Little bits af gravel in unshod hooves..

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charliecrisps

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Mare is unshod. Has been for years (except once when i tried shoes to see if it would improve her naughty behaviour on a hack) But when i was washing her feet last night ( i dont usually or i may have noticed earlier, but she had a touch of thrush) i noticed lots of little bits of gravel lodged on the soft part inside the wall of the hoof. She has been slightly foot sore in the last week and think i may have found the cause. I obviously picked the gravel out but it left little holes, no-doubt that will just get lodged again with gravel. Worried they may work further into the hoof and cause an abcess or something.
Anyone else have this problem? Is there anyway to stop/prevent this without having shoes put on?
 
I have a similar problem with my cobs unshod hinds. He picks up tiny bits of grit in the field and walking in and out. You just need to try and avoid really bad areas and be very vigilant about cleaning the feet out, paying special attention to the white line. I find I can pick most bits out with the hoof pick but do sometimes use a bluntened shoeing nail.

Small indents should be ok but if you start to see a real hole soak out any dirt and then plug with cotton wool dampened with hoof oil until it grows out. Talk to your farrier about this as it may be that you need to go to shoes.
 
Vigilance is the key, if you get them out straight after the ride, they prob wont do damage but if left to get hammered in further they will.....

Dont go to shoes tho, just to hoof boots!! mine wears them in summer, shes fine without in winter. theyre great
 
Sounds like she could have either a little bit of separation or some infection in her white line, as usually this is closed so tightly in barefoot horses that little pieces of stone, gravel and the like can't get in it.

I would scrub her feet with some dilute Hibiscrub two or three times a week and spray with something like Nettex Frog Health disinfectant (both on the frog and on the white line). Try to do some roadwork on smooth tarmac and that should help to harden her feet back up and close the white line up again.

One of ours has some separation at the moment, caused partially by some old flare which is growing out, and partially from the wet ground.
 
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Sounds like she could have either a little bit of separation or some infection in her white line, as usually this is closed so tightly in barefoot horses that little pieces of stone, gravel and the like can't get in it.

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This is what I was thinking too.

Treat the frog and whiteline and you will probably find all will be OK.

Have you wormed recently? I find some footiness after worming? Wierd huh? lol
 
It's normal. My horse has been barefoot for 2 years now and has a tight white line, but picking small stones out is a normal part of the daily routine. They rarely get deeply embedded, it's just a matter of running the hoof pick round each day. You don't want to leave them, as it could introduce white line separation or infection.
 
Both mine have the same prob I just make sure to pick their hooves out twice a day. Luckily they both have v hard feet.
 
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