Barefoot advice - sole/ bars shedding?

J

JVB

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Hi, can anyone in the know take a look at this picture
Left fore
Redsfoot20213_zps53dad2f4.jpg


Is this ok/ normal? I'd say he was a bit more tender on that foot last night, field is muddy but has some hard stony areas, could he have scraped it or is it shedding?

I had a good feel and press round and he seemed more comfortable on it this morning, but he is walking a bit 'short' on this foot, wonder if something going on higher up... he's not lame as such but not stretching out with this leg as much as the other front one. He did have some sort of soft tissue damage to this foot back in Dec.

Thanks
 
Id guess it's one of two things.

Most likely after the wet winter we've had is an old abcess. The don't always make them lame and sometimes only noticed when the damaged bot grow out. Clean up the foot and see if there's black marks underneath. My old horse had the exact same but muchore extensive (whole corner of one heel peeled off) after a large abcess grew out.

Other cause might be him laying down excess horn to compensate for his injury a while ago and now it's not needed it's falling off.

If it peels off easily enough, I would do so to stop stones etc getting trapped under it. Otherwise I'd conservatively trim it off for the same reason. I'd also scrub it well with antibacterial to kill anything nasty. It may well make him sensitive if it deep enough.
 
It looks like shedding to me, but it's difficult to see the sole underneath, and whether it looks undamaged. Unless there's evidence of trauma to the foot in that area, I'd look for other reasons for the footiness.
 
Will get my trimmer out to check. It's possible it could be due to Dec issues, the xrays showed no signs of abscess but he did have little bits of bruising so I guess it may be this growing out.

I'll clean up and take more photos tonight - thanks
 
If you have a look at Schoko's story and see the pictures at the bottom of the page - where the false sole was shedding.

http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/html/shoko.html

It's common for this to happen when a hoof is doing some construction work. The pieces look bigger than normal shedding, so I suspect this is what is going on.

Just leave it alone and leave the horse to get on with it :)
 
Oberon said:
If you have a look at Schoko's story and see the pictures at the bottom of the page - where the false sole was shedding.

http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/html/shoko.html

It's common for this to happen when a hoof is doing some construction work. The pieces look bigger than normal shedding, so I suspect this is what is going on.

Just leave it alone and leave the horse to get on with it :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, very interesting, will leave alone and see what happens... I can see me having my camera at the ready a lot for the next few weeks!

I've got my trimmer coming out just in case, even if she just tells me to leave alone and keep doing what I'm doing - peace of mind!

Thanks
 
JVB said:
Thanks for the link, very interesting, will leave alone and see what happens... I can see me having my camera at the ready a lot for the next few weeks!

I've got my trimmer coming out just in case, even if she just tells me to leave alone and keep doing what I'm doing - peace of mind!

Thanks
Click to expand...

No probs :)

In the bit about Schoko - when Sheena mentions, "one day Gareth came home from the yard after speaking with a girl about barefoot. I don’t know what she said but he agreed to have his shoes off"

That was me :D
 
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