Horse's frog -- should it be this way?

[Lothiriel]

Could you horse savvy folks check out my post on BYC about my horse's feet? Her frogs are all peeling at the ends and I'm not sure that they should be.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/635537/horses-frog-should-it-be-this-way
Thanks!

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I'm not a horse expert, but IMHO it seems like this is just a natural process of shedding dead skin. Looks pretty healthy to me.

 

[secuono]

The yellow shows the backs of the bars, not the frog. The frog is the 1/3 triangle from the heel of the foot, pointing to the toe.

Here's my horse's foot, frog shedding. If the frog is up at the bars, it needs to be trimmed and so does the rest of the foot possibly. Frog should touch the ground and by regular movement, it is worn and sheds naturally. Horse in a stall, sand or flat pasture would have a harder time wearing it naturally.

 

[Karma]

The way you describe it and the place, and additionally remembering the bit about her being on pasture all winter and not trimmed in awhile in one of the other posts, makes me think overgrown bars & sole which will be taken care of as soon as you get a farrier out to give her a trim. Do be sure they give her a proper barefoot horse trim and not a "pasture trim" for shoeless horses. You can also look here : http://www.barefoothorse.com/index.html she has so many pictures you can thumb through to figure out the difference in what all the different hoof conditions look like.

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

My horses always are peeling. My farrier said that it is completely natural, especially because mine live out side (with a run-in stall), running around all the time, just like Taffy! Good luck!

 

[Lothiriel]

Thanks guys! Such a relief.

 

[Lothiriel]

I added some pictures of Taffy's feet... A couple folks said I should get a farrier out quick... Another said they look fine, but her heels could use a trim. We don't have a farrier yet -- they're few and far between in these parts. The folks we know with horses do the trimming themselves. The vet office has some cards on their bulletin board, but we haven't gotten out there yet. They're about a half hour away.

 

[Karma]

I think she just needs a trim. Her heels look pretty long to me. As far as finding a farrier - I only know of a few in Cortland and surrounding counties and like the others in your area we do our own trims so I can't really reccomend any. There is a list here though so maybe you can find something: http://afaworks.com/FindAFarrier/index.aspx If all else fails perhaps googling to see if you have any boarding stables/lesson barns nearby that use farriers would have a suggestion.

 

[Lothiriel]

Thanks for that link, Karma! I found one farrier here and we'll be calling him up.

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

Good luck finding a good farrier! I was so happy that the place where I bought my horse recommended a farrier to me... He is very good with the horses! My only input is to double check everything that he says the first few time that he comes... If you find that the stuff that he is telling you is true, then he should be good for you! Also, if Taffy is a little sore after a trimming, you might just ask him to do less snipping and more rasping. My farrier always rasps a lot more than he snips and my horses are never lame after a trim, whereas some other people I know have farriers that snip and then they can't ride for a few days...