BF ? Heading in the right direction.

[BFN]

Thank you for any advice & encouragement.
Long story short,18 year old cob went lame early June & diagnosed with L front collateral ligament damage. MRI also picked up signs of bilateral navicular so decided after much thought decided to go barefoot.
Horse had 9 weeks of box rest & 3 shockwave treatments. Back shoes came off mid July, front shoes off mid August after shockwave. He is back in the field for 3-4 hours a day & started walking in hand on Tarmac at 5 min a day for a week, now up to 15 mins. He is sound on grass, a surface and smooth Tarmac but sore over grit. I'm picking it daily out of his white line and spraying with iodine. I think it's stretched as he was landing toe first to begin with, it didn't look too bad when shoes first came off. He is now mainly landing heel first on the tarmac. Diet was fairly BF friendly, topspec lite balancer, handful of hi fi molasses free, naf supaflex & Global herbs airway plus, soaked hay. For the last month this is now forage plus summer balancer, hi fi m/f , vit E and the same supplements & soaked hay still.
Will the soreness over grit only resolve as a better connected laminae grows down? Is there anything else I can or should be doing? Thank you.

 

[TwoStroke]

If he's quite sore then it may be an idea to invest in some boots and pads to keep him comfy and speed up the rehab process. The soreness should improve as his soles thicken... the summer balancer should help, as it's far superior to the TopSpec.

It sounds like he's had very weak feet for some time now, so it will be a gradual process of improving the health of his feet.

What does he eat in the stable forage-wise? If hay, is it soaked? There may be ways to reduce sugar intake to help his comfort.

 

[LucyPriory]

If you continue to struggle with soreness, stretched white line etc I'd consider removing the hifi lite. Alfalfa is frequently implicated in footiness issues. I agree the Forage Plus is superior to Top Spec and should help.

Boots and pads are an excellent idea. Photos would be good for further suggestions. Side and sole views - close up and mud free

 

[BFN]

These were taken a couple of weeks ago but hopefully show the white line issue.
Thanks for your help so far, I will look in to changing the hi fi molasses free. He is coping well on tarmac so for now I am avoiding grit. I am treating all 4 feet for thrush

 

[BFN]

If you continue to struggle with soreness, stretched white line etc I'd consider removing the hifi lite. Alfalfa is frequently implicated in footiness issues. I agree the Forage Plus is superior to Top Spec and should help.

Boots and pads are an excellent idea. Photos would be good for further suggestions. Side and sole views - close up and mud free

Thank you Lucy I have added some photos, opinions welcome!

 

[LucyPriory]

Thanks for the photos. Need to clarify - the photos all taken on the same day? Black feet are fronts, white are hinds?

BF have significant event lines (I suspect so do WF but they look to have been rasped out). This is a strong indicator that the horse is not coping with something, usually diet. One event line often indicates a one off event, such as a worming but multiple event lines point to a continuing issue. WL are stretched on all feet, more so in BF.

Soreness over grit tends to come with, ongoing inflammatory response, and/or thin soles and/or thrush. All of these respond at least in part to improved diet.

 

[BFN]

Thanks for the photos. Need to clarify - the photos all taken on the same day? Black feet are fronts, white are hinds?

BF have significant event lines (I suspect so do WF but they look to have been rasped out). This is a strong indicator that the horse is not coping with something, usually diet. One event line often indicates a one off event, such as a worming but multiple event lines point to a continuing issue. WL are stretched on all feet, more so in BF.

Soreness over grit tends to come with, ongoing inflammatory response, and/or thin soles and/or thrush. All of these respond at least in part to improved diet.

Thank you Lucy, very much appreciated.
Black feet are fronts, white are hinds. Yes all taken on the same day.
The event lines surprised me on the photos's as they are not so evident in " real life" but the camera never lies!
I suspect it's grazing changes, he came off day turnout in a very bare winter paddock on to night turn out in a much more lush paddock ( which I think had been fertilised) in early May, then went on box rest no grazing & much reduced rations in early June,hay through winter was steamed but since box rest has all been well soaked. Other"hard feed" unchanged until I decided to go barefoot in August so now on mineral balancer, (was topspec lite balancer & hi fi) and on your advice just going to swap off hi fi molasses free to Timothy chop to get rid of alfalfa. As a yard we have wormed routinely but I have now changed to WEC and single chemical wormer as required. I don't think he has had event lines so marked before & don't recall my farrier rasping them out but I was not always present when he was shod. He is back out in the paddock again now for about 5 hours which I introduced slowly. Thanks again.

 

[LucyPriory]

I don't think he has had event lines so marked before & don't recall my farrier rasping them out but I was not always present when he was shod. QUOTE]If the average hoof grows at 1cm per month he's been getting them for a while. If you look at the toe on photo three you can see a distinct colour change. That takes a fair amount of rasping to go through the outer hoof wall and expose the paler inner hoof wall. If you dampen the lower hoof wall you might see the 'shadow' of the event lines that have been rasped out. I only point this out so you have more data with which to evaluate progress. The event lines form a calendar and can be useful.

 

[BFN]

Ooh yes, easy to see when you know what your looking for! Thank you. I have already told my farrier I wish to be present when he trims my horse going forward with this transition to barefoot, I have read & re read Nic Barkers feet first & one of Pete Rameys books so hope fully have awareness of what we need to achieve. Thanks again for your helpful comments

 

[thatsmygirl]

Is the farrier parring quite a bit of frog off? Looks like it and that won't help

 

[BFN]

Is the farrier parring quite a bit of frog off? Looks like it and that won't help

Yes he did but after 9 weeks box rest the frogs were very ragged & thrushy, so I didn't stop him when the shoes first came off. Thankfully after 4 weeks in hand walking they look much better than these photos show and going forward I know they need to be left well alone, but thanks for your advice.
I'm up to 20 mins in hand walking now and in the last couple of days he has been walking much better I'm pleased to report. I also had a good read on the rock foot site & think I understand a bit better about being "sensitive " with his feet as opposed to him being"in pain" I'm finding it fascinating how quickly his feet are changing.