Need some serious help with mares feet

ester said:
rockysmum I'm not sure I have anything more useful to add than others but just wanted to say Frank's shoes came off in March last year.. his feet have changed by themselves soo much! They are really quite clever ;). He is still doing a lot of rebalancing ... his growth lines show that but tbh his feet are pretty unrecognisable to what they were before. So just as an example


He has been lightly trimmed by a UKNCHP trimmer.. who tbh has been as much good for her hand holding as her trimming :D but has remained in work (albeit lighter). We had to do some stone stomping at the weekend to remove ourselves from an oncoming herd of cows situation :rolleyes: and all was fine.
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Thats impressive, thank you :D

Goldenstar said:
Honestly I would give her a break from shoes you can buy boots for the front feet so she can work when your daughter wants to ride her as its my ( admittedly limited) experiance that Bf works best when the horse is in consistent work .but boots will get round this.
The thing is who will trim her the farrier may be great in which case that's easy but if he's not into it and determined that it won't work it much more difficult .
They really can't cope with having their soles and frogs trimmed Bf I swopped to a trimmer but this not easy for every one.
She may well be footsore when you remove the shoes but if they can't live without shoes when not in work you have to face up to the fact there's something not right.
I recommend Nic Barkers book feet first which helped me a lot to get going and the BT on here without whom I would never had started.
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Thank you. Funnily enough I have no worries at all that she will not cope barefoot. I dont think she will notice, she is that sort of horse. The farrier will probably be OK as when he removed my oldies shoes he didn't trim for a couple of months.

I am positive that I will not get away with hoof boots, she will throw a fit. I had to poultice her once, she tolerated it while it was sore. After a couple of days she refused to have it on. She actually kicked it off her front foot with one of her back feet while jumping 3 feet into the air, twice :eek: Scared us all to death.
 
It is always difficult to tell from photos, but those feet look as if they have half an inch of hoof wall height that ought to be coming off to me. Once you get rid of the stilts you'd have half a chance of the feet finding a better angle (I agree, the H/P angle is dire), and widening at the heel where they look pretty contracted.

The easiest way I know to make those changes is to take off the shoes. You can always put them back on if it doesn't go well.
 
rockysmum said:
Thank you, thats really good to know, the farrier is blaming her conformation.

She is currently out during the day and in at night, she gets a net of haylage (provided by yard so cant change that) and a handful of happyhoof (I think its called) with supplements in it. Supplements are glucosomine, biotin and chaste berry.

We are about 8 miles to the North West of Leeds, Wharfe Valley.
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the farrier sounds to me like a bit of an eejit with poor conformation of the brain, no offense OP :eek: :rolleyes:

You are totally right, those pics clearly show, his methods are not working, I am not 'anti shoeing' but generally I do hold with the idea that shoes are not needed, are a financial hiderance and can do significant damage in some cases... I think you are on the road to this with your remidial farrier.

What I do hold with is that while often no harm can be done by a good farrier, great good can be achieved by removing shoes. I doubt that your horse is in enough work to warrent shoes and I reckon that taking them off, paying close heed to the correct diet and regular exercise to promote corrective wear and repair of hooves naturally, would soon see your ned peachy and sound. I am no Oberon, but I would vote for doing away with all metal contraptions in this instance, not necessarily for ever, but certainly for now.
 
rockysmum said:
Thats impressive, thank you :D



Thank you. Funnily enough I have no worries at all that she will not cope barefoot. I dont think she will notice, she is that sort of horse. The farrier will probably be OK as when he removed my oldies shoes he didn't trim for a couple of months.

I am positive that I will not get away with hoof boots, she will throw a fit. I had to poultice her once, she tolerated it while it was sore. After a couple of days she refused to have it on. She actually kicked it off her front foot with one of her back feet while jumping 3 feet into the air, twice :eek: Scared us all to death.
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OMG, thats so 'Ebony' I have lived through that kind of attitude lol!
 
cptrayes said:
It is always difficult to tell from photos, but those feet look as if they have half an inch of hoof wall height that ought to be coming off to me. Once you get rid of the stilts you'd have half a chance of the feet finding a better angle (I agree, the H/P angle is dire), and widening at the heel where they look pretty contracted.

The easiest way I know to make those changes is to take off the shoes. You can always put them back on if it doesn't go well.
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Queenbee said:
the farrier sounds to me like a bit of an eejit with poor conformation of the brain, no offense OP :eek: :rolleyes:

You are totally right, those pics clearly show, his methods are not working, I am not 'anti shoeing' but generally I do hold with the idea that shoes are not needed, are a financial hiderance and can do significant damage in some cases... I think you are on the road to this with your remidial farrier.

What I do hold with is that while often no harm can be done by a good farrier, great good can be achieved by removing shoes. I doubt that your horse is in enough work to warrent shoes and I reckon that taking them off, paying close heed to the correct diet and regular exercise to promote corrective wear and repair of hooves naturally, would soon see your ned peachy and sound. I am no Oberon, but I would vote for doing away with all metal contraptions in this instance, not necessarily for ever, but certainly for now.
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Thank you, decision made, they are coming off at the weekend. Will be trying some of the diet changes too.

