Lavinia The recent topic of toes makes me wonder about my big geldings fronts. Lately his toes look like someone just literally squared them off. He’s never been lame but he is getting arthritis in one shoulder (snake bite). He has never been trimmed that way, he’s always had good feet and wears boots when we ride. only thing I can see that could possibly be causing this is he stomps and I mean a lot ! Doesn't seem to matter how much I spray him, we also have fly predators, he is bothered more than anyone else. he wouldn’t go for fly boots. May I send a picture and get your input? My husband just filed them down and they’re already getting stubbed off. I’m perplexed 😕
It sounds like his toes can come back even more than they already are. The squaring-off is due to him wearing them down himself as he breaks over the center of the hoof - a perfectly normal occurrence that we don't generally notice when the feet are shod or when the toes aren't too long. He doesn't wear the rest as much so you see the amount of growth/excess very clearly.
