Long Toe - Lameness

[Gloi]

Your horse has atrophied digital cushions which need to rebuild. This article is worth reading.

The Healthy Hoof - What You Should Know About the Digital Cushion

What Is The Digital Cushion? The digital cushion is a wedge-shaped pad composed of fibrocartilage and fat. This elastic cushion is located between the frog, heel bulbs, deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), and the lateral cartilages above the heel bulbs. White box - Digital Cushion Red arrows -...

rivasremedies.com

 

[Pinkvboots]

Thing is if his lame on hard ground his lame it's just he is a bit more comfortable on the soft, I would just give him a bit of time off in the field horses don't care if they are ridden or not.

Bruised soles or any bruising to the hooves take ages because horses spend 99% of their life standing so they don't get rested, they can rest one foot at a time but it's in their nature to naturally move about.

One of mine has coffin joint arthritis and he can go a bit footy and uncomfortable especially on hard ground, when he does I just give him time to rest and keep him off hard ground as much as possible.

I know your getting exasperated with the barefoot comments but we have been through it and we are only trying to help you.

But if your vet thinks the feet are good now with the new farrier stick with it but don't rush it or you will be back to square one.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Your horse has atrophied digital cushions which need to rebuild. This article is worth reading.

The Healthy Hoof - What You Should Know About the Digital Cushion

What Is The Digital Cushion? The digital cushion is a wedge-shaped pad composed of fibrocartilage and fat. This elastic cushion is located between the frog, heel bulbs, deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), and the lateral cartilages above the heel bulbs. White box - Digital Cushion Red arrows -...

rivasremedies.com

Such a brilliant article it explains it so simply thanks for posting that, I think sometimes we just look at the hoof itself and not the surrounding part of the leg but it's so important to recognise it.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I agree lame on hard ground is lame. Regardless of shod or barefoot.

My boy has got rock hard feet that have never seen a shoe and now something has changed and he’s been Lame since the end of Nov. Vets been out and thinks that initially he has bruised his feet and now that’s led to something else. We are now at the X-rays and bloods stage which I’m hoping shows us what’s going on. We have friend various different things up until now.

The one thing I have taken from loads of reading is to not chop the toes, if the horse is long in the toe it’s telling you something as when you look at my boys feet his backs are a lovely shape and the fronts the toes are longer and that’s the feet he’s sore on.

I’m realising that we have had grumbling feet issues for a while that I just thought were too much roadwork for the feet but hey you live and learn.

I wouldn’t be happy to chop away at the toes and whack shoes on, that’s not solving an issue it’s masking it. The feet are telling you something, I wasn’t listening either and now I’ve got a lame 5yr old on box rest.

 

[ycbm]

This horse has been lame since October 17th and has seriously corrupted, weak feet. It has history from several years back of injections into the front feet. And as yet it doesn't appear that the vet has even suggested x rays would be a good idea. Unless we're not getting the full story, the owner appears to be being let down by a vet who doesn't know enough about feet and a farrier who thinks he does.
.

 

[Goldenstar]

You certainly need to know what’s going on in feet like those in the pictures .
That means nerve blocks X-rays and perhaps an mri scan .
I find it hard to believe vets have repeatedly injected the coffin joint with out a set of X-rays .
IF this horse came here to live I would firstly collect information through diagnostic work and then in all likelihood remove the shoes and go down that route .

 

[lynz88]

Urghhh he is not going barefoot
I also have a good farrier
The vet doesn’t believe there is an underlying issue.
It could simply just be that the old farrier took his eye off the ball, didn’t trim properly which resulted in imbalance, then impacted the heels causing them to shear, he was too long in the toe and they changed him into shoes that made him lamer along with nailbind.

So I’ve had 2 vets assess, I’ve also changed my farrier. I think we’re on the right track. But thanks.