Will try to get daughter to ride it more often. I'm afraid riding it myself is not an option. I'm too old and not brave enough, its not exactly an easy ride :o
 
rockysmum said:
LOL, great isn't it. Our girl was described by her vet as "her nemisis" :D:D
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Yes, thats about right :D, Ebs was 'the devil' at one of our yards, much loved, but 'the devil' lol! FYI, regular riding a couple of times a week I have found is sufficient enough on the right terrain to wear the hooves down, and if they look a tad long, go the extra mile on the hack :D Also remember that they seem to naturally wear lower, so its not necessarily that they have worn down too much, more that they have worn down to the appropriate level. Good luck :D Im sure you will be fine :D
 
Queenbee said:
Yes, thats about right :D, Ebs was 'the devil' at one of our yards, much loved, but 'the devil' lol! FYI, regular riding a couple of times a week I have found is sufficient enough on the right terrain to wear the hooves down, and if they look a tad long, go the extra mile on the hack :D Also remember that they seem to naturally wear lower, so its not necessarily that they have worn down too much, more that they have worn down to the appropriate level. Good luck :D Im sure you will be fine :D
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LOL she sounds like she was a real character. I have progressed in the last 5 years to loving this mare from thinking she was the devil :rolleyes: However I do prefer to love her from a distance :D :D
 
rockysmum said:
How :confused::confused::confused:

or is who a better question
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Like this.... :)

OK, its a bit extreme. He had navicular, laminitis didn't help his cause either but this is what happened in 7 months. Very lame but a month turned away and we were already hacking without boots in the new year.

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We also did this by the time the second hoof photo was taken. A very dry season, rough terrain at BRC. We came 3rd. Not bad for a first outing for nearly two years. (excuse me jumping position, I'm rubbish, he does all the hard work, I just sit there :D)

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And this..

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Your mare's feet look like all they need is a good break from those shoes, a decent trim and room for her feet to fit into the hoof :)
 
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Actually, got that wrong looking at dates in my pb account... we were doing the HT exactly one year after going bf so it was a few months after the second hoof photo. Sorry. Slight exagerration there....
 
Queenbee said:
the farrier sounds to me like a bit of an eejit with poor conformation of the brain, no offense OP :eek: :rolleyes:

You are totally right, those pics clearly show, his methods are not working, I am not 'anti shoeing' but generally I do hold with the idea that shoes are not needed, are a financial hiderance and can do significant damage in some cases... I think you are on the road to this with your remidial farrier.

What I do hold with is that while often no harm can be done by a good farrier, great good can be achieved by removing shoes. I doubt that your horse is in enough work to warrent shoes and I reckon that taking them off, paying close heed to the correct diet and regular exercise to promote corrective wear and repair of hooves naturally, would soon see your ned peachy and sound. I am no Oberon, but I would vote for doing away with all metal contraptions in this instance, not necessarily for ever, but certainly for now.
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Love this Queenbee! What a great attitude nice humour :D
 
Thank you everyone for your help and the positive stories.

I have rung the trimmer recommended by Oberon. Hopefully he can come at the weekend :D

Great to have made a decision :D :D
 
they look like normal, but wider (ie steel thicker maybe) shoes with quarter clips to me that have been set back a bit further than normal.

this is an nb shoe.. no clips for a start
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I mostly wanted to post to wish you luck though :D and take lots of pics please :)
 
Some kind of wide web shoe, with quarter clips, set back off the toe with the intention of facilitating an early breakover.
It's not the shoe but the way it's fitted. ;)
I used to be a real shoeing geek but my eyes have been opened in the last 5 years to how the horse can heal the feet all by themselves.

Take lots of pics along the way :)
 
Sorry to report, no pics :o

He got lost, satnav took him into a farm yard. Actually if he had been on a horse he could have come into the yard through the estate, but the van wouldn't go through the hunt gates :D Thats the trouble with a small village, everywhere has the same postcode.

Anyway that meant it was almost dark when he arrived. Will get some after pics tomorrow.

Excellent news, he thinks they can be fixed. There is not much wrong with her diet, except I think I lost him with the amount of supplements she gets. He has recommended one with most of them in, which will make feeding easier :D

He said the problem was mechanical not metabolic, which is good news.

Even more surprising is that she actually liked him. Stood really calmly, picked her feet up before she was asked and actually nuzzled him. Might not seem much but I dont call her "The Beast" for nothing :D

So very impressed so far, will keep you up to date with how she goes :D
 
Todays update. She has been in the field all day without any problems.

Daughter rode her for a short time tonight. Walked across the yard very carefully :D :D first time in her life she looked where she was going instead of searching for monsters to spook at.

Daughter said she was very quiet, shame it wont last once she gets used to barefoot.

Feet look 100% better, so thanks everyone :D :D
 
Thank you

Looking footsore tonight, hobbling around the yard a bit. I am not concerned about this as she has been playing in the field today.

I could buy her some hoof boots to help her over the first weeks but she wouldn't keep them on.

She is only ridden in the school at this time of year anyway.

Her feet seem to be standing up to it OK, no chips or cracks, so looking good.

The trimmer said she would be like this for a while so completely expected.

Looking better on the turns already :D

Will get some pics on Friday, its dark when I get to the yard
 
I led my mare out in-hand for short walks down the lane (smooth tarmac) as soon as she could cope with it. I believe that this really helped her hooves. It's harder at this time of year though.
 
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