Barefoot Peeps any experience/sucess with Pedalostitis ?

[irishdraft]

My mare has been diagnosed with pedalostitis, vet suggests shoes, pads and bute but she is only just 11 so I have been looking into barefoot. My farrier has also looked at the x rays and thinks there is also sidebone present, which vet didnt mention, this mare has always been pottery and unhappy on hard surfaces but although I have had her looked at (by the vet) several times over the years, she has always been declared sound. She is shod in front as one foot has a very weak seam of horn which breaks and crumbles, which we think is due to an injury as a youngster but has always been unshod behind and her back feet are very tough. I am thinking about possibly going the barefoot route as I have seen sucess stories with navicular/caudal heel pain/ligaments etc although pedalostitis dosent really come into this sphere and I worry that her bad foot may break up completly, it had a huge piece missing when i bought her which took 4 years to get sorted. So am I clutching at straws ??

 

[Charliechalk]

My horse had this condition but was initially diagnosed with Navicular. Because of this i also went down the barefoot route and although he initially got better he never became completely sound, always 2/10 lame. He then got progressively worse and and another vet eventually diagnosed pedal osteitis (not sure of the spelling). The second vet said that taking his shoes of was probably not the best thing for him as from what i understood they needed the support. I tried the glue on imprint shoes for a whlile with some success but unfortunately he had to be pts. I really believe that if the initial diagnoses had been correct we would have been able to manage the situation with correct shoeing and the second vet and my farrier also suggested that this may have been the case. I would definitely follow your vets advice as it sounds very similar to the advice given by my second vet, if only my boy wasn't misdiagnosed the first time round he may have still been with us now. Also there are two types of pedal osteitis, septic and non septic. Not sure if the treatment is the same for both though. Hope everything goes ok with your mare.

 

[amandap]

It might be worth contacting Rockley Farm to discuss this. I've no idea what experience they have with this but you never know.
http://www.rockleyfarm.co.uk/RockleyFarm/Home.html

 

[Charliechalk]

Rockley farm is where my boy went to, would definitely give her a call and see what she says. She will be very honest with you and is very good at what she does.

 

[irishdraft]

Thanks for the info, charliechalk I have been looking at rockley farm and have bought the book feet first as I am in the lucky position of being able to do this at home but they have no mention of pedalostitis, the mare is happy to work on soft going/grass but does not like the roads, as i only hunt her its not too much of a problem for me as we dont do much road work but she has moved on from pottery to lame on the road. I am going to work her on the beach and grass only see how she goes but did not really want to bute her to work her if at all possible but this may be the case if taking the shoes off is not really the way to go for her.

 

[Daisy2]

Oh no not the pedalisitis ( yes I know the spelling) Well when my guy went lame he was diagnosed with this and I checked out every website, the vet said prognosis not good etc etc, then he came good and then lame etc so I thought ok lets get a full work up done, different vet, never said a word about the pedal...tis but did say navicular syndrome. I was devastated, I immediately took the shoes off went down the boot route route and he goes beautiful, we hack out for about 2hrs 4 times a week, I thought he was finished, so what I am saying is keep an open mind, vets clutch at straws too, feet are complex structures, keep it simple, luckily for us its been a transformation. Good Luck

 

[MissSBird]

From my understanding of the syndrome (though i admit i didn't research much as by the time my girl was diagonosed it was too far gone to do anything for her), I would have thought barefoot would be the worst option unless constantly booted, as any concussion on hard ground only aggrevates the situation. You need to protect what is left of the pedal bone from any type of concussion injuries.

Keep a good eye on your fields. It was being out 24 hours in the first of our longer dryer summers in years that pushed my mares feet to breaking point. She had been worked soundly on roads for years, but running (as she was energetic in the field) free and happy on the harder summer ground was enough to tip the balance.

Good luck in finding a solution; I really hope you manage to get it under control.

ETA: Sorry if that comes across as harsh at all...it's just an upsetting topic for me.

 

[Teamo]

From my understanding of the syndrome (though i admit i didn't research much as by the time my girl was diagonosed it was too far gone to do anything for her), I would have thought barefoot would be the worst option unless constantly booted, as any concussion on hard ground only aggrevates the situation. You need to protect what is left of the pedal bone from any type of concussion injuries.

Keep a good eye on your fields. It was being out 24 hours in the first of our longer dryer summers in years that pushed my mares feet to breaking point. She had been worked soundly on roads for years, but running (as she was energetic in the field) free and happy on the harder summer ground was enough to tip the balance.

Good luck in finding a solution; I really hope you manage to get it under control.

ETA: Sorry if that comes across as harsh at all...it's just an upsetting topic for me.

Surely if concussion is the issue then going barefoot would be the best option? Being barefoot allows the horse to utilise the natural shock absorbing functions of the foot, whereas shoeing stops this (by preventing the natural expansion/contraction of the heel), and adds the extra concussion of having a metal rim striking a hard surface. That’s my understanding of it, at least.

 

[Reacher]

I'm sorry about your horse - my ex-racer was diagnosed with pedalostitis after several years with me riding her unshod (trimmed by farrier). IMO not being shod was one of the contributory factors, along with her racing past. Vet prescribed 3 months rest and remedial shoeing, after which she was sound and ok to be brought back into light work (not jumping).
I dont know how good your vet is, I bypassed the local vets and went to an expert. All I'm saying is, assuming the vet knows his stuff, I'd do as he prescribes.