Feet

[Nari]

I'm so fed up and slightly desperate.

Two weekends ago Jim managed to spread a hind shoe in the box & drive the inside quarter clip up the whiteline. I couldn't get the shoe off so YO said she'd have a go later, but when she came out after about half an hour he'd somehow managed to pull off the shoe himself. The hoof was a bit of a mess but we padded & taped the foot up so he could be turned out for a few hours & got the farrier the next day.

A week later he was shod all round by my usual farrier. The hoof was a mess but he rasped it (very rare he needs to really trim much off) & managed to get a shoe on. Then this afternoon, not a week after he was shod, he comes on with all the nail heads on the outside edge of that shoe lying under his sole . What the hell is this horse doing?! I won't be able to get my usual farrier until Tuesday at the earliest & I really don't want anyone else from the practice trying to do anything as there isn't a lot of hoof there now. I've left him & his companion in tonight, his foot is padded & taped & the YO is going to let me put them out in a paddock on there own with nothing next to them tomorrow so hopefully Jim will graze quietly rather than herd or play.

Do you ever wonder what on earth you do wrong? I get him shod every four weeks by a really good farrier, he's fed well & gets a good general supplement, I use Antibac or Kevin Bacon's hoof dressing depending on the weather & what my farrier thinks needs doing, don't work him on hard ground & yet I still have continual problems with his feet! He has slow growth that isn't good quality & has to support a very big & active horse. Possibly the only good thing about his feet are his big, rock solid frogs - just as well since he's so flat footed he walks on them.

I despair, I really really do. I dread to think what my poor farrier is going to say when he tries to redo the shoe because I just can't see what he's going to nail into. I just don't know what else I can do & I know my farrier will say the same

 

[Guinness]

is it worth getting a second opinion-maybe from a vet? my ex-farrier (supposedly the best around) ended up being not so good and when i switched to my current one he told me that my ex-farrier had been trimming far too much off the hoof resulting losing shoes (might just be worth a try?)

 

[custard]

You're not alone!! Mine has decided to yank one off this week, I'm on hol from Thursday and the farrier is away til next week, aaarrrgh!

What exactly are you feeding him? For what it's worth have recently taken on board advice to change Will's diet. A mate of mine's had hers on it for several months and previously crappy feet are much improved.

She's basically switched to Simplesystem (Luciebix plus Purabeet) and all the feeds are molasses and added sugar free, plus magnesium oxide at 50ml per day. It's not expensive and strikes me as far better than any of these so called hoof supplements. Mine was on F/Formula for 2 years, made no difference whatsoever.

 

[Nari]

I really don't think it's the farrier's fault, much as I'd like it to be such a simple answer. I moved away for a year & had terrible trouble keeping him sound with other farriers, with one he'd start going short & pottery up front after about 3 weeks, with another he threw a splint because his foot became very slightly unbalanced. The third only shod him 3 or 4 times & he came much sounder & freer striding again but he shod him in a very very similar way to the farrier I'm now back with! Also this person is very highly spoken off by my vets & other local farriers, in fact altough one vet expressed some concern at his feet when I said who was doing him the comment I got was "well there's no point changing farrier because you won't get anyone better" . Years ago my farrier actually asked a big name remedial farrier for a second opinion & he said he'd do exactly the same or maybe try taking him back even more & risk making him sore for a few days (my farrier feels this isn't an option as the horse would v quickly become bad to shoe) - he also told me seperately to keep in my farrier's good boks otherwise I'd need him to do him & that would cost a lot more!!!

 

[Nari]

Custardsmum he gets Luciebix, a small amount of Saracen ReLeve, Benevit, U-Gard Plus, Cortaflex & I've just recently started adding Hilton Herbs Top Coat to see if it helps his sweetitch. If he gets stressy he gets FG30 Science Formula Calmer (magnesium based) although since starting the U-Gard I've had a lot less need for this & it's easier to get him to eat his feed without it in.

Years of hoof supplements, & I've tried several, don't seem to have helped & with hindsight seem to have upset his stomach & made his cribbing worse - I seem to get just as good a result on the above diet plus a calmer horse. His coat has always looked & felt good which also makes us think it isn't a diet problem. TBH I don't want to mess around with his feed more than I have to for fear of upsetting him & setting him off cribbing again.

Thanks for the thought though

. I suspect I'm in a vicious circle with this one - he weakened the hoof tearing it off which makes it harder to fit back securely which makes it more prone to coming off etc etc. If only I could explain to him to be careful with it & stop the high speed handbrake turns, charging other horses, stamping at flies & most of teh other things he spends ages doing!

 

[beatrice]

Get the shoes glued on!!
I had mare with awful feet........got to the point where it was virtually impossible to nail a shoe on. My farrier glued the shoes on for a few times then she had her shoes alternated between glue and nails. Gave the hoof wall chance to grow without having anything nailed to it!!
She also never threw a shoe when they were glued on!
She was also on biotin and i used keratex.
I was a long process but she had decent feet after a while!

 

[Nari]

I thought of that a couple of years ago but my farrier laughed - reckons the plastic glue on shoes would be lucky to last a week before he wore them out. I like my farrier a lot but I really don't want to see that much of him! I'm also betting that glue ons wouldn't let him keep the toe back enough so I'd get problems with flare & WL seperation again.

If I'm wrong & you can glue on steel ones then please please please correct me!