Barefoot mafia please...

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Megibo

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My mare has been previously barefoot all round for 2 years, however her back feet haven't had shoes on for much much longer. I put shoes on as she wasn't coping with stony gravel at new yard however that was a mistake really. Now am back at private yard with no stones so shoes are back off. Hasn't had them back off too long no more than 6 or 7 weeks I would say. Could you have a look at her feet please and tell me what you think? Farrier should be coming out soon, any help or thoughts appreciated!

She's also lame in trot at the moment, slight head nod one day its on the left rein and another its to the right and wondered if anyone can see anything wrong with her front feet which might be why. Pulling my hair out over it. Getting farrier to rule out anything wrong with hoof, if he finds nothing will get the vet. She is sound in walk.
LEFT FORE
LEFTFORE.jpg

LEFTFORE2.jpg

LEFT HIND
LEFTHIND.jpg

LEFTHIND2.jpg

RIGHT FORE
RIGHTFORE.jpg

RIGHTFORE2.jpg

RIGHT HIND
RIGHTHIND.jpg

RIGHTHIND2.jpg
 
Tinypony said:
What is she fed?
How often is she trimmed?

(Taliban, not Mafia... LOL!).
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Sorry ! :p Trimmed every 6 or so..not been trimmed since had her shoes off also another reason why farrier needs to come out. She is out on grass and has small amount of hi-fi lite to mix in supplements and baileys lo cal balancer.


TheCurlyPony said:
On the right fore, to the right of the picture is that an abscess hole ?
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Nope, nail holes from shoes are growing out and her feet are chipped from the 2 hacks she has been on. Not doing anymore til she has a trim and the hoof grows back down a bit!
 
Well they certainly are ready for a trim and hopefully your farrier will perform a true barefoot trim not a pasture trim, he should not rasp away the periople or remove any sole for example, and he should remove the flares.

Once the trim has been done correctly you can then see if there is any improvement with regard to lameness and work form there.

Once the trim is doen correctly and she is comfortable you should be able to take her out for a walk at least. She will let you know how she feels. It is walking on varied terrain which helps to strengthen the feet.

Let us know how the trim goes.
 
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Don't get too hung up in the trim - at this stage it can do more harm than good. Your farrier may want to tidy up the loose bits but at the moment comfort is compromised so it's unlikely a trim will make that better.

What you may think about doing is some thrush treatment, floss those central sulci - even if there is no thrush smell there may be some in the crevices - so a good soak in Milton at 1:10 will do a lot of good.

If the heels are not comfortable then the horse won;t want to land on them.
 
TheCurlyPony said:
Sorry I ment on the sole picture.
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Oh just seen that, and nope not an abcess hole. She hasn't had one.

texel said:
Well they certainly are ready for a trim and hopefully your farrier will perform a true barefoot trim not a pasture trim, he should not rasp away the periople or remove any sole for example, and he should remove the flares.

Once the trim has been done correctly you can then see if there is any improvement with regard to lameness and work form there.

Once the trim is doen correctly and she is comfortable you should be able to take her out for a walk at least. She will let you know how she feels. It is walking on varied terrain which helps to strengthen the feet.

Let us know how the trim goes.
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He is the one who does all her trimming and she's been fine the past couple years with him so do her feet look okay based on that?
Thanks I will see if there is any change and if he finds any reason for lameness.
 
You have some fairly bad hoof wall separation there. I have had this on two horses both of which were on forage diets without any mineral balancer before they came to me and both stopped once fed a balanced diet. I know that there is at least one trimmer who believes that it is caused by lack of protein.

What are you feeding?

And what is her breeding? There is a gene in Connemaras that causes this, but it has to be inherited from both parents.
 
Those don't look like very happy feet to me :( but agree they will look considerably better after a trim.The frogs are nice and wide - although perhaps a little thrushy - dry dluting Milton Sterilising fluid 1 part to 3 parts water and spraying and scrubbing into all cracks and crevices...

