Pics of My TBs awful feet

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wiglet

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I posted last week about my TBs terrible hooves and received lots of helpful advice about how to improve her diet. I have begun to implement the new sugar free diet. She doesn't like it but will hopefully get to like it :)

As promised, here are a few pics of the feet. I did post these on the original thread but that was just before the weekend and nobody saw or commented...or maybe you were all bored with me :)

Her worst hoof is her off side hind - front view

Side view

Sole

There is lots of infection in the upper right area of the frog - it doesn't really show up on the pic but the sole and frog are virtually level with each other.

Comments?

Other hooves are a little better - this is her front - still a flat TB hoof...


Hopefully these pics are good enough to see the damage - I can get more if necessary.
 
I can't help with the feet as I'm a newbie taking on barefoot before mine get too bad. One is a flat footed TB. The only difference is mine have been in the diet for a good bit now so good foot quality. They just need to strengthen up. But what I wanted to say was that they will eventually eat they're unprocessed food! Mine were like, no way, that's not food! Trust me they give in. Don't lose hope.

Terri
 
Oh my! They are really bad! Can I ask what your TB was eating?

I have 3 TB's, all are on high fibre, low sugar and starch diets and have cracking feet. I fed the same diet more or less before going b/f and always got comments from farriers on the quality of their feet. Diet really is so important.

It'll take a while for that to grow out but it'll be worth it :)
 
Didn't see the pics on the other thread.

These are some very sick feet, as I'm sure you've realised. The whole foot is flared - there's no sign of any good connection anywhere on the foot. The heels are underrun and collapsed, the soles are undoubtedly thin, and the hoof wall quality is poor (though really that's the least of your worries, I'm afraid).

Resolving the diet is a good start, but these feet desparately need a break from shoes.

How sound is the horse? If you can I would get x-rays done, as I'm a bit concerned about the location and condition of p3.
 
My TB Boys feet are not as bad but very similar, never had problems before but the last 6 months they have become awful, to the point shoes are coming off as they had very little to nail/grip to. He has been on the same feed for the last 3 1/2 years so pretty sure nothing to do with diet.
Farrier has been seeing a spate of this recently and is putting it down to the weather. I have started using Kevin Bacon hoof moisturiser as soon as I see a crack forming which does seem to be making a difference, I don't normally buy into this type of thing as I agree it should be an inside out approach and they are designed to self manage but I got desperate. Maybe worth a try and good luck x
 
Amo said:
My TB Boys feet are not as bad but very similar, never had problems before but the last 6 months they have become awful, to the point shoes are coming off as they had very little to nail/grip to. He has been on the same feed for the last 3 1/2 years so pretty sure nothing to do with diet.
Farrier has been seeing a spate of this recently and is putting it down to the weather. I have started using Kevin Bacon hoof moisturiser as soon as I see a crack forming which does seem to be making a difference, I don't normally buy into this type of thing as I agree it should be an inside out approach and they are designed to self manage but I got desperate. Maybe worth a try and good luck x
Click to expand...

Poor feet very rarely have nothing to do with diet.
 
It's not down to the weather. Strangely enough, some friends were having a conversation about this at a clinic recently. Obviously it was a coincidence, but the people whose horses had problems with cracking and chipping were those with farriers in charge of hoof care. I think all of them had been told it was just down to "the weather and what a strange year it's been".
Strangely enough, the bare-hoof horses had very little problems. I was carefully rasping away at a tiny little half-inch chip that had developed on one of my boy's hooves and kicking myself for not keeping up the maintenance...!
Now of course that is a complete coincidence. I would never lump all farriers in together in any context.
Op, I'm sure the Barefoot Taliban will be along in a minute to confirm what you already know about the stat of your horse's hooves. And I see that you're already working on diet.
What I'd be interested to know is - what advice has your farrier been giving to try to improve this situation?
Of course, some might have been tempted to use wraps for a while to let the feet grow a bit and recover, without continuing to hammer nails in... ;-)
 
TwoStroke said:
Poor feet very rarely have nothing to do with diet.
Click to expand...

I am quite new to this so would be interested in your thoughts on his diet if you don't mind (Sorry for hijakling the thread)
At he moment he has Beet and Pony Nuts twice a day, plus a hand full (and a mean handfull) of Traditional Mix and Ready Mash in the evening (I have to give him some when I feed the older boy otherwise all hell breaks loose)

I didn't want to change his diet when I took him on 18 months ago as he seems fit and well on it and I went with the "If it ain't broke.....

Do you think this diet would contibute?

