Bruised soles on shod and unshod horses

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Daisy2

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Anyone had to decide to shoe barefoot horse because of being prone to bruising and subsequent lameness and if so did it help?
I think deep down I need to shoe but I worry about concussion damage to joints etc on shod horses. Any advise/experience welcome.

Its a decision I have grappled with all summer and I have a headache, just want whats best for my horse who is currently barefoot but prone to bruising as diagnosed by the vet. My mare is shod on the front and has no problems but they are all individual.
Thanks people :)
 
Daisy2 said:
Anyone had to decide to shoe barefoot horse because of being prone to bruising and subsequent lameness and if so did it help?

Yes, my chestnut mare was like this. It was like riding a mountain goat because she was always looking for the best ground to step on and would leap up banks and verges to avoid stony ground. I tried only front shoes but in the end she had to be shod all-round. TBH it was the best thing that I ever did for her and she was better straight away, I wish that I had done it sooner.


I think deep down I need to shoe but I worry about concussion damage to joints etc on shod horses. Any advise/experience welcome.

I don't trot very much on the road because I don't like her 'hammering' her legs. When I do trot, it's at a steady pace and is usually just to reach a passing place to let a car by.


Its a decision I have grappled with all summer and I have a headache, just want whats best for my horse who is currently barefoot but prone to bruising as diagnosed by the vet. My mare is shod on the front and has no problems but they are all individual.

So do you have two horses then? You could try fronts only on the barefoot horse and see how that goes, before going straight to a full set. Don't forget that you can always have the shoes taken off again.

Thanks people :)
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My pony suffered from sever bruising due my old farrier not doing such a good job. It was recommend by both my vet and new farrier to shoe her fronts which i did, but she was still lame on and off due to the shoes triggering her lami. i ended up taking her shoes off again and use old macs for riding. its the best thing i ever did and shes a very happy pony. she hasnt been lame for over a year now.. (touch wood)
 
Yes I do have two horses. My barefoot buddies feet are rather lovely but being a draft horse he has rather flat feet which are not doing him any favours.
I could try boots although I am a bit daunted by the different types and most people say its hard to find a good fit for large feet
 
Daisy2 said:
I could try boots although I am a bit daunted by the different types and most people say its hard to find a good fit for large feet
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I think Boas go up to quite large sizes - one of mine is TBxWelsh and his feet are fairly hefty, but he only wears a size 4 which is about halfway through their size range. Have a look at he Easycare website - they have lots of advice on sizing and fitting.
 
"Its a decision I have grappled with all summer"

There's your clue! Your horse is almost certainly sensitive to grass sugars. Leave it unshod during the winter and if it is good on stones then, (and worse when there is a frost) you'll know. If so, next spring, you need to stop it getting so much grass, especially during the daylight hours when the sugars are highest.

Or you can shoe, stop worrying about the footsoreness and accept the concussion, reduced blood supply, slower foot growth, extra cost and get no early warning of the fact that this footsoreness is actually very mild laminitis ......
 
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As a rule I don't shoe my horses until they need it but I did have one youngster who had to be shod at 3 as although he has very good feet and front leg confirmation he has very thin soles and went immediately lame on the school surface but was OK hacking on tarmac roads. If he loses a shoe he immediately goes lame.
 
I bought my girl last November and she was unshod. She managed all winter with no shoes, but I was only schooling in the sand school for 20-30 minutes a day. She was a bit stumbly up and down the track to the field and also in the school - we thought she was just clumsy.

When the weather and my confidence improved (my first horse) I started hacking her out. I couldn't believe it when one day she seemed lame. Luckily the YO helped me trot her up and it was apparent she was not lame in the sand school, just on hard ground. A farrier was also on the yard that day and tested her soles, he said she was bruised.

I then spent a week in turmoil, do I shoe or use boots. I loved having an unshod horse and all that goes with it, but decided to do what I thought was best for her.

Since having shoes she is now more confident, doesn't trip on the track or in the school and we have completed numerous charity rides and a 20 mile endurance ride this summer.

For my girl shoes were the right decision.
 
Bloody hell I hate how in the horse world people always have SOMETHING to get on you for.

It sounds like your horse needs shoeing. Hundreds of thousands of people shoe their horses for their entire ridden lives with no ****ing problems with compression or whatever. Its just yet another stupid brigade that everyone can yell at everyone else about.

Shoe your horse. See how she gets on. Sounds like she needs it.

End of.
 
flamehead said:
Bloody hell I hate how in the horse world people always have SOMETHING to get on you for.

It sounds like your horse needs shoeing. Hundreds of thousands of people shoe their horses for their entire ridden lives with no ****ing problems with compression or whatever. Its just yet another stupid brigade that everyone can yell at everyone else about.

Shoe your horse. See how she gets on. Sounds like she needs it.

End of.
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ROFL - I wish you had been around when I was umming and aahing :) You would have saved me so many sleepless nights.
 
Flamehead - well named :-)

Title of post is bruised soles. Shoes won't stop soles from getting bruised. They may numb the foot so the horse can't feel the stones. And the periperal loading will lift the sole a little higher, but it still won't stop the sole from bruising if it hits something big enough, hard enough.