In the mean time I would start by being very careful about the amount of grass she has access too. She is showing signs of sensitivity and I wouldn't be suprised if her 'lameness' was linked. be totally brutal with yourself about her overall condition. is she overweight? cresty? hany fatty deposits?

Hi-fi lite isn't an ideal feed for a horse as it is still mollassed, despite being laminitis trust approved. Nor are mass produced balancers as a general rule.

I would be tempted to put her on fast fibre, micronised linseed and then a supplement like 'pro hoof' or forage plus' own balancer which have been balanced specifically with the health of a horse's hoof in mind.

I'm sure more experienced barefooters will be along shortly...
 
cptrayes said:
You have some fairly bad hoof wall separation there. I have had this on two horses both of which were on forage diets without any mineral balancer before they came to me and both stopped once fed a balanced diet. I know that there is at least one trimmer who believes that it is caused by lack of protein.

What are you feeding?

And what is her breeding? There is a gene in Connemaras that causes this, but it has to be inherited from both parents.
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She is a welsh sec D and as said before she gets hi fi lite and lo cal balancer. her fronts looked fine until we went on those 2 short hacks, now they look how they are now!
 
CBFan said:
Those don't look like very happy feet to me :( but agree they will look considerably better after a trim.The frogs are nice and wide - although perhaps a little thrushy - dry dluting Milton Sterilising fluid 1 part to 3 parts water and spraying and scrubbing into all cracks and crevices...

In the mean time I would start by being very careful about the amount of grass she has access too. She is showing signs of sensitivity and I wouldn't be suprised if her 'lameness' was linked. be totally brutal with yourself about her overall condition. is she overweight? cresty? hany fatty deposits?

Hi-fi lite isn't an ideal feed for a horse as it is still mollassed, despite being laminitis trust approved. Nor are mass produced balancers as a general rule.

I would be tempted to put her on fast fibre, micronised linseed and then a supplement like 'pro hoof' or forage plus' own balancer which have been balanced specifically with the health of a horse's hoof in mind.

I'm sure more experienced barefooters will be along shortly...
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conditin score wise she'd be about a 3.5 ish. she has been about 347kg all year which is ideal for her but has recently gone to 360kg. has a bit of a crest but nothing that wobbles!
I thought it could be a sensitivity to the grass sugar but wasn't sure. Was considering putting her on a bare paddock with soaked hay to get her weight back down and lessen her sugar intake.
 
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Megibo said:
She is a welsh sec D and as said before she gets hi fi lite and lo cal balancer. her fronts looked fine until we went on those 2 short hacks, now they look how they are now!
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It sounds and looks like she may have a grass sensitivity issue then. Other people have given you good advice about that and supplementation. I hope she comes right soon for you.
 
As CBFan says, may be worth considering a specific mineral/vit supplement targeted at hoof health like the Forage Plus one, or the Pro Earth, or the Equimins Meta Balance Advance

Never been a fan of the bagged balancers to be honest.
 
cptrayes said:
It sounds and looks like she may have a grass sensitivity issue then. Other people have given you good advice about that and supplementation. I hope she comes right soon for you.
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brucea said:
As CBFan says, may be worth considering a specific mineral/vit supplement targeted at hoof health like the Forage Plus one, or the Pro Earth, or the Equimins Meta Balance Advance

Never been a fan of the bagged balancers to be honest.
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thankyou both, am looking into it!
 
Megibo said:
conditin score wise she'd be about a 3.5 ish. she has been about 347kg all year which is ideal for her but has recently gone to 360kg. has a bit of a crest but nothing that wobbles!
I thought it could be a sensitivity to the grass sugar but wasn't sure. Was considering putting her on a bare paddock with soaked hay to get her weight back down and lessen her sugar intake.
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It wouldn't just be grass sugars that you have to watch - dietary sugars and starch in general Lo cal is 10% starch which isn't horrendous but could be lower in an ideal world
I would most certainly start by reducing her grazing and feeding soaked hay if completely necessary but be honest. does she really need it!?

