Bad Feet (again)!!

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Mlini

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I posted on here last month about my horses feet, got lots of advice but he came sound so I thought he was ok and just carried on as normal.

Now I think the shoes have been on for four weeks now, he was lame on a foreleg for a few days after shoeing but has been working nicely and not lame for the past three weeks. On Sunday he lost a shoe in the field galloping around like a maniac, it was the same front one that he was lame on. Farrier was out yesterday, so put it back on. I wasn't there so didn't get chance to speak to him. Last night I rode and he was lame on that particular leg again. This morning he had heat in the foot and a raised pulse in his digital artery. YM is ringing the farrier today to get him back out, but also thinks I should call the vet to have a look.

Just a bit of background. The horse is an exracer, and has had shoes on ever since I got him last summer. Typically bad Chestnut TB feet! All four of them are white and have been compared to cheesecake before (By the old farrier!) The vet suggested (during a general health check-up) that we put rolled toe shoes on and cut the toe back a bit more, so that he will get his front feet out of the way of his back feet quicker. He used to overreach and pull shoes easily, had scuff marks on his toes where (I think) he must drag them in the arena (he is super lazy!). Back feet were fine and have always been fine. Farrier acted on vets advice and cut the toe back and put rolled toe shoes on last month for the first time, then he went lame on the foreleg. The horse is a pain to shoe and has only been hot shod about 5 times, hates the smoke so dances around a lot. He ran over the stony carpark last time, so I thought he had maybe bruised his sole and thats why he was lame for a few days after shoeing. He was a bit footsore when the shoe came off the other day, but now its back on, he's lame again - so I can't really blame it on the running across the carpark again. He's always footsore when he loses front shoes.

I know this must be down to the new shoes and possibly thinking maybe they have been cut too short :confused: (I'm thinking along the lines of cutting your nails too short :rolleyes:) But I know next to nothing about shoeing and just leave it to the farrier. The farrier is a new one, has shod him once or maybe twice before the rolled toes/lameness situation, with no issues.

I just wish we had never acted upon the vets advice and left the front feet how they were, we would never be in this situation now!! BUT the horse moves better with these shoes on (when he is sound!)

So, I'm a little unsure of what to do, the raised pulse is worrying me. Should I get the vet? Or would he just tell me to get the farrier? Should I get the farrier out to take the shoes off and give him a rest? and have a lame horse for a while, since he can't walk with no shoes on. I don't have any hoof boots (and can't really afford any atm. :() Or should I just leave them on and hope that the lameness goes away in a couple of days like the last time?? But then I'd be back in the same position next time he is shod until they grow back to how they were before (not sure how long this takes?!)

I will take some photos of his feet tonight (I FINALLY have access to a camera! :)) and update on the lameness - if he is still lame.

He has recently gone to living out 24/7 for the first time in his life, does grass affect hoof quality like hard feed does??

Sorry its so long! I have Mr Kipling Angel Slices for anyone that got this far! :) Thanks
 
If I were you I would change his diet to a barefoot friendly one (yes, grass affects feet like feed does, it's the sugar), wait until he's due to be shod again, remove the shoes, and spend the money you would have spent on shoes on a second hand set of boots.

It's a myth that white feet are less strong than black - if your horse's feet are like cheesecake(!) then his diet needs some attention.

Search for some of Oberon's posts - she gives cracking advice on feet.
 
^^^^^^ this....

It's a copout to say typical tb feet as our tb has great feet.....get vet, get xrays and make sure his deit is right.
 
For diet, he just gets a big handful of Alfa and the same amount of Baileys No4 per day. No supplements and is out 24/7.

I'm going to ring the vet now
 
Baileys No 4 is pretty laden with starch :(. I'd swap to something like fast fibre, and introduce a mineral supplement. Pro hoof/pro balance, Equimins META Balance, or a Forage Plus balancer.

A good diet is absolutely essential for healthy hooves. Upload your pics when you take them; there may be something obvious that needs sorting. Do look up Oberon on here as well.
 
sounds like good advice,boots are not that much when you compare them to a set of shoes every 4-6 weeks.

simple system feed,they will advise you on whats best for him,sounds like a bad diet to have such rubbish feet,alot of ex racers have rubbish feet due to the feet they are given for racing and to keep weight on,when it can be done more naturally with less sugar.speak to them they can help.

never thought id be in the barefoot tribe but i would never unless i had 4 expert opinions telling me to put shoes back on my mare.
 
Also re the hot shoing.....our farrir for our exracer cold shod him for the first year or so as he wasnt growing a good amount of hoof/sole and you have to be careful if they have thin soles hot shoing could burn away to much and make horse sore......thats what he said to me anyway so it might be worth if you are not going to pull shoes and get hoof boots to get farrier to cold shoe instead and allow horse to grow some sole....
 
