Barefoot with suspensory injury?

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HazyXmas

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I wondered if any of the barefoot people could help me?

My daughter's 15hh connie had a high suspensory ligament injury at the end of July 11. We took her shoes off (only wore fronts) she had eight weeks box rest, was re-scanned & started walking out. Vet told me to put fronts back on which i did end of Oct as she was to start trotting. She was a total nightmare, very wild so we didn't trot, just carried on walking.

She has progressed & is now out 4 times a week with some trotting & tiny amount of cantering, all seems ok (touches wood lots!) my problem is that she is bored & being a twit in her small turnout paddock, she has pulled 3 shoes off in the last 5 weeks.

My gut feeling is to take the other shoe off tomorrow (will have to make another emergency call to farrier) & carry on with the walking/trotting for another couple of months. Daughter is NOT impressed as was hoping to event her again & wants shoes all round so she can stud up. Her trainer also told her that the pony needs the support, possibly raised heels?

I feel that shoes helped cause the injury, she didn't have any on when she came to us & has good hard feet although i feel that the frogs seem small, hard & retracted. I hope that this makes sense, i just want to do what's best for pony & hopefully keep her sound. Does anyone of here event barefoot?

Many thanks if you got to the end :-)
 
Lots of variables here, is it a front or hind? Poor foot balance can lead to suspensory problems as I'm sure you know. Having rehabbed front and hind suspensory damage it is a long process and you shouldn't be thinking about eventing at this point. My pony remained unshod after a front suspensory tweak and went to pony camp the following year and did everything as normal with no shoes. However I don't think shoeing your horse should cause a problem once the healing process has taken place as long as the balance is fine.
 
Ps..raising the heels actually shortens all the ligament and tendons, bit like us wearing high heels, I would suggest you do your own research there is a lot of information available to help you decide the best course of action
 
Hi, we are in a very similar place as you so you are not alone !!
Our 14.2hh connie injuried his left front suspensory ligament in August 11, but unlike yours he was barefoot at the time, we did 12 weeks box rest with 3 shockwave treatments during which time the hole in the ligament closed.
We were suppose to be starting walking in hand during this time which was a nightmare as everytime he came off his yard he went straight up and tried to run off despite being on calmers!
The vets advised us to turn him out in a small paddock but this didn't work as he just kept running round and thinking about jumping out to get to his field, so we made the joint decision to dope him up and turn out in his normal field with his normal herd:eek:
We started ridden walk work once he was used to being back out, this was about Oct, did about 6 weeks in walk building up to an hour a day 5 times a week. Trot work was added in after the 6 weeks and we carried on building up to 1 1/2hr, we then rescanned before the canter work started which showed the hole to be gone and the ligament to be just like the good right side one :)
We are now at trotting pole stage and hoping to be jumping around easter time.
However we have now shod all round as we are doing so much roadwork, keeping our fingers crossed for a full recovery as my daughter wants to event said pony, hoping yours recovers well as well:D
 
HazyXmas said:
My gut feeling is to take the other shoe off tomorrow (will have to make another emergency call to farrier) & carry on with the walking/trotting for another couple of months. Daughter is NOT impressed as was hoping to event her again & wants shoes all round so she can stud up. Her trainer also told her that the pony needs the support, possibly raised heels?
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totally leaving aside the suspensory problem. If you remove the shoe (s) it will not necessarily be the case that your daughter could just get on and carry on riding as normal. Some horses transition easily and quickly, some don't. That means that the rider has to be pretty sympathetic to the horse. That may mean avoiding certain places, restricting their riding in company and certainly being very careful with the diet.
I have seen problems where kids on barefoot horses (with feet that are not upto it) want to keep up with their friends. ie everyone wants to trot or canter on the stony track. It is not always very easy for a child to say no, the feet are not yet up to it.
I think your daughter would have to be as commited to barefoot as you. It may of course by the case that her riding will be restricted by the injury so now may be as good time as any but I think she would have to really want to do it.
 
The child is not able to consider this injury as long term, she needs to have a diversion while you sort this out, the welfare of the horse has to be put in front of child's wishes, sorry, but that is the only way forward.
I would look at removing shoes and working away for eight weeks, there are some injuries which may heal in a short time, but the horse will not be fit to event.
 
