Freedom's hooves really suffered from wet/dry cycling in the spring. While the new growth looks good the shoes were held on by patching and luck.

I had planned to pull Freedom’s shoes this winter and let the nail holes on his hoof grow out. In the spring we had a lot of mud and the wet/dry cycling did not help his TB feet. Although the new growth looks good, keeping shoes on him has been tricky and has required careful management and patching.

Freedom, however, seemed to have a different plan. I mentioned that he’d pulled one of his front shoes while out hunting a few weeks ago. In some regards, the news was good: other than the fact that there wasn’t enough wall left to nail on a shoe, his hoof looks pretty good. There was no bruising, no soreness, and no excessive chipping.

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