feeling cross, sad and silly too!

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happyhacker85

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Hi all I posted here a few days ago regarding very dry hoofs on a new cob pony I'd brought last week. My 1st brought horse and my heart lead the way (as always with me). Now I know and am well aware I took a risk buying a pony being a novice without a vetting but it's done now and I still wouldn't change it anyway as she deserves a loving home and she will have that with us. So anyway when grooming her feathers and giving her a good check over i found lots of white waxy bits which at 1st looked like mud untill mud brushed away and left white waxy stuff behind these were about an inch from the root and dotted about from the down... and a massive overgrown ergot on every leg which looked like goats horns. noticed a fair bit of foot stamping going on when in the field and yard owner has too. So based on this we decided to clip off her beautiful feather :'( so we could get to what's irritating her and give it a good wash... There are irritated patches of skin and a few scabs but no mites visible at all. Also now her feathers of gone we have seen her hoofs are quite overgrown! Spoke to seller about her being reluctant to lift her hoofs and kicking out ALOT and about when she was last seen by afarrier and the seller says 3 weeks ago and always been good with hoofs :/ ... yard owner says not a chance and she thinks about year! Grace also hates her hoofs being touched around the coronary band too??

I'm cross that they sold her in this condition as she was originally coming to me right from the sellers yard to our new home in france by a professional horse transporter. Glad I got her early so I can make her comfortable b4 her long journey!
 
Long feet won't make her not like having her feet touched, more the other way around. She sounds a bit unhandled and a bit poor generally, I'm sure with the correct professional intervention she will be fine.
 
Did you not have a look at her feet and give her a test run before you got her?

Horses stamp their feet for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it's a dominance thing and other times it's just because they have an itchy leg.

I think the white stuff you're referring to is just her coronet band - it can be a bit flaky and look waxy if the feet have gotten particularly wet (it's nothing to worry about).
 
Agree with FrankieCob if she has mites they burrow under the skin and can make their legs painful swollen and cause scabs. Horses/ponies stamps their feet and will rub on anything causing swelling and scabs There is an injection from the vets that helps a lot also wash her legs with Limewash also obtained from vets. Good luck with her
 
Sounds like feather mites. You don't see them and they are very common with hairy cobs. Needs a skin scrape to diagnose but I would usually assume it is them and treat anyway. They can also make a usually easy horse difficult about leg handling.

Massive overgrown ergots are also common in hairy cobs and not a problem, some farriers trim them others don't. They generally break off eventually, may even come off with a gentle tug if very large.

Not clear from your description where exactly you found the white waxy stuff, but if it was on the feathers I would suspect a bit of mallenders starting up. Check behind the knee and clean up any waxy build-up.

None of these sounds serious, but you do obviously want to get the mites cleared up before a long journey.
 
Can't offer much more advice than others have already given, but don't worry, feeling cross, sad and silly is all part of horse ownership, you'll get used to it!
 
Don't worry to much!

I bought my cob unseen, from a blurry photo of his backside - I just had a good feeling about him.

Anyway, the transporter warned me to prepare myself before he unloaded him. He was underweight, pot bellied (worms) and riddled with lice. The farrier said he had never had his feet done.

A month later and he was a different chap. Three months later and he is a picture of health who lets us pick up all feet with no problems.

You'll get there :)
 
Thanks for replies,
shes very gentle normaly and has an amazing temper yes I rode her and picked up her feet etc but due to very heavy feathers I couldn't see quite how long her hoofs were and they didn't look dry and flaky on the day I went over to try her either. Also I didn't mean that long hoofs would make them uncomfortable to touch I said she seems to hate being touched around the coronary band I didn't know if anyone could explain why that may be and I believe correctly trimmed hoofs would be more comfortable to travel on than over grown ones. This is what I meant.

She has been treated for feather mites already this is why we trimmed her feathers back to make sure we got right to the skin as we don't want her traveling the journey whilst itchy and or sore.

And yes Laura_nash the waxy stuff starts from just below behind the knee and isn't on all 4 legs just on 2 but lots and lots on one, also she has dry bumpy feeling skin behind her knee too. X
 
I forgot to mention in my reply that I've been back to the yard this evening (because i felt terrible about making her grumpy over her feather trimming and wanted to give her a carrot and a cuddle) and she was nice as pie let me rub my hands over her hoofs (didn't try lifting them this eve as I didn't want to stress her again today). She's obviously the forgiving type and im sure as mrselle says above she will pick her feet up no probs b4 long im sure it's down to her skin being sore from the mites/irritation that she don't want her legs/hoof messing with as she's so gentle every other way.

I'm cross because she she shouldn't have sold her this way especially knowing she's got a long journey to france ahead and sad because I feel sorry for her itchy and sore state and silly because I didn't notice when I viewed and brought her. (I bet id still have had her as she won my heart instanly).
 
Treated with Pig oil and sulphur and we trimmed the feathers off so we could see what was underneath and get right to base of the problem as her feathers are very very thick and dense x
 
Pig oil and sulphur might be ok as a preventative but it wont clear mites. You need an ivermectin wormer, and a dectomax injection or decent strength frontline to treat it. There are other things that work but those 2 are the best options. Then you can use pig oil and sulphur as a preventative :)
 
Oh really? I didnt realise and yard owner seemed to think pig oil and sulpher would work :/
Would you reccomened the spot on front line or the spray on?
 
