he is 18 yrs old. And the pasture is pretty hard sandy gravel very little grass. my shoer left the area so I’m having a hard time finding a replacement one. :/ hopefully he has enough hoof wall the get some shoes back on. He evidently can’t go bare I guess
You can't just pull shoes and throw a horse out. He needs a correct barefoot trim to ease the break over. The walls are going to break and chip away if left like that. Have a farrier out to trim away that extra wall and apply a bevel to it. Don't cut the heals down or cut out the bars. Paint on some durasole. He should be fine after a couple weeks adjustment period. Yes, that could be some bruising but it is hard to tell from a picture. Going bare takes a bit of a transition period.
I pulled the shoes on my new 4yo filly in March. We just last week passed a milestone where her contracted heel and frog started to spread (which was holding thrush in the tight divide line). Her good foot is fine now with tougher soles and thicker stronger walls and a plump, healthy frog. The walls on the bad foot started getting better about 2 months ago, but it is all a process. I have had her trimmed every 3-4 weeks since March to make sure we taught the foot what we wanted it to do. In another month or two the filly should be past all issues with becomming barefoot. It takes patience and frequent trims from a farrier who understands the foot and doesn't just cover up issues with a shoe. But once they are adjusted to being barefoot they are much healthier - and cheaper to keep!
the reason they are chipping is the toes/walls needs to be rolled, looks like the farrier just pulled the shoes off and maybe trimed a little bit and rasped flat like he/she were going to put shoes back on, they need to be rolled not rasp flat.. I see bruising but this horse needs time I would be putting this horse in a better pen where its not so rough on his feet untill he can toughing up more. When I have shoes pulled I have my farrier roll toes/wall, which he does know to do this, but I like reminding him, lol.
Bruised soles?
