Floofball
Well-Known Member
Hoping other people may have experience of this as I’m a bit stumped.........
Bit of background:
Back shoes removed last October, fronts December. Sound until ground went rock hard in spring so boots used - all ok. Went to a track livery for the summer (mainly to help with weight loss but also to hopefully condition feet more as a bonus). He did struggle at times with bruising but was soon made comfortable with boots when this happened. Brought him home in September and we had a couple of abscesses come out in the first week then developed deep central sulcus grooves/splits which travelled all the way up to between the heel bulbs, so effectively sheared heels. He’s never had these before???
I treated them as though it was thrush and thought it may be due to change of environment (now love Red Horse products!!) Farrier says splits are caused by changing foot balance due to hoof conformation changing (hopefully for the better ??)
Thought we’d got on top of things and he was feeling really good but last week became a bit stuffy and at weekend one of his fronts has split again ? it doesn’t seem to bother him too much but he’s definitely not as willing/forward/up for it when the split is deep so must feel uncomfortable for him. Currently flushing and packing again and hoping it will improve quickly like before.
I’m just worried that this is going to keep happening ?
I’ve been consoling myself that this is just a transitionary thing and will settle down but googling just brings up contracted heels and it seems to me that his heels are spreading out?
Definitely having a barefoot wobble at the moment so really hoping for advice/info from people that have gone through similar??
No cookies (trying to lose lockdown chunkdom) but plenty of whisky and lemons available for any replies (also happy to share advent calendar ?)
Bit of background:
Back shoes removed last October, fronts December. Sound until ground went rock hard in spring so boots used - all ok. Went to a track livery for the summer (mainly to help with weight loss but also to hopefully condition feet more as a bonus). He did struggle at times with bruising but was soon made comfortable with boots when this happened. Brought him home in September and we had a couple of abscesses come out in the first week then developed deep central sulcus grooves/splits which travelled all the way up to between the heel bulbs, so effectively sheared heels. He’s never had these before???
I treated them as though it was thrush and thought it may be due to change of environment (now love Red Horse products!!) Farrier says splits are caused by changing foot balance due to hoof conformation changing (hopefully for the better ??)
Thought we’d got on top of things and he was feeling really good but last week became a bit stuffy and at weekend one of his fronts has split again ? it doesn’t seem to bother him too much but he’s definitely not as willing/forward/up for it when the split is deep so must feel uncomfortable for him. Currently flushing and packing again and hoping it will improve quickly like before.
I’m just worried that this is going to keep happening ?
I’ve been consoling myself that this is just a transitionary thing and will settle down but googling just brings up contracted heels and it seems to me that his heels are spreading out?Definitely having a barefoot wobble at the moment so really hoping for advice/info from people that have gone through similar??
No cookies (trying to lose lockdown chunkdom) but plenty of whisky and lemons available for any replies (also happy to share advent calendar ?)
