Hoof rehab

[Regandal]

I have cavallo trek boots and I’ve just ordered some more pads for her. She is on a ridiculously thick bed of lovely straw at the moment. The vet has said weeks not days in terms of recovery time, poor girl.

She’s a lovely horse, Lady G. Only thing I would suggest is to swap the straw for shavings or lightly dampened wood/straw pellets. These support sore feet much more effectively than straw. Hope she’s feeling much better soon.

The current thinking is too much hooning around, not enough hoof.

 

[ester]

Frank once made himself sore after a night of galloping round the grass track on hard ground.

if you can fit them in the equine podiatry supplies pads are very recommended. (And the owner helpful )

 

[LadyGascoyne]

@Regandal it is a very thick and fluffy bed and the vet was especially pleased with it to the point of asking me to compliment the groom, but I’ll keep an eye in case it compacts. We have huge old stables with cobbled floors so would need to be a matting/ chipping/ shavings solution. And of course, not chemically treated to the point of being ok for an organic farm which can be a pain!

Frank once made himself sore after a night of galloping round the grass track on hard ground.

if you can fit them in the equine podiatry supplies pads are very recommended. (And the owner helpful )

These are the exact ones we buy for her - lovely company.

 

[Birker2020]

Wow what a difference, well done. THanks for sharing.

 

[ester]

Great! I did know you had cavallos I’d forgotten hope she feels better soon

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Poor little mare seems a bit sounder today. Here’s hoping she can go out soon.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Sounder today than yesterday! I so hope we have turned a corner. She is so desperate to go out.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I have now been sent X-rays, which the vet is happy with, but I wondered if anyone else might be interested to take a look. If so, I’ll pm them over.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I would love to see them please.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Well, at least we are not wondering any more!

Any tips for coroner band abscesses? I’ve only dealt with lower in the foot which have had the help of gravity.

I am concerned if I soak and wrap, I could compromise the skin around the coronet band even more.

 

[ycbm]

Hydrogen peroxide 3% squirted in a hard as you can twice a day after tubbing with salt water.

I've never had a problem with one that has come out of the coronet band.
.

 

[Regandal]

Pus, glorious pus! Echo the above, I would put her out too, the movement will help pump out the gunk.

 

[Pinkvboots]

At least you now know why she was so lame so glad that is all it is no idea how to treat on the coronet band, but I would flush it and get her out walking about actually helps it all come out.

I wouldn't cover it just clean it regularly

 

[Tiddlypom]

Tub her 2 or 3 times a day with warm salt water in a shires poultice boot? IME horses tolerate them well, and you can easily fill the boot up high enough to cover the coronet band. I tie horse up with a hay net, put on the poultice boot then add the warm saline.

 

[twiggy2]

I would turn out too, great news though, hopefully it will be easily sorted from here

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Thanks everyone.

My plan is to keep in tonight and withdraw danilon. She has a huge stable and is happily walking around and moving in it.

I will turn out tomorrow in the light of day so I can keep an eye.

I’ll chat to my vet in the morning but my mother in law, who is with me and is a microbiologist and brilliant horsewoman, says she always uses peroxide with the ones that pop out on top because she’s more concerned about the bugs that might get in without a clear draining exit than inhibiting tissue growth/ slowing down healing. Which makes sense to me.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Be wary of dressing the hoof - it's easy to compromise circulation, and before you know it the front of the hoof is sloughing off. Echo not dressing, soak the foot in warm salt water, and turn out if you can. She will be racing around in no time, and may well throw more abscesses as her hooves change shape. Glad it's been a relatively easy fix!

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Vet wants to keep in because of the bruising and blood pooling in the white line which she feels may or may not be related.

I am tubbing but not covering for now, mainly because silly mare is just about flinging her own foot off if I try to wrap it. She seems happier to stand and eat with it in a tub.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Tubbing it and leaving it open to drain in between times should be fine. Glad she's being sensible to tub.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Tubbing it and leaving it open to drain in between times should be fine. Glad she's being sensible to tub.

Yes, so bizarre - fine to stand in a bucket but not prepared to entertain vet wrap ? horses…

 

[LadyGascoyne]

To update this.

