Footsore or lame?

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tasteofchristmaschaos

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Hi guys,
Is there a way to tell if a horse if footsore, or lame for another reason?
Found a horse I love, and have 1st refusal on her, but yesterday she went lame.
She had her shoes off recently, so could be foorsore. Are there any physical signs of this? Am considering asking the owners to shoe her again to give an indication if it is footsoreness - does the farrier have to wait until she is sound or could he do it now? If she is footsore, how long should she take to come sound again? And if the owners are willing to shoe her, should she just have fronts on, or hinds as well?
Thanks.
 
Do you want her to go barefoot ? if so, she needs to be sound without shoes and you need to wait for that to happen before you hand over any money - if you are buying her. My pony had sore feet last summer, it took a month for him to be OK. Basically enough time for a bit of foot to grow because he was walking on his soles.

If you will ultimately shoe her, then ask for her to be shod before she is vetted and leave it to the vet to make the decision. If you know she is iffy, make the vendor agree to pay the vetting if she fails on sore feet or lameness.
 
I probably would have her shod yes, but tbh I don't care that much - I just want her sound! After 6 months of looking for her, and then for this to happen, I feel like crying!
I have the deposit, and am holding onto it until she is sound again - I have also said if she fails the vetting i want the deposit money back.
 
Footsore = lame.

And as to whether you should ask for her to be shod, that depends on what is making her lame in the first place.
I strongly suggest you don't buy her til she is sound, and can be five stage vetted.
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I know footsore is lame, just didnt put it in the title, but did put "or lame for another reason" in the main part.
I would never buy a lame horse - hence my keeping of the deposit and would always have a 5 stage vetting.
I just really wanted to know if there are any signs to look for which would point to the lameness being caused by footsoreness, as opposed to anything else.
 
If she is footsore she will come sound again pretty much as soon as she has shoes on. I had shoes on my mare once about 5/6 years ago when due to bad weather over winter we had to do a lot of roadwork and she went footsore (is usually unshod) as soon as the shoes were on she was back to normal - just went through a pair of front shoes every 2/3 weeks!! Thankfully she only had them on for about 2 months til the ground dried up!!
 
If you want to buy the horse and intend to shoe it anyway, arrange to have her shoes put on as soon a possible.

Possibly give her a couple of days to settle in to them and then assuming there is not a lameness issue (rather than ouchy because she is not used to being barefoot) she should be sound once she has shoes back on. Get her vetted, she passes, have loads of fun with her!

FWIW if she is footsore due to having her shoes taken off, you may find that she will be sound on a sand school and/or on an even field with good grass covering. Equally she could be footsore because she's had her shoes off and be sore on all surfaces.
 
There could be loads of reasons why a horse would go lame with the shoes off. How long has the horse been shod for and how long without shoes? Why were the shoes taken off in the first place? It could be sore feet but it could also be joint problems that need the feet to be supported by shoes.
You could use hoof testers to see if there is any soreness in the feet. There are so many reasons why she could be lame you really need to speak to the usual farrier and then if you are interested get the horse shod and then vetted
 
Have the shoes back on and if she is footsore, then the lameness will go. What breed is she? In my experience, a lot of TBs are extremely sore without shoes on but shod aren't lame at all. Would be more concerned by a cobby type with nice feet being footsore/lame.
 
the farrier should be called out and if he eliminates any other causes of lameness then she prob is foot sore and putting shoes back on will help, or letting her feet harden out (but since you want shoes this wont be necessary)
 
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