Aoibhinn
Well-Known Member
Hi all. Well, I'll start at the beginning. I bought a new horse at the end of April '14. He is a 16.1h Thoroughbred x Connemara 11 year old gelding. He had a few grass cracks, which looking back at, should have been warning enough, but his feet were in good enough condition. His previous owner had only been working him 3-4 times a week as she didn't have the time.
So I started working him for 5-6 days a week and that's when the trouble started. In June he overreached while I was riding and pulled a shoe. This took away bits of the hoof wall. I got my farrier out (he also shod this horse for 5 years for the previous owner) and he put it back on and he was perfect. Then I went to pony camp the first week of July and by the Wednesday morning I thought he felt a bit footy. By Wednesday evening he had pulled the shoe on his left foot, the opposite to the one he had already pulled. I got a farrier out that evening who put it back on for me. Then by the Friday evening he was still tender on it.
I talked to my instructor who recommended hot shoeing him and feeding him Farriers Formula. We were going away the following Monday so organised for our farrier to hot shoe him while we were away. He came out and hot shod the horse on the 18th of July and when I arrived back on the 21st he was lame on it, worse than what he had been before the hot shoeing.
So I rang my farrier and he came out the following day (22nd July) to have a look at him. Then he decided to build up the hoof with a synthetic material, Equilox I think, and try and get the hoof growing because at this stage there was very little to nail the shoe to. So he built up the hoof wall and put half the nails into the hoof and the other half into this fake material. The horse was still lame after this so he came out the following Monday (28th July) and took the nails out of the hoof and put them all into the Equilox.
We decided that he was just bare so we were giving the hoof a chance to grow before doing anything else with it but by the Sunday (3rd August) his tendons were swollen and hot and he could barely walk.
My dad rang his vet and asked him to come out and have a look at him which he did. As he wasn't specifically trained in horses he pared him back too much (Drew blood) looking for the infection, which they did find. He gave me a course of Noroprim to put the horse on for a week. The swelling and heat went but he was still lame. We came to the conclusion that he was lame because he was so bare and put him out to grass where it was softer.
Then Thursay (28th August) people said to is that maybe we should get him xrayed in case the problem was inside the foot or in his leg (left fore). So we brought him to a vet hospital Saturday morning (30th August) and got him xrayed from all angles. Thankfully, the vet said to us that his foot is perfectly normal he is just too bare and that's why he's still lame. Saying this, he has improved considerably since the start of August. At the beginning he was barely walking but now he can walk on grass and there is just a faint lameness. Once he goes any faster or on concrete it is noticeable though.
Which brings me to my dilemma. It is impossible to put a shoe on him at the moment as this will just set him back again. The vet recommended we get a hoof boot for him and I was trying to decide on the best one to get. I found Equiboots, Cavallo boots and Equi trail boots and am unsure what type to purchase. If anyone had any feedback on any type of boot and where it can be purchased I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much for reading!
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So I started working him for 5-6 days a week and that's when the trouble started. In June he overreached while I was riding and pulled a shoe. This took away bits of the hoof wall. I got my farrier out (he also shod this horse for 5 years for the previous owner) and he put it back on and he was perfect. Then I went to pony camp the first week of July and by the Wednesday morning I thought he felt a bit footy. By Wednesday evening he had pulled the shoe on his left foot, the opposite to the one he had already pulled. I got a farrier out that evening who put it back on for me. Then by the Friday evening he was still tender on it.
I talked to my instructor who recommended hot shoeing him and feeding him Farriers Formula. We were going away the following Monday so organised for our farrier to hot shoe him while we were away. He came out and hot shod the horse on the 18th of July and when I arrived back on the 21st he was lame on it, worse than what he had been before the hot shoeing.
So I rang my farrier and he came out the following day (22nd July) to have a look at him. Then he decided to build up the hoof with a synthetic material, Equilox I think, and try and get the hoof growing because at this stage there was very little to nail the shoe to. So he built up the hoof wall and put half the nails into the hoof and the other half into this fake material. The horse was still lame after this so he came out the following Monday (28th July) and took the nails out of the hoof and put them all into the Equilox.
We decided that he was just bare so we were giving the hoof a chance to grow before doing anything else with it but by the Sunday (3rd August) his tendons were swollen and hot and he could barely walk.
My dad rang his vet and asked him to come out and have a look at him which he did. As he wasn't specifically trained in horses he pared him back too much (Drew blood) looking for the infection, which they did find. He gave me a course of Noroprim to put the horse on for a week. The swelling and heat went but he was still lame. We came to the conclusion that he was lame because he was so bare and put him out to grass where it was softer.
Then Thursay (28th August) people said to is that maybe we should get him xrayed in case the problem was inside the foot or in his leg (left fore). So we brought him to a vet hospital Saturday morning (30th August) and got him xrayed from all angles. Thankfully, the vet said to us that his foot is perfectly normal he is just too bare and that's why he's still lame. Saying this, he has improved considerably since the start of August. At the beginning he was barely walking but now he can walk on grass and there is just a faint lameness. Once he goes any faster or on concrete it is noticeable though.
Which brings me to my dilemma. It is impossible to put a shoe on him at the moment as this will just set him back again. The vet recommended we get a hoof boot for him and I was trying to decide on the best one to get. I found Equiboots, Cavallo boots and Equi trail boots and am unsure what type to purchase. If anyone had any feedback on any type of boot and where it can be purchased I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much for reading!
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