To prevent soles from bruising requires the correct diet for that individual horse, good management and conditioning. Whether you shoe or not is otherwise irrelevant to these principles.

Please be aware that a horse with thin soles which is shod is more likely to cause severe injury to its feet because it can not feel them so well. This is one of the ways they break their pedal bones.
 
cptrayes said:
"Its a decision I have grappled with all summer"

There's your clue! Your horse is almost certainly sensitive to grass sugars. Leave it unshod during the winter and if it is good on stones then, (and worse when there is a frost) you'll know. If so, next spring, you need to stop it getting so much grass, especially during the daylight hours when the sugars are highest.

Or you can shoe, stop worrying about the footsoreness and accept the concussion, reduced blood supply, slower foot growth, extra cost and get no early warning of the fact that this footsoreness is actually very mild laminitis ......
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Or it may well turn out that we wont be riding 5 times a week and the ground will be a lot softer. I take your point... however he was diagnosed with a bruised sole, is severley strip grazed and 12 hr soaked hay overnight.
 
If you have a good farrier, they will be able to advise you on whether they have "thin soles" or "bruised soles" or "five legs".

I'm so pleased for you that you think you're doing the best thing by not shoeing and that the rest of the world in your eyes is obviously doing the wrong thing. However, you are NOT god and you need to get a grip - so long as the OP has a good farrier, then before he starts hammering nails into the horses foot he'll be able to tell her whether he think its a problem.

You are NOT the greatest horse owner for going unshod. You're also not the worst. You, and everyone else on this new barefoot bandwagon, are just good horse owners. Just like everyone else. We're all doing the best we can.

OP, speak to your farrier.

Now I'm off to be yelled at for putting rugs on/taking rugs off/feeding haylage/using flash nosebands/leaving out/bringing in/riding/driving/worming/poo picking...........................................................
 
Thanks for your informed post. I have actaully made an appointment with a barefoot trimmer Caroline Andresen in the hope that she can give me an unbiased opinion on his needs when all the factors have been taken into account like workload, terrain and conformation etc. She is comming out on the 12 October so I wll keep you posted, she will also bring some boots along to try... watch this space.
 
Daisy2 - I feel for you I really do - having managed a number of the more 'challenging' horses. You are strip grazing and soaking hay. All steps in the right direction and more than enough for the average horse.

But if you have one of the more difficult ones it may not be enough. Strip grazing can stress grass which paradoxly can make the sugar levels higher. Also if hay is fed overnight it sounds as though horse is on grass during the day - when sugar levels are highest.

I manage a horse that can not have grass from Early April to about Nov. It is really difficult. But I choose to keep her bare because I am not prepared to compromise her health. If needed I put boots on. This horse has never had a bruised sole - since I took her shoes off - beforehand was another matter.

I have also looked after a horse where the owner was unable to manage the diet and it got a lot of bruising to its soles - but again, the warmer months only. Boots were a reasonable option for that one.

But most people are not that unlucky - it is just an area where I have a lot of practice (or bad luck maybe).

Previous horses have been not so bad on the grass, but totally unable to cope with any amount of molasses. So Laminitic Trust products made them footy, whereas they could manage a bit of grass. Ironic really, but just life.

Ditto alfalfa.

Unfortunately 'unhelpful' ingredients are sneaking their way in to more and more bagged feeds and it can be hard to identify them. Which is why I don't feed premixed bagged feeds any more regardless of who recommends them.

Good luck :-)
 
Daisy2 said:
Or it may well turn out that we wont be riding 5 times a week and the ground will be a lot softer. I take your point... however he was diagnosed with a bruised sole, is severley strip grazed and 12 hr soaked hay overnight.
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Daisy2 there is no doubt that you have one of the difficult ones! It may be preferable for you to shoe, the difficult ones are really a pain in the neck to manage. I own one, I know :) The bruised soles will be because the soles are thin. The thin soles are usually the same reason, an over-sensitive reaction to grass sugars (bad in stressed and very short grass) and often added sugar in feed too, as Lucy says. There are plenty of horses that manage fine in shoes. If you have to, you have to, don't beat yourself up about it, you can only do your best.
 
Daisy2 said:
Thanks for your informed post. I have actaully made an appointment with a barefoot trimmer Caroline Andresen in the hope that she can give me an unbiased opinion on his needs when all the factors have been taken into account like workload, terrain and conformation etc. She is comming out on the 12 October so I wll keep you posted, she will also bring some boots along to try... watch this space.
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Hi Daisy2 - just to say you have chosen well with Caroline - she is really great. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

Good luck and all the best
 
My mare is barefoot (am declaring now incase it is considered a conflict of interest and leads me to giving biased advice!!)
She is on a careful diet as she is v sensitive to sugars (wether shod or not, I can just tell better when she isn't shod). If I was finding she had bruised soles then I would be chatting to my farrier and checking her food. I personally wouldn't feel shoeing again would be an acceptable solution until I knew what was acutally causing the problem. Agree with the others re boots - well worth a go if your horse is more sensitive as they allow the hoof to strengthen while protecting from footyness.
 
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