There is a lot of good advice here, and I suggest taking it seriously instead of huffing and puffing. I took mine barefoot after vet and initially the farrier were skeptical and tried all sorts of remedial shoes and wedges and gadgets. It's been a long road and been through several farriers in the meantime but vet is impressed at how mine now strides out (when he's not done something silly in the field and hurt himself). I think I am finally getting somewhere with newest trimmer as I've noticed major changes in all 4 frogs and have much shorter feet all around including a widening of the frogs and the central sulcus.

Yours looks like he needs time off and a careful and slow rehab plan. The horse needs to strengthen his feet and IMO shoes don't exactly do that, unfortunately. It's a bit like sitting on the sofa and wondering why you don't have any muscles or cardio strength. I would be insisting on radiographs, looking at diet and revising, and going barefoot if it were mine.

 

[Landcruiser]

Your horse has atrophied digital cushions which need to rebuild. This article is worth reading.

The Healthy Hoof - What You Should Know About the Digital Cushion

What Is The Digital Cushion? The digital cushion is a wedge-shaped pad composed of fibrocartilage and fat. This elastic cushion is located between the frog, heel bulbs, deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), and the lateral cartilages above the heel bulbs. White box - Digital Cushion Red arrows -...

rivasremedies.com

Thank you, that's a really brilliant, simple, clear explanation, which I shall share in future. Owner education (or lack of it) about what a healthy hoof looks like is so important and so often lacking. So many people (and I was once one of them) hand over hoof care to a farrier or trimmer and think their own responsibility ends with that. And that's why you can go to almost any livery yard, or pitch up at any horse event in the country and see real life examples of poor hooves like the ones in the article (and this thread).
Hooves are the foundation of a horse - no foot, no horse. Vets are not hoof experts (they have very little training with hooves, and what they do have is assuming shod hooves, which are by definition not "functional" hooves). This is improving, to be fair.
Most farriers are also assuming shod, and their priority is keeping the hooves in shoes - and ignoring the underlying pathology as long as they can get a shoe to stay on. Some of the crumbling, long toe low heel feet I have seen with shoes on are IMO welfare issues and the farriers banging those shoes every few weeks on should be at the very least sacked.

OP, you have said several times that taking shoes off isn't going to happen. May I ask why that is, exactly?

 

[Zoeypxo]

He has previously had his coffin joints infected I suspect 3-5 years ago. He’s been with me for 1.5 years… his owners suggest treating these before X-rays.

In your previous post you say his owners, is he on loan to you?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Your horse has atrophied digital cushions which need to rebuild. This article is worth reading.

The Healthy Hoof - What You Should Know About the Digital Cushion

What Is The Digital Cushion? The digital cushion is a wedge-shaped pad composed of fibrocartilage and fat. This elastic cushion is located between the frog, heel bulbs, deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), and the lateral cartilages above the heel bulbs. White box - Digital Cushion Red arrows -...

rivasremedies.com

This is why I love this forum. What an interesting link, thanks Gloi.

 

[Surbie]

Your horse has atrophied digital cushions which need to rebuild. This article is worth reading.

The Healthy Hoof - What You Should Know About the Digital Cushion

What Is The Digital Cushion? The digital cushion is a wedge-shaped pad composed of fibrocartilage and fat. This elastic cushion is located between the frog, heel bulbs, deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), and the lateral cartilages above the heel bulbs. White box - Digital Cushion Red arrows -...

rivasremedies.com

Really good article, thank you.

 

[spotty_pony2]

I haven’t read all of the replies - I’d be getting an mri scan done on both front feet. Ultrasound will not show damage to the DDFT in the hoof onto the leg as it cannot penetrate that deeply.

 

[Glitter is Fun]

I haven’t read all of the replies - I’d be getting an mri scan done on both front feet. Ultrasound will not show damage to the DDFT in the hoof onto the leg as it cannot penetrate that deeply.

There are two threads about this. The other one has been updated.

Thrush, Sheared heels, hoof imbalance - Lameness

Just thought I would update: We do not feel the mild navicular is the problem. He came in lame from the field on the weekend and He had Heat in the hoof. After lots of consideration I spoke to the vet and asked to arrange an MRI. We are booked in on Monday. He wanted to understand my thought...

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