Farrier shod horse with extended shoe and now horse is a bit sore :(

seoirse

seoirse

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 July 2007
Messages
478
Location
Oxfordshire
Visit site
Hi, my farrier has shod my older horse with a bilateral extension on the outside off fore because he had some sidebone in that foot which has caused his hoof to run under a bit and contract a little bit on the outside side, its minimal but as he’s 15 now the farrier said it would give his other joints a bit of support to have the extended shoe on. This was done last Tuesday and the horse does seem a bit uncomfortable now with the special shoe on, he is sound in a straight line but looks a bit stiff on a right rein circle or if I turn him tight on the concrete, which would make sense as the change in load bearing would be up the outside of his right fore leg. I’ve left my farrier a message this morning so hopefully he’ll call me back so we can discuss it as I’m not sure the horse is happy with it. Do I need to persevere though and let him ‘get used’ to his new feet? A couple of people at the yard have said that but to me it doesn’t sound right and my gut is telling me the horse is a bit sore and should be made comfortable? He is usually sound.
Thanks
 
Do your horse a favour and take the shoes off, sounds like farrier is just bumping up his bill in these hard times, support never came in the form of steel or inbalanced steel.
 
If your horse was sound why did your farrier think he needed more support? Why fix what ain't broke?

Your horse has told you what he thinks, I'd get that shoe off asap, personally.
 
I would listen to your horse, who is telling you he isn't comfy.

By trying to make other joints more comfortable, it could be putting other parts of his legs/body under strain- the same if you suddenly started walking in insoles with built up arches etc.

Your farrier sounds helpful and understanding so hopefully he will come out and see the effect the new shoe has had and correct/improve on the work.
 
My view is that your farrier has many years of training and possibly experience and is applying a generally accepted way of addressing the problem. Yes there will be a period while the horse adjusts to the difference and this may cause some temporary lameness. Speak to him and he will advise you.
 
I would get in touch with the vet pronto I would never allow a farrier to embark on this sort of thing without input from an equine vet and a set of X-rays to compare with the 'now 'ones if this sort of things happens.
I learnt from experiance years ago never let a farrier tinker with the feet of a sound older horse carrying issues with careful thought and advice from the vet.
 
I'm still waiting for farrier to come back to me but I'm going to get the shoe changed back to the normal sort and see if that makes horse more comfortable as its starting to worry me that there might be something else making him unhappy and its wise to rule this out as the cause.
Thanks everyone.
 
Thanks for your input too, I actually used to have a horse with quite advanced sidebone, which we discovered quite by accident when we were xraying for something else, he was always barefoot as I could never keep him sound in shoes and they stunted his action, so I fully appreciate the advantages of barefoot for some horses.
Unfortunately in this case the horse is on loan to me, and the contract stipulates he must be kept shod. Also, he has never had any problems being shod until now, so I think if it ain't broke don't fix it! Farrier is coming tomorrow morning to refit the shoe how it was before.
Yes we are aware this horse has sidebone, but he's probably had it for ages and its not causing any problems. I appreciate the farriers efforts to try to prevent it causing any problems going forwards but I think we need to carry on as we were before as it was working.
Hopefully refitting the shoe tomorrow will sort things out! If it doesn't then I'll deal with that when it happens!
Thanks again everyone for your help. Much appreciated.
 
Just a quick update incase anyone is interested. Farrier came and changed shoe yesterday morning, massive improvement in horses action straight away but not surprisingly he was still a bit wonky, put him out in the field all day and went back at tea time, popped him on the lunge and he's sound. Whoop! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top