Feet Trimmed to Short

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Hi

the farrier (who i didnt ask for) cut my mares feet to short and there really sore for her to walk on, she used to have shoes on the fron, but am going to try with out them. is there anything i can put on her feet or give her to make her feel more comfortable. also the shape he has trimmed them at are really bad. whats best to make the grow quicker so i can get a good farrier to try and correct.
 
Poor pony - it's impossible to comment on what has happened to her feet without being able to see them but no trim should leave a horse very sore like she sounds to be. My first suggestion to make her more comfortable would be to get her some hoof boots - if you intend to keep her barefoot anyway then a set of boots is essential to have during the transition period and at other times beyond that. If you measure her feet I can advise you on what boots might work best for her. You can also get nice soft pads to put into the boots to make her even more comfortable. Boots generally aren't designed to be worn 24/7 but over short periods you can keep them on for long periods - though I would always remove them at least once a day to check for rubs.

As for getting the hoof wall to grow faster the only thing I recommend is a healthy diet (low sugar/low starch) and movement, which is the best thing for stimulating growth. However because she is uncomfortable at the moment you don't want to be forcing her to move more than she is happy with - however if you get her hoof boots and she is happy walking about in them then great! Stick to walk and leading her in hand. I personally don't like to feed biotin or any of the commercial hoof supplements. Biotin might make the hoof wall grow faster but not necessarily stronger or of good quality. You only get good quality hoof wall by feeding a healthy diet.

Try not to worry too much - I am sure your mare will be more comfortable soon and you know to avoid this particular farrier in the future.
 
I feel sorry for you both! -Has the Farrier cut the heels off too?

If she is really bad-maybe mention it to your Vet and see if they can get you some Bute for a couple of weeks or so until they start to grow out a bit. At least that will keep her comfortable. Maybe your Vet can recommend you a good Farrier you can consult now and also for next time.

I once had the misfortune to use a truly awful farrier for a while until we sacked him who cut my horses hooves too short and unbalanced them good and proper- looking back I wish I'd taken pics of my horses feet and reported him to the Farriers Registration Council.

It's a catch 22, because one of the best ways to make them grow is exercise as it increases blood flow to the feet which helps improve growth. The boots as mrdarcy have mentioned may also help you exercise her too!

Agree as above as well, a good diet will help. Biotin and the like is probably no good in this instance as they can take 6-9 months to make a difference.

Short toes do not suit every horse!

Good luck with everything.
 
You could buy some hoof boots to protect her feet, or the cheap option is sticking cut out bits of mouse mat (or similar) to her feet with gaffa tape! I know people who have done this when they have needed to walk a footsore horse over a particularly rough bit of terrain when fetching in from the field etc. The tape doesn't work for very long but it'll keep the mats in place for a few steps!

Otherwise, I think you mare needs time to sort herself out. If you follow the advice that Mr Darcy has given on diet that will help a lot. I supplement with Magox and muzzle my horse when the grass is flushing, and she doesn't get any cereals (or hoof supplements) - just forage-based lami friendly feeds. Her feet grow like stink ;)
 
Garden mat taped on with duck tape is a possibility. Annoying isn't it? My pony was trimmed too short by the farrier and he was sore for a few days, it took about a week for him to be 100% again.
 
Just speaking from personal experience....

Mine was kept in, on a huge deep bed to the door (on top of rubber matting). She was bandaged (gamgee and vetwrap, plus stable bandages on her legs for support). I gave her some bute (sssh, don't tell anyone, I had some left over from something else!). Farrier then came back and put special shoes on - rubber bonded sole aluminium racing plates. With the shoes on, she was sound again, so that was 5 days in total.
 
hi all, grate advise thank you - i would of ended up buying some hoof suplement that wouldnt kick in, in time. The vet is coming to do her routine jabs next week so might ask him for some bute.:)
 
Are you sure she is not just sore because she has just had her shoes off? it can take a while for shod feet to transition to barefoot work. Some horses take longer than others and some can be quite sore when their shoes come off... its not necessarily the trim she just had thats making her sore!
 
