Farrier Disaster

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Bkane530

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Hi everyone. I have a horse who is rather pleasant on the ground but the second you touch his feet he goes mad. Hes 9 and has been barefoot for about 5 years as the farrier was too stressful. He kept his hooves in really good shape on natural mountain landscape so he didn't really need the farrier and was in great shape without it. This summer was very hot and dry and so he didn't wear down his hooves at all, they've grown out REALLY long toes, my old farrier said to get a vet to sedate him and do it and the vet sedated him and it knocked him too far gone and he couldn't even lift a foot after that (and cost me £100!), and the vet told me he cant be sedated, I feel like I am being really put into a crap position.. talked to 2 farriers about the situation since and they've both not showed, probably because it's too much of a hassle..
The last week or two hes started walking oddly with his back legs, landing them with the long pastern bone sticking forwards and then *clicking* backwards, which I think has now started to hurt him as hes not putting much weight on one of his hinds now and is walking while trying to keep the long pastern bone sticking out..
I understand that this was careless of me, but I have tried everything, using a rope to lift his legs, getting a few farriers and different experienced horse people, and hes having none of it. I am at my wits end now as hes gone lame in the hind and I can only think its because of his long toes and if I cant find a way for the farrier to safely and easily try and recover them, the only option will be to put him to sleep.
Any suggestions, thank you in advance.666.png333.png
 
ihatework He did, was thinking of Sedalin but if its just as strong it'll be no use. Does a vet have to administer sedalin himself? Or can I just pick it up at a vets?
 
The Pastern bone question is one for your vet because I haven’t a clue what you mean.

Sedalin has different effects on different horses, but in general it is no where near as strong. You can vary the amount you give and yes you buy it from your vet.
 
amymay the farrier gave him about a weeks worth of bute and told me to come back and get more if it wasn't gone within the week.. I box rested him and tried every day to try and get him to lift his foot so I could poultice it but no luck.. so had to just stick to the bute and box rest which worked and after a week he was fine. I am thinking maybe this new way of walking and resisting to put down his leg is due to an abscess in the back leg perhaps? He isn't as dramatically lame though and can walk with his leg down normal (as in not sticking out forward the bone above his hoof).. quite odd really as he is never ever lame and his hooves have always naturally been really short.

I will get a dose of sedalin and see how he copes on that and if doable I will get another for the farrier visit
 
It's Armagh, Northern Ireland. Tallyho I have tried a couple farriers but not barefoot, my friend has recommended her farrier who I am booking for early next week IF I can get the Sedalin for him, otherwise I am wasting my time!

This last month or so has really just turned me off owning my horses, I actually can't handle the stress anymore
 
Get the horse on bute, get some sedalin or demosdean from the vet for the day itself. In the meantime work on your touching the back legs, picking up and shaking, getting him to relax, picking out the hoof. Give him a feed on the floor whilst you;re doing this so that even more of his weight than normal transfers on to the forehand. Keep the hinds LOW when you lift them and experiment with where he is most comfortable.....foot extended out behind or brought in under the midline? Get a patient farrier and don't allow any rough handling.
 
Thank you gunnergundog. I started him on bute last night and he seems happy enough so will definitely follow your advice, and hopefully there is no further damage done to the leg or hoof!
 
I think you need different vet. All horses react to sedation differently and there are different types of sedation. Perhaps because the problem take him to a larger horse vet practice where they give them GA's so they will be fully equiped. They usually have a farrier they use for remedial farriery.
I have had a couple that needed sedation for their feet, and although they never really get better they do need less sedation over time. I am lucky that my vet and my farrier are both punctual.
 