My mare got lamer rather than sounder and we had a vet diagnose a DDFT tear based on the X-rays being ok and the fact that the foot didn’t react to testers. She was very reluctant to MRI saying it would be a long trip for the horse, and for me, and a lot of waiting around. She also said she thought the mark on the foot wasn’t an abscess because not much came out and thought it might be a scrape from being silly in the stable. She gave a really poor prognosis.

I got the practice director involved because I wasn’t happy with diagnosing soft tissue damage without scanning. The practice director is absolutely lovely and much more positive although still very realistic. We’ve agreed to treat as if for a DDFT tear, and I can have her MRI’d if I am not happy with the progress. This vet is also keen to get the foot shape addressed as a priority, and has been really supportive of my trimmer’s approach.

So my lovely mare has been on box / pen rest whilst we’ve managed trimming very carefully and used hoof boots with pads to help her to stop crushing her heels.

She is now sound in a walk, looking quite good in a trot in a straight line but still lame on a circle last time we checked (4 weeks ago).

Today, the trimmer came and during the trim revealed this:







Quite far down the hoof from where the original abscess was so it clearly came quite a long way down the inside of the hoof wall. Trimmer removed some old black gunk and we have disinfected it.

So we do know that there was an abscess originally. It may not be the primary cause of lameness but I’m having the vet back out on Wednesday so we can trot up again.

I will update this thread with some foot pics too because they are so much better! Trimmer took some today so I will add once she’s sent them.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

 

[twiggy2]

All looking good so far, can really see the heels and angles changing

 

[Zoeypxo]

Great pictures
Thankyou for sharing

 

[Highmileagecob]

Good to see things are heading in the right direction. Just keep an eye on the white line - I wouldn't like to see it continue stretching. Is the new hoof wall growing in nice and tight, and not flaring? Hopefully, you can start to get her moving now and her hooves will change shape again! Thank you for sharing the photos, it's lovely to see the progression.

 

[ycbm]

LG I'm glad that things are moving in the right direction, but there are things about her rate of progress, the abscess and the current look of her feet they are yelling "metabolic issues" at me. Has she ever been tested for EMS or cushings? If not then I think in your shoes I would test for both.

I hope her progress continues and you can get her sound, she is such a lovely mare.
.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Her hooves look so much better now but it's no wonder that she had soft tissue damage from how they were but you have done an amazing job.

As ycbm said it wouldn't hurt to get her checked for anything metabolic.

I don't know what vets you use but my vets have a practice in Berkshire with an MRI I don't know if your near there at all, if ever you decide to do that you can literally go to any vet if it means a shorter distance to travel.

 

[Landcruiser]

Interesting! Great to see the progress she has made.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

LG I'm glad that things are moving in the right direction, but there are things about her rate of progress, the abscess and the current look of her feet they are yelling "metabolic issues" at me. Has she ever been tested for EMS or cushings? If not then I think in your shoes I would test for both.

I hope her progress continues and you can get her sound, she is such a lovely mare.
.

That might be a good idea. She’s QH x and they tend to have all sorts of metabolic issues, don’t they!

I’m seeing the vet tomorrow so will raise that.

Her hooves look so much better now but it's no wonder that she had soft tissue damage from how they were but you have done an amazing job.

As ycbm said it wouldn't hurt to get her checked for anything metabolic.

I don't know what vets you use but my vets have a practice in Berkshire with an MRI I don't know if your near there at all, if ever you decide to do that you can literally go to any vet if it means a shorter distance to travel.

Thank you, I’ll definitely get in touch if we decide to MRI. This particular vet was saying she’d have to go to London. But even then, it’s not an issue for me or the horse. She’s perfectly easy and I don’t mind a drive. This vet just really didn’t seem to want us to MRI.

 

[Pinkvboots]

That might be a good idea. She’s QH x and they tend to have all sorts of metabolic issues, don’t they!

I’m seeing the vet tomorrow so will raise that.




Thank you, I’ll definitely get in touch if we decide to MRI. This particular vet was saying she’d have to go to London. But even then, it’s not an issue for me or the horse. She’s perfectly easy and I don’t mind a drive. This vet just really didn’t seem to want us to MRI.

If your paying for the mri yourself you can go literally anywhere, my guess is she was referring to the RVC at potters bar thats where alot of referrals go that's only up the road from me as well.