Heat in near fore and hoof no swellings no lameness what's that all about?

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Doncella

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As title, my 7 year old 7/8 TB gelding lives out, is an all rounder, was shod two days ago following a nail bind. He has heat in his hoof, farrier says no problem there, has heat in the foreleg below the knee but no swelling or discernable lameness. Should I be taking precautions or keep on riding?
 
Heat in the hoof - may be mechanical laminitis induced by shoeing. It's one of these things you take no chances with - if it is laminitis then keeping off the grass will help.

Insurance really.
 
robobob said:
What a total croc of ****!!
Click to expand...

Uh...welcome to the forum. Charmed, I'm sure.

Heat to me suggests bruising, infection, a strain - it usually indicates damage of some sort. Assuming he is not just generally hot! Someone was panicking at the yard the other day because the horse was sweating and blowing in the stable...it was 27 degrees and she had a rug on. :cool:

Where we are there have been more concussion injuries and bruised soles than normal, I guess because of the hard ground. Two vets and a farrier have also mentioned to me that there has been more laminitis this spring / summer than there has been for a long time. My vet has also mentioned 'pre-laminitis': ie minor changes to the foot have taken place but the horse is not severly lame or having a fullblown episode.

I would make absolutely sure he is sound before riding him, as some of these issues could be worsened by carrying the extra weight / being asked to do fast work. Remember that mild lameness can be hard to spot even for a professional (several instructors and a farrier insisted my horse was sound when he was actually bilaterally lame...for once my obsessiveness came in handy, called the vet anyway, and lo and behold!).

With regard to brucea's post, I believe received wisdom is to stable laminitic horses through the worst phases whatever the cause as it can result in more damage to the laminae if they are allowed to move around. Restricting grass intake may not help depending on the cause, but stabling is still recommended, and if the horse is overweight then losing a some will put less pressure on the feet.

Doncella - hopefully it is just one of those things and nothing comes of it, but I would be keeping a very close eye on how he's moving. If in doubt, call the vet.
 
I'm a cautious kind of guy - if there is any mechanical laminitis, or heat in hoof - better to be safe thna sorry. It may be the case the hoof was on the edge anyway.

I'll just put robobob on user ignore. Life's too short to deal with rude people.
 
Horse not noticeably lame. Shod on Friday and farrier is very good at noticing things, anyway, heat seems to have subsided besides the other front shoe has been pulled off now.
Horse not overweight nor on lush grazing, farrier will be back this week.
Also toothman today revealed that the horse has a bone spur just in front of his molars on the left hand side which has been adding to the horses woes.
 
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