Bruised sole? (also in Vet)

Mince Pie

Mince Pie

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My TB has been barefoot since at least March, possibly earlier. She has always been slightly 'footy' coming across the yard from the field, but I have put that down to it being because it is a level hard surface with the odd stone as she has hacked down a gravel track with no problems.
Yesterday the farrier came, took off the excess and at my request rolled the toe for the first time. I then took her into the school for a short lunge session. She was more 'footy' than normal walking across the yard and for the first couple of minutes in the school although was fine after that.
Today she was very 'footy' coming in from the field and not very happy about walking on in the school, seems to be the off fore that is sore. There is no heat in the foot or leg and I don't think the digital pulse is up although I have never been very good at taking it so could be wrong. So I was thinking could it be a bruised sole?
Obviously if I need to put shoes on her I will but I would really like for her to be barefoot if possible. I have Keratex to put on her feet if I need to. Her feet were fine over the dry spell we had and she was happy about coming in (yard from field to stables is about 15 feet) however it has been raining pretty constantly for the last 3 weeks so assume her feet are getting soft again.
I know diet is important but at the moment I am trying to put condition on her so that is my main concern, she is on a low sugar diet anyway because I don't want her to get 'hot'.
So any ideas?
 
Sounds like my boy, it is the time of year that the grass is particularly sugary, plus with the farrier link probably what you have said however if you are worried I would always get the vet or a barefoot trimmer (though your farrier may be sufficient).

The other choice is hoof boots, mine is footy bare but completely sound in his easy boots.
 
broke_but_happy said:
Yesterday the farrier came, took off the excess and at my request rolled the toe for the first time............she was more 'footy' than normal
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Surely you already know what happened? Your farrier took off too much toe, didn't he?. Did he rasp away part of her sole callous - inside the white line? Tell him she went footie immediately after her trim, and if it happens next time change your trimmer.
 
C he didn't rasp the sole, just the edges. He could have taken off too much toe I guess although it didn't look like he did, I just think that her going footy straight after a trim is a bit suss. He isn't our normal farrier but we couldn't get hold of him and they really needed doing hence getting this guy out. Could it be because I asked him to roll the toe? Should I not get this done next time?
Also, daft question perhaps, should I leave her in or turn out with bute?
 
If she was less capable immediately after a trim, don't repeat the same trim. Sometimes what we think looks perfect isn't what they want and your mare sounds like she can't cope with a rolled toe right now. Perhaps her toe callous is not yet strong enough. I did it myself to one of mine last year but I wasn't silly enough to do it a second time :)

I would not personally use bute, I am reluctant to mask what is really going on. You might need to restrict grass - do you turn her out in the day? Overnight turnout and in during the day is best with the footie ones, and I now have 2 out of 3 who also need muzzles on a night for the moment, while we have such light nights and alternate sun and rain.

I know people who have good results from Yea-sacc and I am getting a good result from activated charcoal with one of mine which is very lami-prone.

Hope that helps.
 
She is underweight so restricting grass is not an option, I could t/o overnight and have her in during the day however as the grass is short I am worried that she won't be getting enough to eat, the other 2 are a little porky so can't put haylage in the field (sorry if it sounds like I am creating problems :o). Would leaving her in be OK?

ETA: she gets lo cal which has yea sacc in it I believe? She is also on biotin
 
If you left her in with ad lib forage you could well find she puts on more weight than being out all the time. The grass might be going straight through her undigested, especially as short grass is full of sugars. I muzzled a horse that did not need it, simply to keep him from taking the other's muzzles off. He has ad lib haylage during the day and I cannot believe how much weight he's put on in two days!!!! I'm going to have to take the muzzle off, which sounds a bit ridiculous, but that's how it is!
 
She is putting it on slowly but she is an ex race and then stressed a bit more off when her routine changed following an accident. She goes out about 9/10 and is back in about 4/5, mostly to stretch her legs really and get her moving so her feet can adjust.
 
Brilliant :) She is going to be out tonight as I am not very well so can't guarantee getting to the yard early tomorrow morning. She can start night turnout tomorrow.
She was a lot better today, she was happy to come out of her stable and whilst still footy she was much better than yesterday. I re-took the pulse in her foot and it was 42.
 
How long should she be sore for? She is still sore walking across the yard but when she gets into the school she is fine on the left rein and slightly sore on the right - I would say less than 1/10th. I am wondering if I should be ringing the vet in the morning or the farrier to put a set of fronts on? She was trimmed on Wednesday.
 
She will be sore at least a week. Think about your own nails if you take too much off how long it is before you feel comfy. I would wait a few more days before spending money on a vet to tell you she was trimmed too short!! A chat to your normal farrier wouldn't hurt though if you get to speak to him and not the answerphone which seems to happen with all farriers lol. You say she is a TB so she will have thin soles, they wern't bred with barefoot in mind, but I like your thinking. Boots are great while she recovers I use Boa boots which are super and have never come off even in winter mud.
 
Is there any particular reason your TB is barefoot? I tried it with both of my ex-racers - both for over a year. They almost breathed a sigh of relief when I got shoes put back on them, although I have managed to keep the gelding barefoot behind. TBs have notoriously thin soles and aren't generally suited to barefoot....I tried for so long, but eventually it took it's toll with both of mine.
 
HH I just really hate the idea of nailing iron shoes to a horses foot :o obviously if she can't go without then I will have her shod but having spoken to her breeder he said her feet haven't looked better since going barefoot and that getting her to go 4 weeks between shoeing was good going. She has been barefoot for months with few problems until last week.
 
I was of the same opinion as you - the mare in particular looked fab without them and actually has reasonable feet, but the more roadwork I started doing, it eventually wore them down. She has been much happier since having them on - shame about the cost!
 
Holly Hocks said:
Is there any particular reason your TB is barefoot? I tried it with both of my ex-racers - both for over a year. They almost breathed a sigh of relief when I got shoes put back on them, although I have managed to keep the gelding barefoot behind. TBs have notoriously thin soles and aren't generally suited to barefoot....I tried for so long, but eventually it took it's toll with both of mine.
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Holly Hocks said:
I was of the same opinion as you - the mare in particular looked fab without them and actually has reasonable feet, but the more roadwork I started doing, it eventually wore them down. She has been much happier since having them on - shame about the cost!
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Holly what diet were your horses on? I've not a had a problem with TB feet unable to go barefoot myself and I know that there are plenty of others who don't either. It sounds like yours might not have been on an optimum diet - low sugar/high fibre (often also means low-grass) or perhaps your grazing is unbalanced like mine is? Manganese and iron are the most common culprits.
 
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