Badly Cracked Hooves... what to do?

[amycamycamyc]

I have a retired mare who lives out 24/7 in a field with 7-8 other retired horses. They are checked 2x per day by the staff but are generally left in peace to be ornamental lawnmowers.

I pop in every now and then to deliver treats and scratches and have always been pleased that my mare is happy and relaxed and well in herself.
I went up to visit today and was quite shocked to discover that she seems to have an eye infection in both eyes (significant discharge from both eyes) and also her hooves seem to be badly cracked. She has previously had great hooves and has coped for the last year barefoot no problem at all.

She can't have any shoes on in the retirement field so that isn't an option. Also feeding supplements etc is impractical as they don't get any hard feed at all. Any advice about what I should do and how much I should panic? I should say she seemed completely sound - but she was grumpy - which might be eye infection related.

 

[be positive]

I wouldn't panic but I would be cross that the staff have not noticed her feet becoming like that or started treating the eye infection, the eyes need treating as a priority and the feet would benefit from a trim as soon as possible then regular trims as the cracks grow out. It has been a very wet winter and their feet have suffered a bit from being constantly wet, they are now drying out so this is partly why the cracks are appearing, other contributing factors will be possibly too long between trims and lack of some essential vits/ mins to maintain a healthy foot, as they get older they may require more nutrients than previously and if they get no hard feed over winter they may struggle to get enough from just rough grazing and hay.

I think if I was paying for retirement livery I would expect them to be able to deal with her eyes, you should have been informed there was a problem and asked whether you wanted them to arrange for a vet to come out, I would also expect them to be able to take her a small feed each day, a balancer would probably be ideal as it would take just moments to eat, if they cannot take full care of her then maybe it is time to think about moving elsewhere.

 

[Makemineacob]

^^^^^this. (Yet another spot on post from bepositive).