Hooves what do you think??

ILuvCowparsely

ILuvCowparsely

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Ok bear with me on this .

Said horse has a few issues, I wont go into detail at first as I would like to see if the feet buffs can say anything about these feet which might be playing a part in the problem.

The horse has been treated by a vet for one of the problem and has advised this horse have his feet done every 5 weeks to keep them shorter.
He did have a bad farrier originally which caused major problems for this horse and another.

He was barefoot for a while (10 years) of his life since birth now 13 but then shod on vets advice and becoming footy and also farrier advised it. Shoeing was great for a while and the footiness and the hind foot problem improved. Then found a great farrier who shod for a while but then went back to the army. Now had this recent farrier for a while and seemed fine but 2 shoeing ago horse got nail prick and vet called, hoof tested and removed the suspect nail, put on bute two days and third day seemed fine. The next shoeing did not cause lameness at first but during the next 24 hrs got uncomfortable so called vet and said horse would not trot and seemed to be walking on hot coal. Pulse slightly in one foot but not throbbing, vet was said no alarm bells but soak his hay 24 hrs as he is over weight(due to time off) kept him on box rest 2 days with bute then the Monday seemed more comfortable. Horse had not reacted to hoof testers either, but after shoeing loads of chunks had come out of the hoof wall of which some are obvious in these pictures just taken now 10 weeks since the chunks came out. Vet said his feet were dry so I started Kevin Bacon, said horse is also on F4F.

Said horse is kept on a controlled diet due to injury in past and therefore is coming back into work, hacked twice a week. Vet advices no schooling as this was the one place one of the issues was aggravated. The horse gets no grain and does not need grain in his diet as he is sharp without it.

I have made an excuse to cancel the next shoeing and have now managed to get a farrier lots of people use in this area and is highly sort after and good. :) He had one look and said his walls are thin (something he never had before)Here are some pictures of his hooves http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/HGA-12/library/Hooves?sort=3&page=1

Can I also add the farrier who I have left used hind shoes on the front in case peeps think this is all the hind feet pictures.
 
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Can you get the shoes off and use Cleantrax on the feet? Crumbling and black round the nail holes like that is indicative of infection, but you cant really treat it while the shoes are on. Kevin Bacon is mainly lard. Painting things on the outside wont help with the crumbling. You could try soaking in diluted Milton. It wont be as effective with shoes on, but it may help.

There are better balancers than F4F as well. I use Pro Hoof, but a lot of people have had good results with Forage Plus. Does he get salt? If not I'd be adding a table spoon of that. I'd also be feeding linseed and mag ox/mag chloride.

I've had horrible problems with my new boy and his feet, culminating in him ending up at horsepital for 2 days to try and get his feet right. Hes on the mend now, but it was Cleantraxing him that finally cleared the infection, and hes not shod and we had been aggressively treating it for quite a while before hand. So def worth trying, even if you put the shoes back on afterwards
 
Hi No vets already checked and no infection, he does have salt he has a Himalayan one full time in his stable. New farrier has booked us in for the 21st as he is away for a short break. Will def look in to any other good hoof supplements.
 
Horses dont get enough salt from a salt lick so its always worth supplementing. Not sure how the vet can say theres no infection though?! Crumbling, cracking and black round the nail holes is infection. Almost every shod horse I see has infection to some degree. Its probably what is causing the thin walls.

This isnt the best link but it does have photos showing crumbling and cracking caused by infection:

http://www.naturalfarrier.com/white line disease .html
 
Sorry just a quick q, why did the vet say to chuck shoes on?

Did you look at the diet for the reason for the first footiness?

Also is the only work he is doing two hacks a week?
 
dianchi said:
Sorry just a quick q, why did the vet say to chuck shoes on?

Did you look at the diet for the reason for the first footiness?

Also is the only work he is doing two hacks a week?
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He has had shoes on 2 years He was doing many a sponsored ride and could not cope being BF,and due to previous farrier he kept wearing his feet down outside high and inside too low putting his back out, diet was nothing to do with his footy-ness as I had a tailor diet for him. There are many things he cannot have due to him being easy to explode.

Yes the only work he is doing at the moment is 2 hacks about 1 hr long with 2 1 minute trots
that is becasue he did his tendon sheath last year and was injected. Then came back slowly into 1 hr hacks for 4 weeks when I broke my humerus in Nov coming off him(down to a livery being stupid). I have only just started riding again after 8 1/2 months, then he started coming back into work when he tweaked it. So now coming back into work again. Vet gives us the do and don'ts with his work timing. We will add another hack in next week and so on a few weeks later building up back to 6 days a week.
 
