Feet help/ideas please

[ycbm]

Equimins is fine.

You bought him to work while Boggle couldn't, Michen, and in that situation I would just shoe him.

.

 

[southerncomfort]

I used Easyboot Trails on my old girl. They have a really good thick tread on them. Some of our hacking is on rough stony tracks and she would march over them.

I think time spent conditioning the feet over different surfaces is really useful but you need to build up exposure slowly.

 

[Gloi]

I used Easyboot Epics on my pony with feet destroyed by years of shoeing. They got a lot better and the soles thickened up but the contraction and weakness that had developed at the back of the hoof meant I had to boot for anything more than a pootle round the block. We did a lot of miles booted though including the Mary Towneley Loop which ,as anyone who has ridden it will know , has some very unforgiving surfaces. My 5yo has never been shod and is mostly barefoot though I use Scoots if we are doing a lot of miles on rough surfaces.
Everything needs to be built up slowly to give the hoof time to adapt but I vowed I was never going to let feet deteriorate like my old pony's did, the farrier just saying that he had bad feet and at the time I didn't know any better.

 

[Tiddlypom]

By all means get him back in shoes to crack on once he’s over these probably bruised feet, but IMHO he will recover from the bruising more quickly if he’s booted for now. Bruising in the feet can take a fair old while to resolve.

Hopefully you can still do some work with him in boots, but he may still be lame in shoes just now.

Maybe your vet would agree to a short course of Danilon to take the sting out of the bruising, though I know you know that he’d have to be rested until that was out of his system?

 

[Michen]

By all means get him back in shoes to crack on once he’s over these probably bruised feet, but IMHO he will recover from the bruising more quickly if he’s booted for now. Bruising in the feet can take a fair old while to resolve.

Hopefully you can still do some work with him in boots, but he may still be lame in shoes just now.

Maybe your vet would agree to a short course of Danilon to take the sting out of the bruising, though I know you know that he’d have to be rested until that was out of his system?

He’s fine in cavallos (the only ones I have are absolutely huge for him) so I can’t imagine he won’t be fine in shoes.

I’m unsure what you mean re your comment about resting until Danilon is out of his system... plenty of horses work on danilon/bute for all sorts of reasons. That said clearly I’m not going to work a horse who needs bute for his feet because he’s footsore..

 

[Tiddlypom]

Ah, I meant not buting and working a footsore horse .

I continue to work my mare who has diagnosed bilateral hock arthritis and is some of the time on Danilon, I don’t mean never ride a horse who is on bute/Danilon.

ETA Hoof boots physically protect the sole, shoes merely lift the sole off the ground.

 

[Michen]

Ah, I meant not buting and working a footsore horse .

I continue to work my mare who has diagnosed bilateral hock arthritis and is some of the time on Danilon, I don’t mean never ride a horse who is on bute/Danilon.

Of course I’m not going to work a footsore horse on surfaces he’s sore on without protection! Or bute for that matter.
I do have some sense ?

 

[Tiddlypom]

When I have had a horse with bruised feet, the vet has recommended a course of Danilon to speed up the recovery. Not working the horse during that time, is of course, common sense.

 

[Michen]

When I have had a horse with bruised feet, the vet has recommended a course of Danilon to speed up the recovery. Not working the horse during that time, is of course, common sense.

Indeed, so I'm unsure why it even needed to be clarified, maybe I am missing the point.

Anyway, thank you everyone very much for your suggestions its much appreciated. I have actually decided to shoe ASAP. I will work on treating the frogs and keeping him on an optimum diet and perhaps I'll try again in the autumn (depending on if I take him autumn hunting or not), or perhaps not. Either way I need to crack on with him a bit now especially for if I do end up selling.