mrussell
Well-Known Member
Couple of words of warning here... and playing devils advocaat for a while (spelt wrong on purpose....).
Horse 1. we had a horse diagnosed with coffin joint changes and caudal heel pain. Rossdales spent the whole £5k on therapeutic shoes before telling me to shoot him. He was crippled throughout the year of treatment. We were told NOT to go barefoot as he has micro thin soles and would not survive. This was whilst they had insurnce money to spend though. Him surviving was not an issue when the money was gone. I moved to Cytek (not everyones cup of tea) and he was sound after one shoeing. Yes he was forvere 10 to 2 in front end and had spavins behind but the shoe protected the sole and he is still with me some 9 years on. He still jumps with hubby at home and can bomb up the fields like a mad man.
If I wasnt insured would they have given me the advice not to go barefoot ? No. I suspect not.
Horse 2. Elderly mare who had has a suspensory branch rupture, recovered, a 2 superficial tendon tears that also recovered well. She was 17 when her first tear occured. She had excellent feet. Good heels. No lameness ever. We wanted to retire her. The vet came out and said yes, shoes off, away she goes. We used a very respected trimmer who knew his stuff and kept other horses barefoot in the area with no issues. Despite growing hoof in a completely new shape and angle with soles like rhinobums, she was never happy without shoes. She redid a leg in an unrelated incident and was PTS.
Had she been insured would the vet have said yes, whip them off and chuck her out ? No, I suspect not.
Horse 3. Idiot TB who has poor feet and rips off shoes like billy-oh. Due to years of poor shoeing we inherited a horse with collapsed heels. He fractured a pedal bone and went to Newmarket Equine Hospital who decided that the way forward to to raise the heels with wedges. They promptly collapsed. We got to about £3k of insurance after bone scans and 2 sets of wedge heels by their own farrier and I asked my own vet for a candid opinion. He came out, took one look and said he would NEVER have been wedge heels on this horse. He said we would never get him truly sound. We found a workable solution with out own farrier but are now trying the Cytek route with him and although hes barefoot behind, he has stopped tripping and stumbling, the slowly growing swelling on his front fetlock has all but gone and his slight knee swelling has gone totally. When we asked the vets at NEH about going barefoot they said it would probabably void further insurance payouts as we would be going against their advice. NFU said this was tosh.
Just a few things to think about.
A specialist can take a snap shot of your horse, tell you where is differs from the majority of horses considered healthy for its age weight and makeup.
They can then offer you a range of treatments.
They are at the end of the day, businesses who rely on trade to pay bills. They also rely on cases to build further knowledge.
YOU know your horse. Dont be afraid to step away from the orthodox.
Not sure Ive helped there TBH but its curious how most advice we were given was based around what "should" be the "normal" and would money we had.
Horse 1. we had a horse diagnosed with coffin joint changes and caudal heel pain. Rossdales spent the whole £5k on therapeutic shoes before telling me to shoot him. He was crippled throughout the year of treatment. We were told NOT to go barefoot as he has micro thin soles and would not survive. This was whilst they had insurnce money to spend though. Him surviving was not an issue when the money was gone. I moved to Cytek (not everyones cup of tea) and he was sound after one shoeing. Yes he was forvere 10 to 2 in front end and had spavins behind but the shoe protected the sole and he is still with me some 9 years on. He still jumps with hubby at home and can bomb up the fields like a mad man.
If I wasnt insured would they have given me the advice not to go barefoot ? No. I suspect not.
Horse 2. Elderly mare who had has a suspensory branch rupture, recovered, a 2 superficial tendon tears that also recovered well. She was 17 when her first tear occured. She had excellent feet. Good heels. No lameness ever. We wanted to retire her. The vet came out and said yes, shoes off, away she goes. We used a very respected trimmer who knew his stuff and kept other horses barefoot in the area with no issues. Despite growing hoof in a completely new shape and angle with soles like rhinobums, she was never happy without shoes. She redid a leg in an unrelated incident and was PTS.
Had she been insured would the vet have said yes, whip them off and chuck her out ? No, I suspect not.
Horse 3. Idiot TB who has poor feet and rips off shoes like billy-oh. Due to years of poor shoeing we inherited a horse with collapsed heels. He fractured a pedal bone and went to Newmarket Equine Hospital who decided that the way forward to to raise the heels with wedges. They promptly collapsed. We got to about £3k of insurance after bone scans and 2 sets of wedge heels by their own farrier and I asked my own vet for a candid opinion. He came out, took one look and said he would NEVER have been wedge heels on this horse. He said we would never get him truly sound. We found a workable solution with out own farrier but are now trying the Cytek route with him and although hes barefoot behind, he has stopped tripping and stumbling, the slowly growing swelling on his front fetlock has all but gone and his slight knee swelling has gone totally. When we asked the vets at NEH about going barefoot they said it would probabably void further insurance payouts as we would be going against their advice. NFU said this was tosh.
Just a few things to think about.
A specialist can take a snap shot of your horse, tell you where is differs from the majority of horses considered healthy for its age weight and makeup.
They can then offer you a range of treatments.
They are at the end of the day, businesses who rely on trade to pay bills. They also rely on cases to build further knowledge.
YOU know your horse. Dont be afraid to step away from the orthodox.
Not sure Ive helped there TBH but its curious how most advice we were given was based around what "should" be the "normal" and would money we had.
she had nothing sinister on her xrays but sadly I couldnt afford to pay the required amount for an MRI to confirm exactly what and tbh I knew I would take her shoes off to treat it anyway. She had horrible front feet, no heels, flat soles, terrible angle and an attept at a 'remedial' shoeing job with natural balance shoes had made her worse, not better. In hindsight she had always had 'sensitive' feet and actually that was probably a sign a long while back that things weren't right, I do wish I had done something then. I pulled her shoes, did many an hour walking her on difference surfaces to stimulate the frog and get everything working properly again. 8 weeks and 2 trims later she was sound and I was back on board, albeit just in walk due to her pregnancy and lack of fitness. Her soft, thin soles are now brick hard, her frogs are twice the size they were and her foot angle is greatly improved. I was already planing to take a foal from her anyway so we covered her, continued with her walking and then put her out in the field. She looks super now, has totally different looking feet and has remained sound in the field. I'm sure the time turned away will help her but I firmly believe that the time spent with her shoes off actually working her was the best thing I could have done. I have no concerns about bringing her back into work next year, and no plans to shoe her.