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I used to use Farrier's Formula as swore by it but then had forage analysed and switched to Pro Hoof (no added iron). I had a horse imported with really poor feet-thrush and WLD as evidenced by the crumbly texture. all of mine get pro-hoof and salt added to feed, this horse gets linseed but the pony does not. Their feet are fab right now-the horse has been here two months and the new hoof growth looks really good-am very pleased, both barefoot.
 
ester said:
I also wondered how the vet could say no infection was present unless he took shoes off?
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I think she was just going by the pulse and the fact he improved lameness way, in fairness she did say we would know more if we took the shoe off.
In light of him feeling more comfortable I said leave it but now wish I had done it hey ho!!!
I will get the farrier who as I said is very good to do him next as last time I wanted him he was not accepting new people.
 
FrankieCob said:
Can you get the shoes off and use Cleantrax on the feet? Crumbling and black round the nail holes like that is indicative of infection, but you cant really treat it while the shoes are on. Kevin Bacon is mainly lard. Painting things on the outside wont help with the crumbling. You could try soaking in diluted Milton. It wont be as effective with shoes on, but it may help.

There are better balancers than F4F as well. I use Pro Hoof, but a lot of people have had good results with Forage Plus. Does he get salt? If not I'd be adding a table spoon of that. I'd also be feeding linseed and mag ox/mag chloride.

I've had horrible problems with my new boy and his feet, culminating in him ending up at horsepital for 2 days to try and get his feet right. Hes on the mend now, but it was Cleantraxing him that finally cleared the infection, and hes not shod and we had been aggressively treating it for quite a while before hand. So def worth trying, even if you put the shoes back on afterwards
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What result did you find with pro Hoof???
 
Brilliant :) I bought my current horse about 10 weeks ago and changed his diet the day I got him. He is growing a LOT of foot his mane and tail are growing like a weed! Hes hogged and I'm having to re do it every fortnight as hes growing so much hair. His coat is glossy and shiny, and even better, he has gone from being a chronic but well controlled sweet itch pony to being sweet itch free! He used to bite his own stomach and be dangerous to handle as he was so itchy. Now goes out with no rugs and doesnt itch at all :)

I also used it on my other horse when I got him. I posted pics on Progressive Earths facebook page as the difference in his feet was visible even in full shot photos. He grew more foot, in a much better shape, and he had good feet to start with. Its not just pro hoof though you need a low sugar diet, and salt. Linseed is good as well. It costs me about £30 a month for all the supplements, but he only gets a handful of fast fibre with them so it works out cheaper than feeding him a lot of hard feed, and def works out cheaper than keeping him retirement and shod as his feet hurt :)

I strongly believe that most of the problems with feet are diet based. The vet has been to see him today to give him the all clear to come back into work and they were astounded in the improvement in his feet. The cuts he has are all healed, and the hair is growing back already :)
 
HGA-12 said:
I think she was just going by the pulse and the fact he improved lameness way, in fairness she did say we would know more if we took the shoe off.
In light of him feeling more comfortable I said leave it but now wish I had done it hey ho!!!
I will get the farrier who as I said is very good to do him next as last time I wanted him he was not accepting new people.
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Just be aware that some farriers think its normal to have crumbly feet and infection. My boys feet were so bad he was lame over gritty tarmac in shoes as the infection was so chronic, he also spent a lot of time laying down, and everyone used to laugh about Bailey and his naps. No one thought to ask why he was laid down such a lot :( His old owner thought the farrier was god like as the shoes never came off. To give him his due, he welded those shoes on! But never mentioned the chronic lameness and heel pain mine had.
 
My boys farrier had won awards and even has his own slot on TV. As I said, to give him his due he deserved a medal for his shoeing as nothing would have got them off! He'd even developed a way of nailing them on further forward as my boy had NO heel at all, so he couldnt put shoes on normally! I think a lot of farriers approach shoeing from the point of view of keeping a shoe on and the horse in work, not necessarily from the point of view of whats best for the horse long term. So talk to the farrier, but make sure you look objectively at the feet yourself and do as much reading as you can. You dont have to go barefoot, its not for everyone, but reading barefoot related articles can help you get your eye in with regards to good feet :)
 
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