And so it begins... hoof issues :(

Sounds like a good plan .
On why he’s senestive to bruising ( if that is what it is )and what you might do about it if I where you I would be thinking along the lines of doing testing of your forage and grazing and getting some bespoke performance balancer from forage plus .

I don’t know where you are based but if you can get to the sea it’s really good for delicate feet .
Or whirlpool boots if you can get your hands on some or a river if you can work it into your programme going forward .
I would also get a set of xrays of the fronts with shoes on mid way through the shoeing cycle .
I have these for all my horses and I repeat them about every two years sooner if needed.
My farrier swears by spraying the soles of the feet with iodine to help prevent bruising, worth asking the vet if he thinks it’s sensible.
I would not go the pads route I have never seen them do anything but make things worse even if they improve things at first .
Best wishes for the box rest it’s good he’s sensible about it .
 
Ok that’s really interesting... so, a mineral imbalance could mean his hooves aren’t as strong as they could be?

His soles feel rock solid, he has good frogs and he has thick soles on x Ray.

Vet didn’t suggest pads as don’t think he’s a fan either!
 
yes. If you have high iron and/or manganese and you don't counteract it with high copper, which then needs balancing with zinc twice as high, then insulin usage is disrupted and you can appear to have a metabolic horse who isn't.

You would normally expect thinnish soles though.
 
i`ve had horses n the past with dodgy feet, usually youngsters, i put them on seaweed, and i am sure people on here will say not to, but by god it works on the feet, does the rest of the horse good too, often the new growth of hoof was obvious in the difference coming down from the top, in 8 weeks
 
Goldenstar said:
Sounds like a good plan .
On why he’s senestive to bruising ( if that is what it is )and what you might do about it if I where you I would be thinking along the lines of doing testing of your forage and grazing and getting some bespoke performance balancer from forage plus .

I don’t know where you are based but if you can get to the sea it’s really good for delicate feet .
Or whirlpool boots if you can get your hands on some or a river if you can work it into your programme going forward .
I would also get a set of xrays of the fronts with shoes on mid way through the shoeing cycle .
I have these for all my horses and I repeat them about every two years sooner if needed.
My farrier swears by spraying the soles of the feet with iodine to help prevent bruising, worth asking the vet if he thinks it’s sensible.
I would not go the pads route I have never seen them do anything but make things worse even if they improve things at first .
Best wishes for the box rest it’s good he’s sensible about it .
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Thank you GS xx
 
Goldenstar said:
Sounds like a good plan .
On why he’s senestive to bruising ( if that is what it is )and what you might do about it if I where you I would be thinking along the lines of doing testing of your forage and grazing and getting some bespoke performance balancer from forage plus .

I don’t know where you are based but if you can get to the sea it’s really good for delicate feet .
Or whirlpool boots if you can get your hands on some or a river if you can work it into your programme going forward .
I would also get a set of xrays of the fronts with shoes on mid way through the shoeing cycle .
I have these for all my horses and I repeat them about every two years sooner if needed.
My farrier swears by spraying the soles of the feet with iodine to help prevent bruising, worth asking the vet if he thinks it’s sensible.
I would not go the pads route I have never seen them do anything but make things worse even if they improve things at first .
Best wishes for the box rest it’s good he’s sensible about it .
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GS... Whirlpool boots? Google isn’t helping! I can go to water treadmill or river, beach a bit far but obviously not till he’s released from box. He’d be a Menace at river if not under saddle and has to walk through a bit of road to get there even if boxed.
 
Yes they are on the horse health website but the price omg I am regretting not buying the pair I saw on eBay
 
Fr bruising, old style vets would recommend standing him in a stream for several hours a day f you have one handy.
 
ycbm said:
Fr bruising, old style vets would recommend standing him in a stream for several hours a day f you have one handy.
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The idea sounds lovely, the logistics.. standing Bog still in a stream when he's not keeping a lid on his exuberance through lots of work... hmmm!


Steam near us is a 10 min box away and then a 10 min walk down a tarmac walk way/bit of road.

Standing him in ice buckets maybe?
 
Shires poultice boots with iced water in? I leave my neds happily munching a hay net for 20 mins at a time in one of these if I’m tubbing for an abscess. That’d be in warm water, though. The water doesn’t spill much if the horse moves around whilst wearing it.

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Little Bog update for anyone interested. He’s being such an angel on box rest, 11 days of it now with just a bit of hand grazing each end of the day and he’s behaved perfectly. I thought I’d be leading him out in a chifney! A massive relief that he’s chilled.

He does seem to be getting leaner by the day, he’s on ad lib hay and eating plenty but next to no hard feed, I think he’s doing interval training in the evenings to keep himself fit..

Vet back Friday. Really praying for some rain!

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My warmblood mare would get bruised soles a really old farrier told me to soak them in soda crystals with water for a few days, apparently it helps draw the bruising out no idea if it actually works, I did it as it's relatively cheap and I don't think it can do any harm.
 
