hoof issues, a weird one! long!

[charlie76]

My horse has been reluctant to go forward on the right rein whether ridden or on the lunge, when doing lateral work he has been unhappy to leg yield or shoulder in right and kept almost hitching his right hind up as if to kick at the leg and he has become more difficult to show behind,
Its been going on a while but he hasn't really shown any lameness as such. I had all usual checks done from back to scoping for ulcers and all was fine.
I wondered if it was the surface at the new yard as it is much harder than at our old yard.
Last week when I rode him I felt he wasn't quite right behind so I got the vet.
Vet said he could see a very slight difference when he was trotted up , although he didn't test positive on flexions.
It was tipping down so we lunged him in the indoor which has a much softer surface than the outdoor and vet said he looked fine on the lunge , he also felt his back and sacroiliac and all good, and no positive when feeling hind supspensories.

As I wanted to get to the bottom of it we x rayed him from top to bottom on his legs and all came back totally clear,he said they were amazing for a horse of his age

He did however comment that his right hind foot was quite broken up , which it is, he has always struggled with his hind foot quality. He didn't think it would be that but I decided to get the farrier to come out and whip the shoes off .

I asked the farrier when he played up ( as I am not always there) and he thought it was when he lifted the leg, hence the joint questions.

However, when I watched him take the shoe off, it wasn't when he lifted the leg, it was EVERY time he touched the clenches he freaked out and flinched really badly.
He also did it when he tapped around the nails and when he took them out.

We tried him with the left foot and he didn't react at all.

We have now taken his hinds off and I am cleaning the tatty bits daily.

I lunged him the next day and he was much more forward.

I then rode him in the indoor on the softer surface and he felt better

Today we went out onto the harder outdoor surface ( where I'd been noticing the lack of movement before) and he was much much more forward, prob more so than he has been for a very long time, he also did his lateral work on the right rein with out protesting for the firs time in a months.

I feel awful as I think he has been feeling pain in the foot from the clenches for a long time.

Has anyone ever come across this before as both my vet and farrier said they were stunned that this may be the reason for his issue?

 

[laura_nash]

I have known a horse that had seedy toe that found the nailing for shoeing painful. Could there maybe be a bit of infection in there? If he's sensible about things on his legs, I'd be tempted to do a Cleantrax soak (they have to stand for half an hour with their hoof in a bag, so not possible with some horses).

I would also look at his diet if his hoof quality isn't great, have a look at advice on here re "barefoot" diets (which basically means good for hoof quality, whether barefoot or shod).

 

[FFAQ]

There is some speculation that ulcers can be present in the hind gut too, but unfortunately the only way to tell is post mortem as you can't get a scope in there!! It is thought that horses who are tetchy about their right hinds may have hindgut ulcers (the cecum sits more on the right hand side). A relatively cheap and harmless way of maybe easing the problem is to try something along the lines of Hilton Herbs Gastrix for 3 weeks. If there's no improvement, no harm no foul. If he improves, voila! As Laura said, it's worth giving his diet a bit of a look anyway as diet can greatly affect hoof horn quality. Good luck!