Desperate for help :-( arthritis and pads

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ropa

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My boy has been retired for a few years now due to foot problems. Won't go through the long history but he ended up with high and low ringbone in ine foot due to surgery. He was soundness has been up and down but he has been. Wry hapoy coming out for long walks in hand and bute when needed. He recently took a horrible turn for the worst and bute and previcox couldn't make him sound and I have been crying every day and seriously considering the quality of life and dreaded question. Undoubtably the hard ground is not gelping at all and feet have flown threw and after a month seriously overgrown which is unusual for him. Was holding up some hope a good trim and balance and re shoeing would help some but wasn't sure how much. ANYWAY I stuck a pad in the bottom of his arthritic foot and shoe to see if would make any difference, and ....WOW. He went from pottery to dragging me around the yard! Feeling rejuvenated and hopeful that now we have something to work with. Question is what to do with the feet. Have got super ex equine hospital farrier shoeing him. He isn't keen on pads though as doesn't think they give much anti concussive relief but it seems they are helping my boy no end. Can obviously keep sticking pads on but not particularly practical. Any ideas anyone?
 
They are rock hard. Vet even banged with tools and no reaction. Also did insulin test and not high/ lami? Nor was cushings above norm level (although he is cushingoid and on prascend).
 
As your farrier about a pour in pad like "Sole Guard" by Vettec. It is antibacterial/fungal too, so will stop the lateral sulci getting thrushy underneath a leather pad. (It doesn't cover the frog - or doesn't have to, so the back of the foot can still get a workout.)
 
What about asking the farrier to take the shoes off and using boots and pads, and try him on turmeric and boswellia.

Is he shod all round?

Have a look at the "turmeric users group" on facebook.
 
As casey said there are a lot of pad options/pad and pour in combinations and if it is making him feel better I would push for it. I don't suspect they do give much concussive relief - particularly plain pads but I'm not sure in his situ why they are helping matters. I'd have a good chat with your farrier about options to try and proof will be in the pudding :)
 
So although there was an immediate benefit last night by putting the pads on, the benefit has gone this morning :-( Just as lame as ever. So I suspect that the pads have been squashed and no longer provide a soft surface to walk on. The farrier thinks that getting the set up right and bevelling away the shoe to make breakover easy on the parts the boyo finds difficult to rotate through which we find out through a leverage test, is going to be the best solution. he doesn't want to use pads i think because anything that is compressive enough to give a soft feel will be squashed quickly and no longer soft, and anything hard enough not to be squashed won't give concussive relief as it is hard. literally stuck between a rock and a hard place :-( I guess the only thing I can do is to consider sticking on pads everyday to get him through the hard summer/ winter ground. has anyone ever put boots on shod horses so I can just slip the pad into the bottom of the boot?? I guess though with a boot on this changes the good breakover set up we have with the shoes - sigh. There surely has got to be a way that you can put a soft set up on a horse with a shoe on??? My farrier says he has spent a long time thinking about it and they can't get it to work :-(
 
I think that is why most fillers are gel though? so that softness/hardness issue isn't present. You could possibly looking at using magic cushion yourself and see if it works? IME I don't think shoes+ hoof boots are going to be a goer.

what pads are you using currently?
 
I do wonder why a retired horse with arthritis and ring bone has shoes on? The extra concussion from the shoes surely is a bad thing?

I knew a mare that had both side and ring bone and when she retired, the shoes came off and she did look better for it (turned out on grass).

If the horse can't cope bare to start with, then boots and pads would be a good option.
 
I guess as cushings the feet might be too compromised to do that with Faracat. I have to say I think I would be unlikely to be too keen to transition a horse with known life limiting metabolic issues but that might just be me.
 
Tha is guys. Really appreciate your brain storming with me. We went barefoot last year and he was crippled and ended up with a hole in the bottle of his foot where pedal bone was rotating. Shoes went on and farrier has been bevelling shoes so breakovwr is easy on parts of joint that are sore. Hard to explain but will try - the shoe is undercut on part of the joint is compromised on so it is really easy for the hoof to rotate over. In contrast if you have a normal shoe or barefoot there is quite a lot of flexion of the joint in order to turn forward (or sideways) the hoof so it breaks over. A bit like how shoes are set back from the toe so the toe easily breaks over. Hope that makes sense. It makes logical sense to me but I am no farrier or foot expert.

Are the gel pads actually soft and squidgy or are they urethane plastic. The farrier has a massive stock and advertises as largest independent stockist but said all the materials are too hard to give concussive relief. It is difficult as I know that there is no such thing as a perfect opinion and so that is why I have reached out in order to canvass opinion in the hope I can find a solution. I just can't believe there isn't a sneaker like shoe out there that also has easy breakovwr. Really despairing as I don't want to lose him

Laat night when i fitted a pad he dis look so much better. It could have been adrnaline that was making him march soundly ie aome racehoraes have galloped on broken lega because of adrenaline. To get another test of the benefit of the pad I have got the vet coming today to fit one and see what she thinks. I so hope it works but of course then left with what to so next. At least will have good evidence of it working to tell farrier although he is convinced I won't find a permanent pad that is soft enough but durable enough to nail under a shoe for a month. All so difficult. Crying every day at the moment
 
Just throwing this to you as an idea - you may have already done it or considered it, but... have you tried altering his cushings medication?

