Hind shoes & suspensory damage

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Marchtime

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Quick query...
Jesper (TB) is retired. His injuries include front collateral ligament damage, hind suspensory damage and query sacroilliac and hock problems. He's 11yrs old. He's field sound and on no medication and the vet is happy.... so...
He retired in Feb of this year but I chose to keep him shod. He definitely needs front shoes but I worried that taking his hinds off would put too much strain on his injuries and also change the angle everything sits at. He is prone to being foot sore and is flat footed all round. He pulled off a hind shoe two weeks ago. Farrier was on holiday. He's been sound although the leg filled for the first week and was slightly warm. Farrier came today and apparently can't get a shoe back on as there's not enough hoof. He's a great farrier but I am worried.
So decision has been forced upon us to leave him barefoot behind. Would you be concerned? Is this likely to aggravate the injuries - the last thing I want is him uncomfortable. I was more than happy to keep him shod. Advice needed. Am I just being a paranoid mum
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Assuming he wasn't shod with wedges, I wouldn't be at all worried, in fact it could be beneficial - less concussion.
 
If you can, get your farrier to show you how to rasp a little bit of hoof off as maintenance between trims. He'll get flares and the toe will grow faster if he's already flat footed. If you're able to just rasp the toe a little every once in a while it will stop him from ending up long in the toe with low heels.

going barefoot saved my mare from a lot of her problems as her hoof alignment is better now she's trimmed a little (by me) every week - she has supper fast hoof growth and even being shod every 3 weeks wasn't keeping her feet properly aligned.

Get your farrier to show you how so you're happy with how much to take off and I think you'll be really pleased with how his feet shape up.
 
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