Feeding a magnesium supplements is one of the single most important things you can do, though that said, lots of things in her diet will be out of balance so it is worth geting your minerals balanced :)
 
Another question, can grass sensitivity cause slight lameness?

Realised two recent, common things with my mare:
1. doesn't stumble on the left rein but stumbles frequently to the right
2. when picking out her feet she is fine around the frogs but when scraping mud off of the sole she gets funny and tries to pull her foot away/stamp it back down on to the floor.
 
Megibo said:
Another question, can grass sensitivity cause slight lameness?

Realised two recent, common things with my mare:
1. doesn't stumble on the left rein but stumbles frequently to the right
2. when picking out her feet she is fine around the frogs but when scraping mud off of the sole she gets funny and tries to pull her foot away/stamp it back down on to the floor.
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1) Hmmm - that sounds like another issue? Saddle/body?

2) Possibly thrush but possibly sore. Can you flex her sole with your thumb?

Sugar sensitivity will cause inflammation within the hoof (and coupled with a thin sole perhaps) will make a horse sore for certain.

Does she stamp down a particular hoof? Is it that holding one up is hurting a body issue?
 
Oberon said:
1) Hmmm - that sounds like another issue? Saddle/body?

2) Possibly thrush but possibly sore. Can you flex her sole with your thumb?

Sugar sensitivity will cause inflammation within the hoof (and coupled with a thin sole perhaps) will make a horse sore for certain.

Does she stamp down a particular hoof? Is it that holding one up is hurting a body issue?
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Am getting the physiotherapist out to check her as soon as she is back from the paralympics.
no i don't think so? seems pretty firm to me? And no not really but she is worse with the right hoof. At last physio check she was physically absolutely fine but I understand that things can change over a few months and she could pulled something in the field. The head nodding in trot began earlier this week after stumbling 3 times in a row on the right rein.
 
Megibo said:
Another question, can grass sensitivity cause slight lameness?

Realised two recent, common things with my mare:
1. doesn't stumble on the left rein but stumbles frequently to the right
2. when picking out her feet she is fine around the frogs but when scraping mud off of the sole she gets funny and tries to pull her foot away/stamp it back down on to the floor.
Click to expand...

1. could be another issue but it could quite easily be due to feet - if her toe is a bit long for eg. I'd be tempted to get a good chiro to give her the once over but also see how she is after a couple of good trims no more than 6 weeks apart.

2) She could have quite thin soles (all related to the sugar intollerance and completely reversable) making her sensitive in this area and or she could find putting all her forehand weight to one foot quite painful - again due to the sugar intollerance. I'd sugest getting the diet sorted along side the trimming should resolve this for you .
 
would agree with this above on the feet.

also would ditch the alfalfa - lots of Welsh mares don't get on with it (mine cannot have a sniff of it without it going to her head and her feet)

with the stumbling just another thought - check that the gullet channel of your saddle is wide enough all the way along - Welshies can often have wide spines and and that coupled with their strong movement with lots of back action can mean that even saddles that look to be well fitting can touch the ligaments on the side of the backbone.
 
Is there any heat in either hoof? Stumbling and tripping can be associated with various ailments, such as navicular and arthritis. My own mare started tripping/ stumbling on the right and that, along with slight lameness, was the first sign that she had arthritis in the coffin joint of that hoof. There are other explanations, obviously, but these are things you could look into and ask the vet about. Hope you get things sorted and it's nothing serious :)
 
No heat in either hoof, she had a total day to chill yesterday and rode her today for 15 mins. Had 2 short trots either way and she was a little stiff but no head nodding which is good. farrier coming out tomorrow.
 
Megibo said:
She is a welsh sec D and as said before she gets hi fi lite and lo cal balancer. her fronts looked fine until we went on those 2 short hacks, now they look how they are now!
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I have a section D fed the same was a bit footy, just broke and got his first shoes now he is just fine. I think some horses go better with shoes.:) he is 3
 
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