Thanks
 
Amo said:
I am quite new to this so would be interested in your thoughts on his diet if you don't mind (Sorry for hijakling the thread)
At he moment he has Beet and Pony Nuts twice a day, plus a hand full (and a mean handfull) of Traditional Mix and Ready Mash in the evening (I have to give him some when I feed the older boy otherwise all hell breaks loose)

I didn't want to change his diet when I took him on 18 months ago as he seems fit and well on it and I went with the "If it ain't broke.....

Do you think this diet would contibute?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Is the beet molassed? And what's in the pony nuts, and how much of those does he get?

Often you have to look at the quantity and type of grass that your horse is on, as this is a major source of sugars. Mineral levels and balance also play a large role in hoof health. Regrettably, almost all the mainstream 'balancers' available do not take into consideration the minerals the horse is getting from its forage.

UK grazing tends to be low in key nutrients such as magnesium, copper and zinc, whilst simultaneously being too high in iron (among others) which can further inhibit the absorption of other minerals.

Sorry to hijack, op!
 
Yikes! I agree with the comment about carrying on nailing on shoes isn't likely to help. I'd personally start by getting them removed, but I'm no expert :o

Hope you get it sorted :D
 
At the moment I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I cannot take the shoes off yet, it will cause her much discomfort. At the moment she is not hopping lame but not totally sound - that's more from her arthritis, she is elderly and not in any kind of work.

Her high sugar diet is being address but this is going to take time - she doesn't take to change very well at her age and she is fussy to the point of refusing to eat.

The long term aim will be shoeless but am thinking it will have to be boots and pads before that happens.
 
I've seen much worse hooves. These aren't so bad :D.

Crumbling to the wall but this is localised to the nail holes and excess wall length that isn't needed anyway. No internal structures are exposed and nothing well connected is involved - so that's not an issue other than cosmetic.

There are ripples to the wall and it is flared and not well connected. These are dietary as well as mechanical stresses - you are addressing diet so it's not necessary to go over this again. The mechanical stresses aren't possible to fix when the shoes mean she is loaded on the walls entirely, so we'll just have to see what improvements diet brings.

I can see marked medio lateral imbalance to the hoof capsule so it's no wonder she isn't completely sound.

Heels typically under run - giving a triangular appearance to the hoof. Common in long term shod horses and a result of lack of frog stimulation.

The coronets look stressed - also common in long term shod horses, especially round the heels.

Frog looks rather impressive in comparison to the rest of the hoof.

All in all - nothing too surprising.

See how she feels on the new diet. Then have a think about a few month's break from shoes over the winter (with some boots and pads ready to keep her comfy).
 
Boots and pads are definitely a good idea. What you have to think about is where the pedal bone is in that structure. I'd bet my hat it's close to the ground and very vulnerable, so needs protection. Although the shoe will be lifting the foot off the ground a little, it's not offering enough protection for my liking. I'd say keeping off stones is advisable for the foreseeable, unless in boots and pads.

Good luck, rehabbing feet is rarely the easy path, but the rewards are most definitely worth it imho.
 
Regarding boots and pads, how long would people say it is okay for the horse to wear them at any one time? My TB wears his for schooling but not in the field. However, sometimes he gets footsore in the field and I was wondering how long he could wear them? He has the easyboot trails. Sorry for the thread hijack.
 
Wagtail said:
Regarding boots and pads, how long would people say it is okay for the horse to wear them at any one time? My TB wears his for schooling but not in the field. However, sometimes he gets footsore in the field and I was wondering how long he could wear them? He has the easyboot trails. Sorry for the thread hijack.
Click to expand...

No limit on time particularly but you need to be mindful of rubs and thrush.

It depends on the cause of the soreness.
 
Wagtail said:
Regarding boots and pads, how long would people say it is okay for the horse to wear them at any one time? My TB wears his for schooling but not in the field. However, sometimes he gets footsore in the field and I was wondering how long he could wear them? He has the easyboot trails. Sorry for the thread hijack.
Click to expand...

My old TB has been without shoes since June. At first he was pretty footsore, especially when the ground was hard so he wore Boa boots, pads and heavy duty walking socks on the fronts during the day and nothing at night. He has been completely barefoot but happy now since about a month ago even though the ground is very hard.

I did have to watch that his heels didn't get too squashed in the boots but had to weigh this against bruised soles. I found that painting neat iodine on his soles nearly every day for a few weeks has definitely helped as they now give off a lovely hard ringing tone when I tap them with a hoof pick!
 
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