Miss L Toe said:
The child is not able to consider this injury as long term, she needs to have a diversion while you sort this out, the welfare of the horse has to be put in front of child's wishes, sorry, but that is the only way forward.
I would look at removing shoes and working away for eight weeks, there are some injuries which may heal in a short time, but the horse will not be fit to event.
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I totally agree, the welfare of the pony comes first, my daughter is 15 & does understand this. We have been lucky enough to be able to buy a small horse just before Xmas & she does ride work for a local event rider so there really isn't any urgent rush for our connie to get back to eventing.

It was her front fore leg & she didn't have any treatment, just the 8 weeks box rest. The scan at end of Sept showed improvement & i should really take her back for another one now, however, i know that vet will want to lunge her on a hard surface & i just can't face it :-(

I'm sorry to report that i didn't have other front shoe removed, farrier came this morning & i had the old one put back on, she's due again in two weeks time so i have time to have a think. She did't have any shoes when she came to us last Feb, she was 6 & had had two foals so never been in 'real' work before.

I don't mind if she wears shoes or not, i just hope for a happy, sound pony..........

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply.
 
Bobby Boy said:
Hi, we are in a very similar place as you so you are not alone !!
Our 14.2hh connie injuried his left front suspensory ligament in August 11, but unlike yours he was barefoot at the time, we did 12 weeks box rest with 3 shockwave treatments during which time the hole in the ligament closed.
We were suppose to be starting walking in hand during this time which was a nightmare as everytime he came off his yard he went straight up and tried to run off despite being on calmers!
The vets advised us to turn him out in a small paddock but this didn't work as he just kept running round and thinking about jumping out to get to his field, so we made the joint decision to dope him up and turn out in his normal field with his normal herd:eek:
We started ridden walk work once he was used to being back out, this was about Oct, did about 6 weeks in walk building up to an hour a day 5 times a week. Trot work was added in after the 6 weeks and we carried on building up to 1 1/2hr, we then rescanned before the canter work started which showed the hole to be gone and the ligament to be just like the good right side one :)

We are now at trotting pole stage and hoping to be jumping around easter time.
However we have now shod all round as we are doing so much roadwork, keeping our fingers crossed for a full recovery as my daughter wants to event said pony, hoping yours recovers well as well:D[/QUOTE


Gosh, i feel for you, we had the same problems after box rest, a total nightmare, she jumped out of small paddock & galloped around massive field, twice! In the end we had ACP from vet & daughter rode her out, it was still pretty hairy & i was convinced that she would do more damage. Why don't they ever help themselves?

I'm really pleased to hear that your boy is doing so well. Might see you out & about at some events :-)
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xxMozlarxx said:
Lots of variables here, is it a front or hind? Poor foot balance can lead to suspensory problems as I'm sure you know. Having rehabbed front and hind suspensory damage it is a long process and you shouldn't be thinking about eventing at this point. My pony remained unshod after a front suspensory tweak and went to pony camp the following year and did everything as normal with no shoes. However I don't think shoeing your horse should cause a problem once the healing process has taken place as long as the balance is fine.
Click to expand...

Hi Mozlar
it was front fore. I suspect that it was possibly something to do with foot balance, she'd only been wearing shoes for six months (fronts only) & not my usual farrier!!!! Is there an easy way for a 'lay person' ie me, to tell if the foot balance is good?
My old farrier is back at work now & saw her today, i think that he's a good farrier but how do i tell? I'd had loads of people recommend the other guy that i used for 10 months last year but i wasn't happy with the way he did any of my horses.
We've had ponies for years that have only ever worn fronts but now we are expecting more of the horses i wonder if it might be causing problems & perhaps they should be either all bare or all shod?
Thank you for your help :-)
 
Just reading this with interest as my horse was diagnosed with PSD at the begining of July 11 and i have gone very unconvntional! She was shod all round and I took off her front shoes and she is only wearing hinds for support. My vet recomened a certin style of shoe which is actually not available over here however are very much like the performace natural balance hind shoes which you get which are much wider at the toe and sit quite far back. wedges are not great as said but this is because the suspensory actually attaches to the front of the pedal bone so therefore you actually need to support the front of the foot. I also left my horse out in her 8ace field. There are many reasons for this main one had no stabling and would jump out of restricted turnout but also the year before came of 10 month box rest due to tendon injury so felt had done more than enough box rest for any horse. I was told keeping her out was not ideal but vet understood why. I have yet to trot her up and have a check up in last few months but on her check up before xmas was sound on the stright and slight lameness on circle. I am not sure if shoes behind have helped but at least i know they have the right support. She also has 3 shockwave treatments.
 
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