I do think that if a solution isn't found, then you are right, his quality of life does need to be questioned.
 
It does sound like your farrier has most bases covered and he is a complicated case.

Keeping the breakover back would be difficult in a boots/pads combo.

I suppose something like http://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/easyboot_rx/easyboot_rx.aspx would be as close as you could get - they have a wedge out the front for breakover that could be rasped further back for your chap but I'm not sure you'd get it as far back as you could with a shoe. I'm not sure if their glue ons can be fitted with a pad - but again they are only recommended to be on for 10 days at a time. Equine fusion boots are soft and flexible but I really don't know that permanent booting is going to be the best of solutions. I certainly feel for you, it's horrid seeing them uncomfortable.

eta unless it's the frog he is preferring covered? in which case you might have a plastic shoes option?

https://www.easycareinc.com/our_shoes/Easyshoe_performance/easyshoe_performance.aspx
 
Thanks for thoughts re cushings. We tested this week and levels fine on 1 a day. Did increase for 24 hours in case was high but it is ok. Has anyone heard of rock n roll shoes? They are used for ringbone. I have never seen them used before but they take the effort out of the joints on same principle as easing breakovwr with rolled toe http://www.mascalcia.net/articoli/a2003_56.htm I so appreciate this support.
 
I have heard of rock and roll shoes having done some googling with my lads prob coffin joint DJD - I'm not sure whether they are used much over here and suspect your farrier is achieving a similar affect as is, I edited above re. plastic shoes after you posted in case you didn't see it too.
 
ropa said:
Tha is guys. Really appreciate your brain storming with me. We went barefoot last year and he was crippled and ended up with a hole in the bottle of his foot where pedal bone was rotating. Shoes went on and farrier has been bevelling shoes so breakovwr is easy on parts of joint that are sore. Hard to explain but will try - the shoe is undercut on part of the joint is compromised on so it is really easy for the hoof to rotate over. In contrast if you have a normal shoe or barefoot there is quite a lot of flexion of the joint in order to turn forward (or sideways) the hoof so it breaks over. A bit like how shoes are set back from the toe so the toe easily breaks over. Hope that makes sense. It makes logical sense to me but I am no farrier or foot expert.
Click to expand...
A couple of links for you re this aspect. Concentrating on break over may not be enough if there is still rotation present.
http://ecirhorse.org/index.php/ddt-overview/ddt-trim
http://www.thelaminitissite.org/laminitis.html
 
Has he def not got any low grade lami? I just wondered whether padding is reducing peripheral loading/pressure on the laminae.
 
don't think there is any rotation present. haven't re x-rayed but he has had balanced feet for a year since the rotation incident so assume that we are in a good place with this and doing all we can with that even if not i think!

vet said no sign of lami thankfully but who knows... this low grade stuff is pretty hard to detect isn't it.

farrier has said that the rock n roll shoes are not avail in large size (i.e. 16.1 fine wb feet are apparently large!). can't quite believe that as seen it online on decent dressage horses who i am sure won't have substantially smaller feet that my wb/tb boyo! a little bit confused and beginning to slightly lose the faith... I tried to find a supplier or the manufacture of teh shoes today but I couldn't find it online even though I have searched for a couple of hours. farrier is coming out tomorrow so i guess i will just have to go with his suggestion and if we are still feeling pain then i will strap pads to his feet for a month and try again then - sigh. there is a new invention coming out called horse crocz which will mean the yard can whack a pad on quite easily over the shoe. i think that it will effect the easy breakover set up though although can't quite get my brain round it http://www.horsecrocz.co.uk/

good news is that the boyo was standing on his back legs last night on more than one ocassion playing with a friend and then cantering around post putting on the pad with shoes that need changing like yesterday so i am hopeful that i am doing the right thing keeping him going for another month on new shoes and the pads at the very worst
 
My big lad has rotation & horribly flat feet plus cushings & arthritic hocks. He gives every impression of being very comfortable in leather pads with dental impression materal underneath the back half of his foot, combined with a correct trim for him & very careful shoeing. The dental impression material has a fair amount of give in it, when set it feels like a pair of trainers & I should imagine gives him the feel of being on permanently good ground. As well as helping his feet I imagine this must ease his hocks, certainly watching him in the field they don't seem to bother him even when the ground is rock hard!

Talk to your farrier & say that, unless he comes up with very good reasons not to, you want to try something like that to see if it helps. From the sound of it you've got very little to lose, so if he won't I'd maybe look to getting another farrier.
 
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