I agree with the Farrier to a certain extent

If you think the feet are too short then you just have to let them grow. You may be surprised how quickly they will grow with the correct diet so have a good look at waht you are feeding.

Here's an interesting thing - horn that grows really quickly is usually poor quality and the horse just "filling the gap" until the better horn comes down.

When my lad was first unshod, he grew horn like it was going out of fashion! Now, 4 years on, he needs trimmed abotu once every four months and that is just tidying up the roll and taking off raggies - he grows what he wears and wears what he grows.

I think one of the major things holding horses back from performing well barefoot is over-regular trimming. do it only when it neds to be done, keep the rasp in the toolbox and leave it alone.

Obviously don't let it get over long with big flares and leverage - but let it grow the way the horse wants it. If you do enough exercise on abrasive surfaces you don't need to trim - thats what the ground is for.
 
brucea said:
I think one of the major things holding horses back from performing well barefoot is over-regular trimming. do it only when it neds to be done, keep the rasp in the toolbox and leave it alone.

Obviously don't let it get over long with big flares and leverage - but let it grow the way the horse wants it. If you do enough exercise on abrasive surfaces you don't need to trim - thats what the ground is for.
Click to expand...

What makes you say that? I'm interested - my mare's been BF for over 4 years and her feet need a lot of trimming. She was going 3 weeks between 'trimmer' trims over the summer, and that's with me doing some tidying up and a fair bit of roadwork & hacking on gritty tracks. If I let her feet get long her white line starts to separate, it can close up again after couple of days if I roll the wall back to the white line. She is also pigeon toed & wears her feet unevenly, so I level them up which involves taking height off the the inside quarter of her toe & rolling it back (she puts her own roll on the other side). Her feet have definitely improved with more trimming, as in there is less flare, old cracks have gone, the white line is tighter & her frogs seem much healthier. She hasn't needed to wear hoof boots to keep her comfortable for about 2 years & when her trimmer comes she normally gets a gold star for keeping her heels balanced, which is something that she never used to do!

We do let her feet grow the way she wants, as in her feet are not symmetrical, not matching pairs front/back and sometimes they do slightly weird things. I have known people who treat their horses feet like a sculpture project & seem to almost take bits off on a daily basis to maintain a pretty looking foot. I definitely don't do that!

Thoughts/observations would be appreciated ;)
 
As with everything it depends on the horse but feet can very quickly get out of balance and it's vitally important that someone is checking this on a regular basis. The AANHCP recommend trim visits every five to six weeks. That doesn't mean that every six weeks a full trim will be needed - on a working horse with healthy feet this is more likely to be check and address any balance issues and reapply the mustang roll, but it all depends on what surfaces the horse has been working on. The amount of growth can also vary depending on the time of year. I very very rarely have to use the nippers on any of my lot though in the two months following my mare losing her foal she was growing hoof wall like crazy. But I check the balance of their feet pretty much everytime I pick them up (habit!) and if I ever see them out of balance I will put it right.

So I think it's fine to leave the feet if you know what you're looking at and know what's right but if not then you need your trimmer or farrier to be visiting regularly. I went to trim some horses a few weeks ago - hard working horses but hadn't had their feet touched by a professional trimmer/farrier for two years. These horse were all sound and rock crunching but their feet were all out of balance, loads of flare and frankly a bit of a mess. They were clearly working for the horses in the present but long term? Who knows?
 
Thanks MrD :) I'm happy doing a fair bit of the trimming myself these days, P had ringworm over the summer so I pinched my trimmer's hoof stand & gave her a 'proper' trim myself, but the one thing I prefer to leave my trimmer to do is the heel balance. That takes a far better eye than mine & I don't trust myself to get it right. She is also a lot more aggressive about taking off flare than me. P nearly failed her pre-purchase vetting on the state of her feet (she had been shod very badly) and her pigeon toed-ness potentially sets her up for problems, so I am quite conservative about how I manage her feet. Her trimmer is great, so I would rather have her take a look on a regular basis than risk things going bumps up for the sake of my ego & a few quid :o
 
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