Blasted horse with his blasted shoes

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sam72431

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I posted other day about horse losing his shoes had shoes put back on today so thought I would show some pics so you can see any reason why he is pulling shoes off! Fronts new on today and backs have been on a few weeks now! Really peeved as despite having overreach boots on he has pulled one off already being a wally!! Very annoyed! Anyway here we go:
Front left:
7E0725FB-1BAE-4553-B846-FC91166F74D9-4291-000002C088D27D09.jpg

Front right:
7FD4ACD9-FAD9-4A35-8A10-D950CE13F74E-4291-000002C07730B8EB.jpg

Fronts:
A8F44291-1BA7-4014-9CEF-D4510F312B70-4291-000002C07B3B06FA.jpg

Backs excuse iodine stain on leg:
664B7EB3-243F-4921-BCFB-794ACD2D356A-4291-000002C085766485.jpg

21016AE9-8F86-41E9-9978-D9202A39B477-4291-000002C07EB354FE.jpg

Thanks
 
:D I'm sure he isn't doing it on purpose :D

Why not try with just fronts on? The increased proprioception from having the hinds off may help.....
 
I used to not have hinds on but he used to really struggle with the amount of hacking we do there is a lot of roadwork and they were just wearing away and if he stood on a stone it really hurt him and he would lift his foot up loads or sort of hobble that's why he has backs on! I know he probably isn't but it feels like he is lol
 
sam72431 said:
I used to not have hinds on but he used to really struggle with the amount of hacking we do there is a lot of roadwork and they were just wearing away and if he stood on a stone it really hurt him and he would lift his foot up loads or sort of hobble that's why he has backs on! I know he probably isn't but it feels like he is lol
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I know someone who shoes the fronts only and uses Easyboot Gloves for the hinds when hacking.

The same pair are still going strong after 18 months.
 
Hi do not want to offend in any way, as my horses have both been losing shoes these last months, often my farrier has been to me twice in one week to replace lost shoes.

However looking at your pics, this may sound critical but your fronts shoes are showing rather a lot of spare shoe and I wouldn't wonder if your horse actually manages to clip the spare iron and first slacken the shoe then they have nothing to hold on with. One of mine goes in behind electric fence cable and gets them caught that way, they slacken or get hoicked off - and yes she has a death wish! I would get a second opinion on your front shoes personally. Good luck!
Regards,
Whatafaff
 
whatafaff said:
However looking at your pics, this may sound critical but your fronts shoes are showing rather a lot of spare shoe and I wouldn't wonder if your horse actually manages to clip the spare iron and first slacken the shoe then they have nothing to hold on with. One of mine goes in behind electric fence cable and gets them caught that way, they slacken or get hoicked off - and yes she has a death wish! I would get a second opinion on your front shoes personally. Good luck!
Regards,
Whatafaff
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But shoeing short is unhealthy for the hoof and a causative factor in lameness :).

Granted the OP's hooves are not healthy to my eye - but the shoeing job looks sound to me.
 
I agree fully with Oberon - it's a good shoeing job and that shoeing short is a fast track to under-run heels.

The front hooves are flared and look as if they should be smaller.

If he was mine I would take the shoes off, cut the sugar from his diet and boot if needed. With a low sugar/high fibre diet his hooves will grow out at a new tighter angle.

I've had trouble with one of my horses constantly pulling off shoes, putting over-reach boots on full time etc... and it was a hiding to nowhere. Her hooves got worse and worse, I wish that I'd stopped shoeing her earlier (and in my case changed farrier sooner).
 
He is fed a diet that was Taylor made for him by the head nutritionist at Dodson and Horrell as he has liver damage, could this be affecting his feet? He is fed high fibre low protein due to this problem, what would you say is wrong with his feet? I'm curious as I'm no foot expert, his feet are slightly uneven at the front as he is slightly pigeon toed and does dish, I haven't been using this farrier long and he has said it will take a little while to get feet to where he wants them, Ive always thought he has pretty good feet I've always had comments in past as even when he was barefoot they never cracked it was just literally he struggled with the stones, not sure but I know his feet aren't as great from all this wet weather we have been having and I think all feet are pretty soft at the moment, thanks for all your comments please keep them coming x
 
Heya,
A few points I have seen:

He does not have cracks on the hind hooves just in the drying mud on them!

His fronts don't look a pair but this could be from him loosing the shoes?

Your farrier is right it does take time to correct the shape of the hooves as they are growing how they want to and you can only compensate for how they grow (I dont know if that makes sense?)

Then facts why he might be pulling them off:

How muddy are your fields? As the sticky mud is the worst for pulling shoes of as it slows the break over of the fronts so if the horse does over react anyway it will even worse in thick mud!

Ask your farrier if he thinks rolling the toe would help, as this would make the break over faster (the side clips will be helping with this already compared to a toe clip)

He does sound very short, and I'm guessign with long legs seeing as is 18hh so that will not help!

How old is he?