Lovely thanks im at the vets to pick up our dogs passport on Monday so ill speak to them then. Do they normally do it on prescription for horses? As I see most say they used a dog one on here? X
 
Dectomax injections and keeping the legs clipped off and washed with hibiscrub sorted our trad cob! Oh, and for the easy removal of ergots and chestnuts apply something like NAF hoof moist to soften them up, then you can peel them away.
 
Dectomax injections for the stamping. The greasy waxy stuff behind the knees sounds like Mallenders or Sallenders, very typical in cobs, mine has it. It gets a bit scabby, I use pig oil and sulphur, but be aware that this may cause a reaction. I hope your YO did a patch test first.

The hoof thing, she might just be out of the habit of having them touched, mine was and his shoes had been on for a year, according to the farrier. He cow kicked a treat, probably sore feet from having shoes totally worn thin.

She sounds a lovely type and if she's let you touch her tonight, it probably is just her being unused to being handled.
 
I used spot on for large dogs on mine, one on each leg. Worked a treat. I have clipped the feathers off though as I can't cope with hairy. I massaged it into the skin. Did it again two weeks later and haven't had a problem since.
 
Thanks lelly with her being fussy over her legs at the moment I think spot will be best (less stressful for her) if it works, I will see the vet Monday for our cat anyway and will discuss getting it for grace then and hopefully be able to take it down and apply to her on Monday eve. And then when she has stopped being so irritated by the bites I can work on desensitising her leg and picking up hooves issue when she's more comfortable in her self. I also have some cream for psoriasis as mother in law suffers terribly from it so will use this on the suggested mallenders area see if it helps that too! Thanks for all the replys and advice :)
 
Poor mare no wonder she is iffy to pick her feet up as in pain! You will get there with her, she sounds very forgiving. When my cob came over from Ireland his legs were in a dreadful state under the feather. I keep him fully clipped out anyway now.

Pig oil & sulphur is brilliant, it does work for mites, but do patch test on a small area first as it can irritate their skin. Dectomax also good with flamazine cream to rub onto the sores, your vet will prescribe.
 
You will need to wash the pig oil off before treating the legs with frontline. I am not sure a dog vet would sell it for a horse who they have not seen (and not qualified to diagnose?) without a prescription from a horse vet, I would say you needed it for your dogs that would be easier.
 
Don't feel silly she sounds like she's not really been cared for properly before and you have changed that now and providing her with a better life
It sounds like it could be mights there common in feathery types not had any experience with them myself but I think you can buy topical treatments or they can be injected
Good luck
 
Im really glad something worked for your cob gingerthing and its now mite free and yes she's a real softy and gentle as a feather but obviously she's warned me numerous times with "please my stupid human listen to me my legs are sore so don't touch me there" as politely as possible and obviously we are ignoring these signals as we need to touch it to treat it and make it better (she doesn't understand this bit I know lol) and all that's left is to kick us off :( bless her heart! Over half way to being clipped out fully and farrier coming on this coming sat so we have planned to finish with his help and some calming powder used for 4 days running up to Saturday to help her cope and hopefully not get so worked up. We will get there eventually!

And cinnamon toast im sure the emollient cream will be fine it's dermatology tested after all and i've checked it's not the steroidal type so basically it's just a heavy emollient cream not too different from sudocream which lots of people reccomened to.

firefly9410 our veterinary practice also deal with equines so I'm sure I will get what's needed there and if he needs to see her 1st then that's what we will arrange :)

My princess that's just what I needed to hear thank you so much for your kind words and I think we are on our way with ridding these horrid mites now :)
 
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Just a quick update to all that offered advice here

I've spend and hour with her the last few evenings just doing enjoyable stuff like brushing and talking (well she listened actually:)) and a gentle in hand walk around the feild to try and make her see im just a nice human really and im not here just to annoy her, i did pop in a few touches down the leg and to to the feet but not anything to stress her out too much. Well we ended this evening with me giving a good old rub of her leg feet ankles etc and hoof oil all over ALL OVER 4 :D she's trusting me this evening so I pulled out the scissors and chopped away the rest of the feathers at the back feet... All of it!! I'm so proud of her as it's already a massive change from Saturdays antics... she's a good girl really, I knew it she's just learning what I'm all about and that in here to make her life more comfortable and enjoyable. Feeling positive and excited for our future ��
 
Just a quick update to all that offered advice here

I've spend and hour with her the last few evenings just doing enjoyable stuff like brushing and talking (well she listened actually:)) and a gentle in hand walk around the feild to try and make her see im just a nice human really and im not here just to annoy her, i did pop in a few touches down the leg and to to the feet but not anything to stress her out too much. Well we ended this evening with me giving a good old rub of her leg feet ankles etc and hoof oil all over ALL OVER 4 :D she's trusting me this evening so I pulled out the scissors and chopped away the rest of the feathers at the back feet... All of it!! I'm so proud of her as it's already a massive change from Saturdays antics... she's a good girl really, I knew it she's just learning what I'm all about and that in here to make her life more comfortable and enjoyable. Feeling positive and excited for our future 💜
 
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