Beamer's turn

I've gotta give a hat tip to Shayla here, not only is she my riding companion, she is also my hoofcare provider. Before I found the ABC Hoofcare system, I knew nothing more than the basics about horses hooves, and all I did was pick them and get them trimmed regularly. Thanks to my friend Tara coming to Creston a couple years ago, I got my eyes opened to a whole new understanding of the hoof and what is required to make a truly healthy hoof.
Beamer's feet are a reflection of my- and all my past farriers- lack of understanding . Here are some photos from 2010: These are taken POST trim!

October 2010

October 2010

October 2010
Right front (the above and below photos. )

I will leave the technical comments to those who wish to make them in the comment section. Suffice to say, for me, that at this point ignorance may have been bliss for me, thinking I was a good horse mama, but it was painful for Beamer.
Over the last two years, we have slowly been correcting the angles, the bar pooling, the extended bar, the long toe, the flare, the balance, etc. The last couple of days, Shayla has been working on these feet, and even though we had made a lot of progress, the arches in the hairline still weren't dropping back to level, even with rim notching.
She found bar where it shouldn't be in that right front- growing underneath the frog.

She found bar so deeply embedded that in a normal foot, going this deep to remove bar would have hit the corium.

But! we are gaining. Once all the offending bar is removed over the next couple of trims, and we keep on top of it so it only grows where it is supposed to, these are going to be healthy feet and Beamer will be a happier horse- not that he isn't happy already, he's such a sweetheart, but comfy feet will make him much happier. He was licking and chewing and sighing every time Shayla put his foot down and he could feel that the pressure wasn't there any more.

I think we have conquered the flare, and there isn't much left of those arched hairlines.

After trimming we went for a ride, I rode Rio and figured I could pony Josie, and Shayla rode Beamer. However! Rio was being a pill, acting like a goofy teenager, and Josie wasn't having anything to do with him- so we ended up teaching Beamer to pony for the first time in his life. I walked along side leading Rio and with Josie next to Beamer until he got used to the idea that he was not allowed to act even a tiny bit studdy (good job, Shayla!) and then handed the rope end to Shayla and continued to lead for a minute, then she took over. Please forgive the photos, I still had the little camera set on macro so the photos look too soft).

Such a good boy!

Sorry about the shaky first part of the video- that was part of Rio being a pill! 

I think your Muck Boots must smell good, Shayla!.... well, maybe not.....