flat long feet

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puss

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Hi i have a spanish horse with horrible feet they grow very quick but long and flat hes barefoot but feeling his feet on stones lately. He sees the farrier every four weeks for this reason just to have his toes cut back never grows height. I would like to get him some hoof boot but worried his toes get to long to soon and they will hurt him. Any advise please he is fed barefoot diet and has been for two years.
 
Hi hes on near enough bare field hay linseed, no sugar no molasses chaff magnesium. I will take photos tonight and post
 
Yes people here love pics :) I'm very much learning so will follow this with interest.
Is he on a balanced vit/min supplement? If not could be going short? Pro hoof could be a start
 
I had a Spanish horse who was very problematic with grass sugars. "Near enough bare" fields can grow a surprising amount of grass, which because it is stressed from being short is also very high in sugar. If you took him off it for several days you would see how much it grows - and he's eating all of it.

How "lately" is lately? We are slap bang in the middle of peak time for laminitis attacks as the grass produces its last flush of sugar before dying back for the winter.

Be absolutely honest with yourself too, how fat is he? Does he have a crest? I have just read in the latest BHS magazine that insulin resistance in overweight horses causes problems with bone and cartilage regeneration and I know from my own that his long toes and soft feet disappeared when his diet was stripped of all possible sugar, including grass.


If he was mine I'd take him off the grass completely for a week and see how sore he was then. I'd also soak his hay.
 
In addition to the above, are you certain that your farrier is trimming well & balancing the hoof. I see some trims which beggar belief and owners who are throwing money at getting the same problem perpetuated month after month, and a single trim from a good farrier/trimmer makes a real difference.
This may well not be the case with your farrier but it might not be a bad idea to get a 2nd opinion.
 
I have a Spanish Stallion with long front hooves, but his back ones are small and neat. I was thinking myself of getting him some hoof boots as I do not shoe due to the methods used in this Country.
 
Hi yes your right hes not what i would call slim he has got a crest but he is a late cut stallion. I say lately because iv just moved to a yard with stoney path so only just noticed he was on smooth before. When he goes on smooth he fine and moves like a rocket in the school worked nearly every day when the school not flooded he cant have a lot of sugar i agree but hes mainly on mud if im honest there is grass but he prefers to stand on the concrete by the gate. Hes a bit of a nancy when it rains
 
What does he do if you give his crest a good squeeze and squish around about six inches up from the wither???

If he squirms, that could be an insulin crest, not a stallion crest. It hurts them, and it indicates that the pancreas is producing too much insulin and unless that is got under control they are likely always to feel their feet.
 
Youve been watching me im allways moving it and prodding to make sure its loose. im obssed with his crest. Iv been told if it gets really hard i have problems. so no problems there. I all so check his pulses daily heat and how hes standing
 
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