Need help with hoof injury/lamness

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ktrouble144

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I have a great three day eventing mare, last October we were going to our first horse trial and she became very irritable about her feet so we cancelled. We then noticed her feet were bit on the long side for her but average for most horses, (she is used to having short feet) so we had a farrier come out. The farrier did an absolute crap job, her hooves were cut uneven and like rolling hills rather than a O. So we found a new farrier who does absolutely wonderfully and she just got her feet trimmed two weeks ago to the white line. The farrier said she might be sore for a bit until her hooves grow out. But he said it would help the circulation for her to do walk work, so I did. This past Friday I got finished with my mare and checked her feet because she tripped three times from overstepping. I picked up her left front foot and noticed she had a bruise on the back part of her frog, a little on her bulbs and up to her coronary band. Like the following pictures.(bear with me, I have no photos yet but I will get some tomorrow) There is very mild heat and a tiny bit a swelling and she reacts a little by twitching her hoof when I press on it. I am pretty sure it is the bruise making her lame. She never had her hooves overly long while exercising or training to cause navicular. As soon as her feet were noticed to be too long all activity stopped. My farrier and vet have complimented me on how healthy, dry, and clean her hooves are. She will walk, trot, canter in the pasture on her own free will and show no signs of pain or discomfort but shows signs of lameness in the trot. Although about 10% of the time she'll have one or two clean trotting strides. The only other thing I can think of is pulling her shoes. She got them for the first time in March, but I don't think that would be it or then she would probably be dead lame. So far to help her with her bruise I have put on a oil/gel that gives an area a cooling effect and reduces swelling, I also plan on soaking her feet in salt water for 15 minutes 3 times a day aswell as icing the coronary band twice a day on and off every 10 minutes for forty minutes. I will also hand walk her 4 times a day for 20 minutes for circulation as well as message the non-bruise coronary band to increase circulation. If you might know if this is the cause of the lameness, treatments to help, or how long it might take to heal please let me know. We have vet coming out soon, I just want to know if this is it or not to know if I should be even more worried. Here are the edited photos http://oi61.tinypic.com/4q61yf.jpg http://oi59.tinypic.com/2guwryr.jpg
 
You have a three day event mare who was shod for the first time in March this year? Why was she shod if she has been three day eventing without shoes?
 
Well it sounds like she's not used to the shoes and she's given herself an overrreach with a hind foot. Standing in cold running water will help, but it's a matter of time.

I'd question why your farrier thinks it's a good idea to lame a horse by trimming it so short when he shoes it though.
 
Her feet grow irregularly her left grows faster than the right so he had to take a bit off the get them even again and so it wouldn't mess up her back. She over reached even without shoes but I'm tempted to get them pulled in two weeks and see if she does better. She was lame before the trim too because another farrier messed up her feet.
 
ktrouble144 said:
Her feet grow irregularly her left grows faster than the right so he had to take a bit off the get them even again and so it wouldn't mess up her back. She over reached even without shoes but I'm tempted to get them pulled in two weeks and see if she does better. She was lame before the trim too because another farrier messed up her feet.
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Having one foot too short seems an odd excuse to butcher the other one.
 
I think your mare is very lucky to have an owner who takes so much care about her horse's feet!

If you're not totally anti barefoot, read up on the rockley farm stuff. I was blown away last week by the discussions of deviation vs. flare and how horses balance themselves. This could tie in with why one hoof grows more than the other - it might simply suit her at this moment in time.

I'm carrying heavy guilt for allowing trimmers years ago to "perfect" hoof shape rather than a more natural way. All I can say in my defence is that I thought I was doing the best I could.
 
My mare is a co-own, the other owner suggested the trimming to the farrier before I had a chance to talk to her about it. Before then the farrier was taking a little off at a time trying to help her get sound again. I like my farrier now, he knows she is pigeon toed and stated she will never be straight but she will be sound. The last guy over trimmed her on her inside hooves to try and straighten her, which was absolutely moronic.
 
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It is a fundamental rule - a horse should never walk away from a trim or shoeing less sound than they were before the trim/shoeing.
 
Well she wasn't sound before or after, I'm probably going to end up pulling her shoes and starting over with her barefoot again. The only problem is we only have like 4 farriers in the area.
 
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