Check ligament/danilon/barefoot

[horse812261]

My horse is a 24 year old warmblood who injured his check ligament on Christmas day! After scanning he was found to have around 1/6 Of it remaining. He went through daily laser treatment for 3 weeks and due to not coping on box rest he was then turned out 24/7. He went through a good patch for a couple of months but has been looking a bit off for a couple of weeks. He's on a daily sachet of danilon and won't touch bute. He's having one dinner a day of top spec lite but due to recent loose droppings is also on a gut balancer. His feet are looking awful lately (barefoot since feb) and I've been told they will get worse before they get better as he's always been shod. His soles are very flat and aren't looking too healthy. I'm wondering if his feet are contributing to him looking uncomfortable. He's overweight as he's a good doer but is on sparse grazing and obviously is in no work which isn't helping the ligament issues. He's been looking uncomfortable on and off and I can't pin point what's going on. His veteran insurance won't cover tendons and ligaments and my spending has gone well over £1000. I have called my farrier and he's having physio tomorrow to see what's going on but if these don't help I will obviously call the vet again. I wonder if I'm feeding the best feed, if danilon is ok long term and if anyone has any suggestions for weight loss? Sorry for the essay!

 

[ester]

FWIW my 5 years barefoot oldie recently went footie (always had flat soles) and it does make the rest of him look much worse than he perhaps even though he goes footie in front and his arthritis/annular ligament issues are behind. Have you had hoof testers on him to see? If they aren't great I'd consider shoeing if he'd be more comfortable.

Topspec seems not to be great for feet TBH, if you want a pellet I use equimins adv. complete.

Re weight loss/management when in minimal work, I've previously muzzled with strip grazing (and let the other one eat the strip first) but we have teeth/jaw issues now so I have gone back to having a track set up round the outside of the field which keeps them walking, and feeding hay instead of stripping grass off the middle of it.

Oh and at his age danilon long term is fine, we have liver issues too (he's adding them up at the moment!) but his comfort is more important so he's on bute currently.

 

[Bellalily]

It sounds as tho his diet could be affecting his feet, and yes, his feet will look worse whilst all the weak spots and nail holes and all that rubbish grows out. With the right diet and trim his feet will start to look less flat and more concave soon, it doesn't take long. His soles will probably shed too, but don't panic, in a few months he will have beautiful, strong feet. I would take him off the top spec and use a supplement which is more natural. You'd be amazed at the chemicals and additives that go into pelleted balancers. Also, as a point of interest, ligaments and similar are rarely damaged once the horse is barefoot. I feed mine magnesium oxide and salt which helps massively with their hoof condition and tightens everything up. I have a barefoot trimmer do mine and always ask her to recommend a good diet for them as she knows them and their feet. Speedibeet is fine as is the lilac bag of Dengie Molasses free hi-fi. I'm currently feeding Thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff, but I am going over to Simple Systems.