Barefoot foot wearing toe away

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thatsmygirl

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My lad has been doing really well, to well in fact but tonight iv noticed he seemed a bit un comfy on his feet. When I picked his feet up it looks like he's worn his toes away. Landing very toe first by the seems of it but if he wears his toes away how can I keep him going?
 
He has flat feet, but tbh I wouldn't know if it's been left long. He has under run heels with flat feet. Reverse pedal bone rotation
 
Am not a barefoot or foot expert in ANY way, but have you spoken to farrier/trimmer about why he's landing toe first? It could be his toes are a bit long perhaps? Do stand to be corrected of course, am by no means a BF expert or the likes - my boy has shoes :o
 
He has a lot off problems with his feet hence why he's gone barefoot to give him a last chance. Trimmer said he doesn't expect him to land heal first at the mo but I'm worried this will make things hard. Will e mail my trimmer now
 
This all takes time. Forgive me I have forgotten how long it has been for you. But going too well too soon could very occasionally throw up a conundrum. Do you have any photos handy? Maybe a short video? I am afraid I am not one of the more experienced barefooters but it will help so that farriers and trimmers alike on here can see the problem.

My lad went short in the toe. Boots back on for a couple of weeks, a quick trim. Right as rain again. But every horse is different. In fact, he had one toe shorter than the other due to rotation in his right fore and a stretched white line which looks like it will never ever go away. But he is sound, and his foot looked good.
 
Iv got epics with 12mm pads in which he wears to and from the field as it's a stoney track but apart from that he's been walking out in hand bare and going on the walker bare ( soft shreaded tyre floor) maybe I'm over doing the walker work as that does fall in line with him going sore and the floor will move about so u get patches off bare concrete after a while. He cantered up the field tonight and the ground is pretty hard but when he walked across the yard his eyes told me he wasn't comfy.
 
Is it not more to do with breakover point than landing toe first? My youngster was wearing his toes, which is why he's been reshod, I appreciate you can't do this, but it may be that working him in a more uphill frame would help. Otherwise I might be inclined to get some boots.
 
Thinking about it, if it was a recent change, it takes time to change ones way of going. To do that, work on harder surfaces is required to stimulate not only growth but soft tissues and blood vessels and nerves etc etc... I do hope you can put up photos. Perhaps Lucy or Moorman or CPT or Oberon can shed a bit of light for you.

A barefoot hoof looks very different from a shod hoof. The toe is short. So is the heel. The whole foot is much smaller in some cases. Actually, mine went bigger as he was shod as if he were a tb. Poor him. But the foot did change shape.

If footy, do consider diet as a possible cause.
 
I haven't taken any pics as I only saw it tonight. Iv thought about diet and the only thing different is the fact he had different hay today ( in by day) it's still old hay but most off my hay is light brown now and he eats it fine but this bale was quite green and he finished the lot. Noticed the footyness tonight. So maybe it could be the hay instead off the wear on his toes. Will open a different bale tomoz and feed that to the others. Bet he won't eat his hay now.
 
If the toe wear is minor it shouldn't make him sore particularly. I often find after the first trim which in do conservatively they show u how they need to wear their feet. Is it the length that's wearing as this should have been near sole level any way or is he catching it and squaring it off? If it's the later he is just showing that his break over Is further back and this will be changed with time/next trim and not something I would sorry about.
However if footy need to find out y. X
 
I think that since your horse is a rehab case with a serious pathology - negative coffin bone angle - you need to stick with your trimmer's advice about this and be prepared for this to take a long time to come right.

It's really not something that I would feel good about advising on without seeing the horse.

I will just tell you that I have had two horses which I believe had negative coffin bone angles in the hind feet. The first was not totally happy on her hind feet for 6 months and the second took a year. I do not mean that they were lame, but that their movement was not correct, and in particular when stood still they "stood under" with their hind legs. It is not a quick thing to fix - it requires the horse to rebuild the entire back half of its foot until it can push the back of the coffin bone up where it should be.
 
OP - I am unaware of this horse's history - so generic reference only

Toe first is only sometimes a breakover issue. It is more commonly caused by heel pain.

Pain in the toe region is most often caused by: laminitis to a lesser or greater degree, thin sole, bruising, or toe cracks involving the white line which split open with the additional pressure of breakover. Less often damage to internal structures.

Overly sugary hay, improperly cured hay, etc etc (ie dietary issues) can cause footiness which can come and go within days sometimes less, sometimes more.

Heel pain can be caused by any of the following (this is not an exclusive list); thrush, contraction, shearing, underdeveloped digital cushion and/or frog, underrun heels, corns, damage to internal structures.

Most commonly it is (often undiagnosed) thrush with or without the contraction that often follows.
 
OP frank has a similar diagnosis am sure have said before.

I can only go on that one experience but when we pulled shoes he had 6 weeks growth and did no trimming. He was quite comfortable and started walking out (10 mins to start) 4 weeks down the line he got a bit footy. He had worn his toes (where he needed to I might add ;) ). However his footiness was mostly I think down to the fact that because of the pedal bones he has very flat soles. when shoes came off he had a rim supporting them off the ground, as he wore his feet down the closer the sole came to the ground and the more footy he became if we found any grit on the road etc.

Since then he has been booted for most roadwork, his growth is insufficient to keep up with wear as yet but he needed to keep moving. As he has been very comfortable over the last few weeks we have just started to introduce more bare roadwork again (14 weeks in). He is landing heel first all round now but has gone from landing laterally in his 'lame' foot to landing laterally in the other one and the lame foot being straight :rolleyes:
 
Given the extreme length of his hooves - I would be very doubtful he is wearing his toes too short, rather he will be wearing them short-er - which is what they need to be. Especially with the negative coffin bone angle......

However if he is landing toe-first, he may well be wearing through his wall at the toe.

Not much you can do other than wait for the back of his hoof to become stronger and ready to share the load.

Just make sure he has no thrush in his frogs or that will delay everything.
 
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