary: The donkeys suffer all their lives (intervals far too long) and that's not likely to change by the next generation - despite the internet! To this day, I don`t know if the people from the Near, Middle or Far East could read and respond to our English KZfaq comments if they wanted to. In any case, they have not yet entered the discussion or reacted to my comments.

Is it painful for the horse when their hooves are split and cracked like that all the way to their …. Is it called the fetlock?

I agree 100 percent. You sir are a Master.

People often say this. He doesn't know that.

Seconding this. I would love to see a follow up. I hope his hooves will grow out straight.

But the 'after' hoof isn't normal. It is greatly improved and, if the owner keeps up with regularly scheduled trims, may become even closer to normal, but that degree of rotated coffin bone is never going to rotate back into the normal position. In essence, the horse is being forced to stand with the tip of his 'toe bone" inside the hoof pointed straight down into the ground rather than the flat side of the bone parallel to the ground. Hooves are not designed to function that way and that horse will always be extremely vulnerable to injury, pain, arthritis, tendonitis and laminitis. A good farrier and vet working together on good hoof trims and correct nutrition will be able to get that hoof to the point where that horse will be okay to live a life as a pasture pet--no riding, no vigorous exercise, no extensive moving over hard surfaces. He may even get sound enough to be a kid's pet, sound enough to give small children (under 50 pounds or so) very short lead line rides on soft surfaces of less than 5 to 10 minutes a few times a week. There's a place in the world for pasture pet horses. Horses are not meant to be kept alone, so a family that has only one working horse would do well to get a free or very inexpensive pasture pet to be the working horse's companion. If this horse has a calm temperament, there's always a place for someone who is raising young stock to have an older horse to show the younger ones how to behave, give them an example of how to react, reassure the young ones in new situations, etc. Anywhere there are large predators, it's prudent to keep at least 6 to 8 horses as a herd to make it more difficult for a large predator to single out one horse to take down (mixing some mules into the herd is also a good idea). Or he may just be someone's beloved pasture ornament, kept because he's lovable and they care about him. In which case, I hope they get him another pasture pet to keep him company because horses should not be kept alone.

As long as the hoof is maintained correctly it should grow out 😊

We shoe or trim around 20 head a day. These are simply the out of the ordinary cases that come through our barn. They are definitely in the minority of all the work we do which is why we don’t have a new video daily. We just film them when they come in.

Just an unproven idea but I think when so many horses are trusting the history they have had with these farriers, the vibe or calm pheromones spread to the other horses. A herd follows the leaders and this is a big enough barn the horses have enough bodies present(usually) to be that temporary herd. Once a horse has been in this barn with the core group of farriers they remember kind treatment. Also the barn has kids and dogs and puppies and sometimes chickens watching the show. Horses know it is a safe space for them as well. Just the observations of an amateur who admires this facility and the farriers they send out into the world for the betterment of equine civilization.

They have to be trained to have their feet handled. It is important, and it really helps to start them when they're young.

That's what i was thinking: if I were the owner, I'd get an x-ray of that foot.

He is trained to be this way. Best to start when they're young.