The shoes look good, but if it is this weather causing more shoes to come off it could be worth fitting them short and tight just to get you to the summer and keeping them on! But looks like he is not pulling a load of hoof at the moment which is good!

I hope that helps you?
 
sam72431 said:
He is fed a diet that was Taylor made for him by the head nutritionist at Dodson and Horrell as he has liver damage, could this be affecting his feet? He is fed high fibre low protein due to this problem, what would you say is wrong with his feet? I'm curious as I'm no foot expert, his feet are slightly uneven at the front as he is slightly pigeon toed and does dish, I haven't been using this farrier long and he has said it will take a little while to get feet to where he wants them, Ive always thought he has pretty good feet I've always had comments in past as even when he was barefoot they never cracked it was just literally he struggled with the stones, not sure but I know his feet aren't as great from all this wet weather we have been having and I think all feet are pretty soft at the moment, thanks for all your comments please keep them coming x
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The fronts are long and flared (indicates the wall peeling from the laminae).

Flaring happens usually as a mixture of diet, long wall and peripheral loading.

His diet will always play a part in hoof health (as may liver damage itself) but if he needs a specially adapted diet for liver health - then you might be between a rock and a hard place......

I would like to point out that the look of his hooves is common with back to back shoeing without a break but there is no suggestion that it's a farrier issue (farrier appears to be doing a fine job).
 
I've used this image found on google because the blue line makes it easy to understand.

flare-on-hoof.jpg


Can you see how the blue line starts off at one angle under the coronet and that it changes to a wider angle after a short while?

The bit under the coronet is the angle that the hoof should be. the rest (most of it) is flared, so the hoof is bigger than it should be. This will affect breakover and a slower breakover makes it easier for the horse to pull off shoes.

Please don't ask your farrier to shoe him short. It really is bad for the hoof to not have the heels supported.

What does he eat? I understand that he needs a tailored diet but are there lower sugar molasses free alternatives that he can eat?
 
He is fed pasture mix and alpha a, along with milk thistle, mint garlic and also Dodson and hotel daily vits and mins, he lost the right shoe and had it off for around two weeks due to an abscess, and the other was only off for a few days, fields are pretty wet but my mare who is out with him touch wood hasn't been losing shoes at all, have been really lucky as he hasn't pulled off any foot at all and when he loses them as long his feet don't get damaged at all and not footy unless we hack over stones, he is rising six, only started shoeing the fronts in around August and started shoeing the hinds in around November or December I think, oh thanks for the pic makes it much easier to understand thank you!! And here was me just thinking it was him being a big clumsy oaf lol I'm not always sure he really knows what's going on at the end of those big legs, thanks everyone please keep comments coming would love to get to bottom of it all!! X
 
The problem is that the flaring will have stretched the white line so he will be more likely to get abscesses. :(

I believe that pasture mix has molasses in it, so I would look for a molasses free alternative. Also alfalfa makes some horses footy, so a molasses and alfalfa free chaff might be worth trying. Obviously you will need to find something that will be OK for his liver too.

My mare's hooves grew at a better angle when I changed to a molasses free chaff. It really does help if you get the diet right.
 
With my mare (who has really long toes and flare), my new Farrier trimmed back as much as he could and she had front shoes for one shoeing cycle. He then took the shoes off and I walked her out in-hand down the lanes whenever she was abscess free and sound. My mare's hooves were awful, your boy's are nothing compared to them, but a word of warning... her hooves started to go wrong when she kept pulling front shoes off with her hinds. The old Farrier shod them short and made me put over-reach boots on her all the time. Because of the no heel support, her heels under-run, the toes got longer and her breakover got slower, so she was pulling shoes off even more.

I hope that you sort this now and never need to go through the rehab my mare did. For one thing she was nearly PTS over it and secondly it took 1 1/2 years to sort (although her heels are still improving).

So that is why I am so strong in recommending you to not shoe short.
 
Thanks my farrier is adamant that is the shortest he will shoe as he said that the foot needs support especially on a horse as big as mine, do you know of any other type of boots that I could put on to stop him pulling them? I use overreach boots with little success thanks
 
My boy is doing the same at the moment and can only put it down to the mud.
He did from Dec to mid-Jan no problems.
New shoes on, week later lost a shoe, farrier back out, new shoe on.
Can't find the old one
Three days later....no shoe
He now has overreach on all 3 corners
fingers crossed for the mud to dry quickly
 
Oberon said:
I really don't miss those days since going barefoot 10 years ago :D
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Careful, don't get too smug lol!! my oldest has just had to have plastic shoes after 12 years barefoot, due to a variety of age related/imune ailments that cannot be solved by diet. Due to size of hooves I have had to import them from America as I refuse to put metal on.
 
Yertis said:
Careful, don't get too smug lol!! my oldest has just had to have plastic shoes after 12 years barefoot, due to a variety of age related/imune ailments that cannot be solved by diet. Due to size of hooves I have had to import them from America as I refuse to put metal on.
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Noted :D
 
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