Pinkvboots said:
My warmblood mare would get bruised soles a really old farrier told me to soak them in soda crystals with water for a few days, apparently it helps draw the bruising out no idea if it actually works, I did it as it's relatively cheap and I don't think it can do any harm.
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Thank you! x
ITPersonnage said:
Not sure where exactly you are but rain seems to be very much on the cards :)
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Hampshire, I saw, doing a rain dance :D
 
Somehow missed this thread Michen. Sorry you have been having such a worrying time with Boggle. Hope it resolves quickly. Glad the vet seemed fairly optimistic and fingers crossed for good news on Friday x
 
Ambers Echo said:
Somehow missed this thread Michen. Sorry you have been having such a worrying time with Boggle. Hope it resolves quickly. Glad the vet seemed fairly optimistic and fingers crossed for good news on Friday x
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Thank you xx I am hoping he will be ok on Friday, and we can have a summer of pottering around the countryside and maybe working on our dressage on a surface ;)
 
Hi HHORs figured I owed an update when you all spent time writing a reply and calming my hysteria!

Vet back yesterday and re did flexions and lunge soft and hard. Had to dope him slightly as he was pretty wild.

He is 90% sound. Vet can’t see anything on straight trot up, he felt he couldn’t “‘maybe” see something post flexion for a few strides on right fore and so slight on hard lunge we had to look and look. Would be hard pushed to find on vetting but we know there’s an imperfection there anyway from the way he lands outside heel first on that hoof if we don’t get the trim as he seems to want it.

Basically, he thinks he was bruised up in this instance. Long term, his confirmation will always mean he is likely to suffer more than some horses from hard ground (short upright Pasterns) and my vet feels that basically there is little I can do from a long term perspective other than what I’ve been doing... or him sitting in a field under the cloud that one day he may break.

Short term vet felt a few more days rest, some restricted turnout and then back to some walk work then work properly fairly soon if I wanted. What I’m actually going to do is few more days box rest, restricted turnout and then walk work out hacking for a month to be super cautious. I’m going to x Ray (which was planned anyway to keep an eye on hooves) and have vet re examine once more before resuming anything other than walking. Obviously there’s a risk it’s not bruising and as soon as he starts moving again he will go lame.

In my head we are going to have a mostly chilled summer with maybe some dressage on a surface later on, and perhaps pick up on some events in autumn assuming all goes well from here.

Ultimately as much as the fun stuff is fun, he’s got a home with me for the rest of his life whatever he can or can’t do. I’ve always exercised caution over what surface he does what on but this has been a bit of a wake up call not to get slack on it.

So all in all I’m hoping a massive over reaction on this occasion from my side and a sharp reminder that next time I question ground, to go with my gut. I’m also super proud of Bog, it’s a big ask for a buzzy bouncy ball to go from being very active in every sense to confined to a box for two weeks with minimal movement and no company overnight. He’s been immaculately behaved, fine to in hand graze and although clearly a bit miserable when taken back to his box has just totally accepted it with no fuss.

He is, however, now begging for some excitement in life again!

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That sounds really positive don't know where you are but we have had a fair bit of rain here, so it's probably the best conditions to start some work and turnout, fingers crossed it was just bruising and he stays comfortable.

If his looking for a career change he could do a bit of showing his so gorgeous.
 
Interesting about conformation: he does look very nicely made and although his pasterns are definately quite 'native' which you would expect of a connie, they are certainly not extreme! It's quite unusual for a decent native to suffer unduly from bruising and generally speaking you would think that his conformation might dispose him to jarring up rather than bruising of the foot which I would associate much more with the flatter foot and lower heels of more tb types. It sounds too as if you are very considerate about his health, his keep, work and the going you ride over so really you might think that he would be fine. I would wonder myself (having had this very same bruising issue but on a very different sort of horse) whether it may be in fact a nutritional deficiency which is leaving his hoof horn a bit soft and thus vulnerable. Just thinking aloud really - I hope you don't mind sharing my thoughts. For my flat footed, thin soled chap, nutrition has been absolutely the long term answer for easily bruised feet. It's worth thinking about as so easy to get right and could be at least a part of the answer for the future. He is a very smart horse!!
 
palo1 said:
Interesting about conformation: he does look very nicely made and although his pasterns are definately quite 'native' which you would expect of a connie, they are certainly not extreme! It's quite unusual for a decent native to suffer unduly from bruising and generally speaking you would think that his conformation might dispose him to jarring up rather than bruising of the foot which I would associate much more with the flatter foot and lower heels of more tb types. It sounds too as if you are very considerate about his health, his keep, work and the going you ride over so really you might think that he would be fine. I would wonder myself (having had this very same bruising issue but on a very different sort of horse) whether it may be in fact a nutritional deficiency which is leaving his hoof horn a bit soft and thus vulnerable. Just thinking aloud really - I hope you don't mind sharing my thoughts. For my flat footed, thin soled chap, nutrition has been absolutely the long term answer for easily bruised feet. It's worth thinking about as so easy to get right and could be at least a part of the answer for the future. He is a very smart horse!!
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Not at all. He has really good, strong and thick soles... so I’m not sure it’s likely to be a nutritional deficiency.

When I say bruising, I’m referring to coffin bone bruising (which he had a couple of years ago), which my vet does also referred to as “jarred up” so maybe we are actually thinking the same thing?
 
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