My Welsh Sec D became a nightmare with the farrier after a bout of Laminitis due to EMS.To start with it was only his OF-as soon as farrier picked his foot up he would shoot backwards and got to the point where he couldn’t bring leg forward as would shoot backwards or go up.I got Sedalin or there own brand Relaquine from the vets.I started by using 2 notches and went down to 1 eventually-always gave 2 if more needed doing.You give it by mouth-just like you would a wormer,make sure nothing ie hay in mouth.Give it a good hour before,my boy could have a bit of hay but to start I wouldn’t let them eat anything and just keep everything quiet to allow it to work.Do not give any hard feed as this stops it working and brings them out of it.A tube of relaquine cost me about £40 but got about 5 trimming cycles out of it.I would try giving yours some with just you and you then try lifting feet.Sedalin/Relaquine is great as relaxes them but doesn’t knock them out so much that they cannot lift a foot.I would walk him to our open fronted wash down box,turn him to look out the front but if he tried to shoot backwards-a-because of the Sedalin his reactions were slower and b-he would reverse into the wall so that soon stopped.By having him enclosed in 3 sides,he couldn’t manoeuvre to avoid having feet done.I would then have polos or treats in hand to reward when did as asked.It is very frustrating and you do feel like giving up-maybe some pain relief could also help a few days before so it’s not a painful experience as this can make them not want to pick feet up as they know it has hurt in the past or now.Good luck.Xx
 
Also, get the farrier to use a footstool when attending the hinds in order to give the horse some support.....also positioning him so that he can lean against a wall can help.
 
Goldenstar said:
I know, that’s not legal
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It's neither legal nor sensible, as bute is an anti-inflammatory, which is contra-indicated for an abscess. However as it is highly unlikely that a horse which is normally self-trimming would grow longer feet in hot dry conditions, i.e. hard ground, I very much doubt that we need to worry about the farrier's future criminal record.
 
It is ridiculous to say the horse can't be sedated just because it overreacted to a full dose. Give it less!

My cob could only take a half dose because a full dose would have knocked him over completely. Half a dose, he was fine and away with the fairies.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
It's neither legal nor sensible, as bute is an anti-inflammatory, which is contra-indicated for an abscess. However as it is highly unlikely that a horse which is normally self-trimming would grow longer feet in hot dry conditions, i.e. hard ground, I very much doubt that we need to worry about the farrier's future criminal record.
Click to expand...

They can easily grow longer toes like that if they are loading the foot incorrectly. Its definitely not the first set of feet I have seen looking like that.
 
ycbm said:
It is ridiculous to say the horse can't be sedated just because it overreacted to a full dose. Give it less!

My cob could only take a half dose because a full dose would have knocked him over completely. Half a dose, he was fine and away with the fairies.
Click to expand...
Agreed! I have one that goes totally woozy on a normal dose so she has more like half for the dentist and then she stands up much better 😱

Once upon a time I knew a pony that was knocked out in the school every 6 months for the farrier as he was basically feral and couldn't cope any other way. Farrier trimmed him while he was down on ground. Desperate times...
 
Threads like this bemuse me. Why should any farrier risk getting hurt, why do we expect them to train our horses to have their feet picked up ? Average price for a trim would be £30, is that enough money to risk getting hurt for ? Facebook is forever full of posts asking for recommendations for a farrier to come to difficult horses. These skilled professionals are working for a living, not working to have their heads kicked off.

If the horse is physically unable to lift his hinds due to stiffness/pain and bute/oral sedation does not make the horse safe for the farrier to work around I would be asking the vet to refer the horse to hospital and make every effort to find out what is causing the issue and then make an informed decision as to the future of the horse. A set of xrays will soon tell the owner what is wrong with the horse and explain the behaviour it is displaying when asked to flex its limbs. If nothing is found, then it is a training issue and I go back to my first paragraph, why should the farrier train it.
 
I agree fully with AA it’s no one but the owners fault that this problem exists .
If it’s a training issue it’s the owners job to fix it if the horse is ill or injured it’s the owners job to get it to a vet .
The horse may need daily sedation for handling but it’s the owners job to do this not foist the job on a farrier .
 
As said, try Helen Spence, she can be a miracle worker for both horse and human.

I do understand the barefoot thing though, we just don't have a great selection here and the ones we do are impossible to get. I wonder what vet you used though, cause as Row said there are very good vets in this little part of the world, who would not just say can't be sedated. Maybe a second opinion could be gotten?

Just to clarify though, what exactly is it he does when you or farrier get to his hooves?


(also, just a note, there have been a few threads of late that have got very OP bashing...i know its a full moon coming but lets just try and be our helpful selves and get this issue sorted rather than the OP run off scared and hurt and letting nothing get done)
 
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