Another wee comment, you say he is lazy and does not pick feet up, this to me is something that also needs addressing [more confusion], but really, he may just be slightly unsound and struggles, they don't do it deliberately!
If it were me I would try to stand back and take a broader approach rather than trying to fix one thing and assume that is all OK.
Farriers and vets generally support the shod route, it is what they are taught, so if you want to go barefoot, read up about it and try to plan ahead.
diet first...........
Fast Fibre
plus a supplement for feet [as suggested earlier]
50gm micronised linseed [100 if stabled]
Limit sweet green grass intake.
NO cereals [most mixes and nuts]
No alfalfa, as SOME are sensitive to alfalfa, and at this time of year he should not need it.
You will find nearly all horses are sensitive when shoes are removed initially.
You may meed to wait three weeks to allow hoof wall to grow a bit before removing shoes.
DO NOT allow farrier to trim aggressively, a light rasp round the edge and no frog or sole paring is all that is needed
 
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Agree with all the above and would also suggest adding magnesium to his supplements too. I'm a new recruit to barefoot too and I have been truly amazed at the difference in my boy since his shoes came off. I got told by both vet and farrier that he was far too heavy a cob type to be able to cope without shoes long term. We're almost 4 months in now and he's doing fantastically. We've done 16 miles of road work in the last week and he's improving in balance and stride length every day.

I'm truly stunned at what a bare hoof can do with the right support. :)
 
bikerchickone said:
Agree with all the above and would also suggest adding magnesium to his supplements too. I'm a new recruit to barefoot too and I have been truly amazed at the difference in my boy since his shoes came off. I got told by both vet and farrier that he was far too heavy a cob type to be able to cope without shoes long term. We're almost 4 months in now and he's doing fantastically. We've done 16 miles of road work in the last week and he's improving in balance and stride length every day.

I'm truly stunned at what a bare hoof can do with the right support. :)
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Correct, and so glad it has worked for you, I found I was fine with roadwork and started with twenty minutes, had to rasp off the wall as they do chip at first, and also the sole went chalky, but this is the old sole being replaced by the new healthy one.
I had a lot of problems with sharp gravel on some tarmac roads , and had to let him select whether to walk on road or on verge, I let someone else ride him for half an hour on this same gravelly road, and he came back footy, I had him on Danolin for two days, it is just a matter of common sense.
Tarmac [smooth] roads are great for self trimming, when he is not doing roadwork, I have to rasp off edges and shorten toes, I do this every week, farrier says he is fine.
I saw someone on a BIG cob which was competing, he was sound but the edges were not rolled off, and I felt that they were "chipped", in that case, a rasping would have made me feel more comfortable, never mind the horse.
 
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I tried to get the pics on of his feet, but failed! :( Will try again tonight when I get home.

Farrier came out last night for a look, there was no heat in the foot but was still a raised pulse. He took the shoe off, had a good look and put it back on again. Then he trotted up sound.

Miss L Toe, you mentioned the lazyness could actually be something else? I know its hard to comment with you not seeing or knowing the horse - but what sort of things would spring to mind that could be wrong with him, if it isn't just pure bone idle-ness! He picks them up when working properly (which takes a lot of work from me!) and when excited/out on a hack/jumping. But if I just let him go round like he wanted to he would just drag his feet and do his best impression of a beach donkey :rolleyes: He scuffs the toes of his feet, right at the very edge. I just put it down to him being lazy.
 
Mlini said:
I tried to get the pics on of his feet, but failed! :( Will try again tonight when I get home.

Farrier came out last night for a look, there was no heat in the foot but was still a raised pulse. He took the shoe off, had a good look and put it back on again. Then he trotted up sound.

Miss L Toe, you mentioned the lazyness could actually be something else? I know its hard to comment with you not seeing or knowing the horse - but what sort of things would spring to mind that could be wrong with him, if it isn't just pure bone idle-ness! He picks them up when working properly (which takes a lot of work from me!) and when excited/out on a hack/jumping. But if I just let him go round like he wanted to he would just drag his feet and do his best impression of a beach donkey :rolleyes: He scuffs the toes of his feet, right at the very edge. I just put it down to him being lazy.
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I suggest you get a good [BHSII] instructor to ride him and to get a proper assessment of him, OK, it may be difficult to accept that he is "beach donkey"[unlikely], but it may be that he needs one thing or another, and it helps to see what difference a "good rider" can make to a "beach donkey"
When I go to the sales, I have the opportunity to see a horse trotted out, steadily, not "fast", and from that I can tell
1]sound or unsound
2] even gait, [and conformation] which affects conformation.

As a barefoot person, I do not want a horse to be shod and re-shod for no particular reason, ie if a horse has to be shod, I want to wait till the hoof wall has no holes in it.
I have applied for membership of the Barefoot Taliban, application pending.
 
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