“Hello, I have just been on your website for the first time looking for some advice with regards to my mare’s feet.  I’m hoping someone might be able to help.  We purchased Tilly about two months ago from some local gypsies; she is an eight-year-old 13.1hh cob. She was bought down from a field in Scotland where she has bred foal after foal. Her feet were in terrible condition, very long and cracked, they almost looked like claws rather than hooves. We don’t think she has had anything done with her feet at all since we got her. It took me three weeks to get her to pick her feet up before we could even contemplate picking them out. With a lot of hard work from us and our farrier we managed to get her feet looking more like hooves but it all seems to be in vain as two days after the farrier had been and trimmed her feet (they looked lovely) they have started cracking and breaking apart terribly. One of her back feet now has two huge chunks missing out of it and the other looks like it is going the same way.

Is it a possibility that because she hasn’t been looked after very well i.e. no nutrition and foot trimming, and has just been a breeding machine for the past six years have something to do with the fact her feet are so bad?

What can we do? I have started applying hoof grease as recommended by the farrier. We are desperate to get her feet right as we don’t want her going lame.

Is it worth getting a set of shoes put on her? Any help or advice you can give would be very much appreciated." Caroline Brown

H&C farrier Nigel Brown says: “Hi Caroline. In reply to your question about Tilly's feet, it is very difficult to make too many judgements without seeing them, however it does sound as if you have done everything right so far.

You must understand if the feet have had eight years to get in to the condition they were, they are not going to come right in one or two trims - in fact, with regular trimming it may take up to 12 months.

Regular care

Make sure the trimming is regular every six weeks, even if you think they look good. The medial, lateral balance and correct hoof pastern axis must be assured in order for the hooves to grow down correctly. On average it takes nine to 12 months for the foot to grow from top to bottom.

Shoeing may help but, if feet are really bad, may cause more problems.

Listen to your farrier, keep up regular trimming appointments, and remember it’s taken eight years for Tilly to get bad feet, it will take time for her feet to come right. Good luck, Nigel.”