Lame horse

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ALO

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My horse has been barefoot for just over 3 years now. I made the decision after a foot ddft diagnosis, and he has done well and been sound since. He has suffered from a couple of foot abscesses which had to be dug out by the vet. Last week he seemed a little footy, I put this down to the fact they had just moved fields onto more grass. It resolved over the weekend. Last night he came in hopping lame on his left fore. I suspected another abscess, vet came today and dug at the toe, to my horror he managed to squeeze out horrible grey gunk from his white line when using hoof testers. I know his white line is stretched slightly. He said that grit has got up through because of the stretching. Vet said to poultice. I am worried about how to sort this long term. The vet said to apply iodine to harden up the foot but this doesn't seem like a long term solution. He is fed fast fibre, pro hoof, added mag ox and has 8hours turnout with soaked hay overnight. Does anyone have any advice to help treat/prevent this happening again. I really don't want him to get any worse. Thanks.
 
This happened to my horse and pony after moving where we hacked on a stoney path. Had to have them both shod. My horse had been barefoot for ten years. Just kept shoes on to stop reoccurrence.
 
I did reluctantly suggest this to my vet but he said since all the problems at the back of the foot have now resolved, he really doesn't want to re-shoe unless absolutely necessary.
 
I found that when I changed my horses' diets to BF ones, their whitelines tightened. It sounds like you are feeding good stuff already though.

How much roadwork does your horse do? This is the other thing that I found that greatly tightens hoof capsules.
 
I think that is contributing to the problem. I'm trying my best but I work full time and have been trying to bring my other one back into work which has also been broken so he is only getting out at the weekend, school work in the week. I hate winter 😠
 
Think the only other thing you can do it look even more closely at diet, particularly the minerals and their ratios to each other.

I have 4 horses, all now without shoes (at least for some of the year) one with exactly the same diagnosis as yours. I have been using forage plus balancer for about 18 months now and I can see a difference, also I have now had my forage analysed and am in the process of working out a tailored plan for each of my horses. Have a look at the forage plus website, there is loads of info on there. It may be that your horse needs a slightly altered feeding plan?

btw, one of mine has also had a v similar abscess this week, think it is the weather as much as anything! Def. won't be putting shoes on her tho' ;)
 
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