rose1081
Well-Known Member
Hello!
This turned into a long story, I never intended it to.
I'm just after some thoughts and advice really from other people who have been through the transition (successfully or not). I've read many threads on here but none quite like my issue.
I took the back shoes off last year and decided earlier this year that as her back feet looked so healthy and the fronts looked pretty rubbish, that I would take the plunge. she has no prior feet issues / lameness issues / health problems etc. to deal with, so I naively thought this might be easy!
The shoes were taken off mid July, she was fine in the arena for the first couple of weeks and I continued working her. she was footy on stones as expected, so Nothing of real concern.
She then became off in the arena too at the start of August. We put this down to bruising as ground was super hard (she doesn't take it easy in the field) and also had quite a long toe which was perhaps putting pressure on something etc. Also, I had just ripped her shoes off after 7 years, so I wasn't expecting miracles! She was subsequently trimmed by a barefoot trimmer, mid August, 4 weeks after her shoes came off/ around 1-2 weeks after becoming off.
I ordered hoof boots, and she is 100% sound in those (on hard gravel surface, concrete and in the soft arena), but slightly off without the hoof boots, on hard ground and in the arena.
There is no heat or swelling or pulses that we can find. As we are transitioning and lameness is slight and she is fine in field we have not seen vet, as advice is quite likely to be: put shoes on. Also, as she is sound in boots, I assume she would likely be sound in shoes, which suggests its an issue with her transitioning?
We did see some pink in the white line a couple of weeks ago, and a small bit of bruising show up on the sole, but I understand by the time this shows up, it is from something several weeks or months past?
The lameness has got better in the last few weeks, which is positive. But she is still fractionally off.
She is out a few hours in the day, in overnight on soaked hay.
I've not been riding, just the odd time in the hoof boots, in walk and a little trot, to see how she is progressing/ if she is improving.
She gets a handful of happy hoof for breakfast and dinner with a bit of magnesium.
I've been treating with Red Horse for the small bit of thrush she had but on the whole, things look good.
I have photos from every week if that's helpful.
Has anyone else had issues with ponies being off on soft surface when transitioning?
How long do I give it before I admit defeat? Do I persevere until spring (say 6 months she will have a whole new hoof growth and hoof should be stronger)?
I'm frustrated because her feet look much healthier, the new growth looks good, frogs are improved vastly. and yet, She's not 100% in the school.
Well done to anyone who got this far!
This turned into a long story, I never intended it to.
I'm just after some thoughts and advice really from other people who have been through the transition (successfully or not). I've read many threads on here but none quite like my issue.
I took the back shoes off last year and decided earlier this year that as her back feet looked so healthy and the fronts looked pretty rubbish, that I would take the plunge. she has no prior feet issues / lameness issues / health problems etc. to deal with, so I naively thought this might be easy!
The shoes were taken off mid July, she was fine in the arena for the first couple of weeks and I continued working her. she was footy on stones as expected, so Nothing of real concern.
She then became off in the arena too at the start of August. We put this down to bruising as ground was super hard (she doesn't take it easy in the field) and also had quite a long toe which was perhaps putting pressure on something etc. Also, I had just ripped her shoes off after 7 years, so I wasn't expecting miracles! She was subsequently trimmed by a barefoot trimmer, mid August, 4 weeks after her shoes came off/ around 1-2 weeks after becoming off.
I ordered hoof boots, and she is 100% sound in those (on hard gravel surface, concrete and in the soft arena), but slightly off without the hoof boots, on hard ground and in the arena.
There is no heat or swelling or pulses that we can find. As we are transitioning and lameness is slight and she is fine in field we have not seen vet, as advice is quite likely to be: put shoes on. Also, as she is sound in boots, I assume she would likely be sound in shoes, which suggests its an issue with her transitioning?
We did see some pink in the white line a couple of weeks ago, and a small bit of bruising show up on the sole, but I understand by the time this shows up, it is from something several weeks or months past?
The lameness has got better in the last few weeks, which is positive. But she is still fractionally off.
She is out a few hours in the day, in overnight on soaked hay.
I've not been riding, just the odd time in the hoof boots, in walk and a little trot, to see how she is progressing/ if she is improving.
She gets a handful of happy hoof for breakfast and dinner with a bit of magnesium.
I've been treating with Red Horse for the small bit of thrush she had but on the whole, things look good.
I have photos from every week if that's helpful.
Has anyone else had issues with ponies being off on soft surface when transitioning?
How long do I give it before I admit defeat? Do I persevere until spring (say 6 months she will have a whole new hoof growth and hoof should be stronger)?
I'm frustrated because her feet look much healthier, the new growth looks good, frogs are improved vastly. and yet, She's not 100% in the school.
Well done to anyone who got this far!
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