Barefoot and roughening of pedal bones?

pines of rome

pines of rome

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My boy has been barefoot now for 15 months for his navicular and his feet have improved, but he is not doing as well as he should be!
My vet has looked at his x rays more closely and says there appears to be roughening on his pedal bones and although he agrees his feet look a lot better, he is now suggesting shoes with special pads for this, which he says he has had good results with!
I have not agreed to this, just said I would look into it, has anyone else had better results barefoot with this problem?:confused:
 
What do you mean when you say he is not doing as well as he should be?

Did you have MRI scans done when he was diagnosed?

What do you feed him?

What work has he been doing?

How thick are his soles on the latest xrays?

So he was lame in shoes, is better without them, but because he is not completely cured the vet wants shoes on? Doesn't make sense to me :( Why does the vet think that going barefoot will have caused roughening of the pedal bone?
 
cptrayes said:
What do you mean when you say he is not doing as well as he should be?

Did you have MRI scans done when he was diagnosed?

What do you feed him?

What work has he been doing?

How thick are his soles on the latest xrays?

So he was lame in shoes, is better without them, but because he is not completely cured the vet wants shoes on? Doesn't make sense to me :( Why does the vet think that going barefoot will have caused roughening of the pedal bone?
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Ditto and when were the X Rays taken ie. how old are they?
 
Ok, firstly my vet is not knocking barefoot, he has been quite open minded about it and is impressed with how healthy his feet look, but because he has been treating a horse with similar problems to mine, he wanted to let me know of other options!
The xrays are two years old, before he went barefoot, so he is not saying barefoot caused it! He also has an old navicular fracture to deal with, so this may well be why he can,t do too much!
I just wanted to be reassured that keeping him barefoot is his best option!
 
Well I'm lost for words really. Your vet is recommending shoes and pads now partly on the basis of two year old xrays? Or have I misunderstood something?

We need to know the answers to the questions that I posed about his work, food, etc and why you say he is not doing as well as expected before we can help you with whether he should stay barefoot.
 
Well when you put it like that, I must agree it does sound nuts, I will not be shoeing, based on that!
Out of interest I seem to recall you having one with a fracture or bone spur that did not come right!
His diet is correct and I am with Lucy , so I will discuss it further with her!
Sometimes it is just nice to see how others are coping with similar problems!
Thanks for the replies.:)
 
Yes, it wasn't mine it belonged to a friend but I have been cautious about a prognosis on horses with bone spurs ever since. The mare was lame in both front feet and came sound in both front feet. But every time the work load was increased, the foot with the bone spur on the navicular went lame again. She had her put down because she was a TB who was temperamentally not suitable for light hacking.

I have no experience of navicular bone fractures, but I know how my own broken arm feels, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was still affected by it. Can you afford a new set of x rays to see whether it's all OK? I'm cheekily hoping that you can because I wouldn't be surprised to see an improvement in that pedal bone roughening if you do :)
 
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PoR I think with an old injury like the navicular fracture it's probably not wise to be too dogmatic about barefoot, and I mean me, not you :)

You could always try one shoeing with the pads the vet recommends and see what effect they have. If he isn't more comfortable you'll have done no harm. Just bear in mind the other thread running at the moment where a navicular horse has been shod for two years only to have his heels collapse again and go lame again. If you shoe and stick with it, do try to find 3 months in the year when they can be taken off.
 
That is basically how mine is, I start to up his work a bit and then he is a bit off the next day, so maybe this is why we can only progress so far!
It is frustrating for him and me, but thankfully not enough to consider having him pts ! :
He seems happy enough atm and plays in the field and at least he does not stand out there pointing anymore!
 
I think it is easy to get caught up in the 'Hollywood' of barefoot. Such great results are seen in so many.

But I think this can lead to wishful thinking that all hoof/leg/upper body problems will be completely cured. And this is not the case.

What barefoot, followed through correctly, will do is allow the horse to reach it's potential in respect of what it has to work with. And some horses have so many issues that we have to manage our expectations.

A horse with arthritis, will still have arthritis, but will be better served by a correctly working hoof mechanism with robust digital cushion and lateral cartilages, as these will provide far more concussion absorption than any metal shoe with or without pad.

The shoe may, by restricting the hoof provide some pain relief, but IME the downsides in terms of damage done to the hoof structure and balance outweigh the upsides. Especially when you consider you lose the early warning mechanism that something is going awry, therefore it has to progress to a worse stage before it is noticed. And a horse with arthritis needs a well functioning hoof to absorb concussion which a shoe will not.

I agree with CPTRayes. Basing a diagnosis and subsequent 'prescription' on old x-rays may be well intended, perhaps the vet was trying to help without adding to cost, but it is not very reliable.
 
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LucyPriory said:
I think it is easy to get caught up in the 'Hollywood' of barefoot. Such great results are seen in so many.

But I think this can lead to wishful thinking that all hoof/leg/upper body problems will be completely cured. And this is not the case.

What barefoot, followed through correctly, will do is allow the horse to reach it's potential in respect of what it has to work with. And some horses have so many issues that we have to manage our expectations.
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I think this is such an important point. Some horses may well have limited 'use' at their best and I think this is something we all have to realize rather than expecting horses to be able to do what we want one way or another.
Another strong reason for taking account of the whole horse.

ps. I am making a general point not meaning you op.
 
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LucyPriory said:
I think it is easy to get caught up in the 'Hollywood' of barefoot. Such great results are seen in so many.

But I think this can lead to wishful thinking that all hoof/leg/upper body problems will be completely cured. And this is not the case.
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That is so very true:)
 
I do agree with you all, romeo does have a lot of problems, he has had some Bowen therapy and the lady said it was not a cure, but would help him cope better with his problems and it has helped!
I find it hard because some days he feels really good, but it is not consistent ,
I will just have to accept that maybe thats the way it is with him, he is a dear little horse and I feel so sad that he can not do more as he so enjoys it!:(
 
Yes, finding a balance is the hardest, none of us want to get complacent and think... well, that's as good as we can hope for but then where and do we stop? I have found that I now accept each day as it comes but keep trying to learn and try other options to see if things can improve further. Over here my options for investigations etc. are very limited and in a way that makes things easier. I'm on my own most of the time really.
 
My gut feeling is that 20% don't return to full work, and that's 1 in every 5. Barefoot is so stunningly better than the conventional treatments that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that 1 in 5 is still a lot :(
 
Yes I suppose we might fall into the 20% group that will never be really sound, no matter how hard I try!
The comment Lucy made about barefoot "Hollywood" is so true, when I first started reading about it, I thought this will bring my boy right as all I could see was so many horses going back to lead useful lives!

But what do the 20% do, carry on regardless, give up, shoe or pts?
 
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