reacurring lameness due to bad feet.

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tazanotabza

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my thoroughbred has bad feet, my farrier said he has never had a battle with any horses feet like with mine. about january time he started to stop at fences which he has never done before in his life and his trot felt odd to me, i was sure he was lame rang the vet....no lameness. on vets advice got his back and teeth done and no problem. i stopped riding him and a few weeks later he became slightly worse. called another vet and there was a very slight lameness trotting on very small circles. took him for a lameness work up and my poor boy was pretty lame on both front feet when the other was numbed,had exrays and it appears he just has very thin soles. i was so releaved i thought it was narvicular. he now has to have aluminium shoes on the front and those gell filler things. but he is now slightly off for 3-5 days after being shod. i am using lincoln tar on his feet and feeding "formula 4 feet" and a calcium supplement. He is a showjumper and those few days he has to have off do seem to always fall on the big event days
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any suggestions would be great thankyou
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The obvious one is to alter your shoeing timing so that it's after your big days!
You could try feeding gelatine or up his oil intake too, it will all help. Have you tried Cornucrescine rubbed daily onto the coronet band to stimulate the blood supply?
With feet it's a very slow process before you see any improvement but an increase in oil in the feed should help as a basic.
 
sorry to hear about you,r horses problem feet, however i am amazed that vet,s farriers and other experts dont face up to the facts. the facts are that the horse is sore inside his hoof capsule, not outside, so any shoeing plan to get him sound will fail. he must be given time to heal with concussion free protection on his feet. he will have inflamation in the growth corium under his pedal bone, most likely in the frog, and probably in the laminae at his toe. the nailing on of any shoe may seem like a quick fix, but it is bound to fail unless he is given time to heal.
if this was a person, then we would know what to do, comfortable footwear and rest untill everything healed, but above all, no running or jumping on hard surfaces. dont forget that no matter what surface you compete on, the horse is banging on steel all the time, even when he gets home to his nice stable he has to stand on the same steel, this is while his rider has a warm bath and slips into comfortable slippers, just think about it!!
 
BTW he had 6 months in a paddock and hes on aluminium shoes not steel ones and ive seen the exrays for myself no swelling or concusion in any part of his feet infact apart from the thin sole they are completely normal and healthy. my vet described what he feels after being shod as like having new stiff shoes yourself and them rubbing a bit untill you wear them in. i do not excersize him if i see ay change in his gait on the lunge every morning.

i have to say i trust my vet and farrier as they are qualified EXPERTS!
 
thankyou. i am so very unorganised but have been trying to persuade my farrier to always come on mondays so he has 5 days before any possible competition but as sods law dictates if i do get him to come on monday there will be only local stuff that weekend!! x
 
Is him being slightly off since having the gel fillers (what was used??) an improvement?

For thin soles the equipak gel really is the best way to go but normally ive seen an almost imediate improvement with it, it is known to sometimes press though
 
the improvement is imediate...kinda... ive had a full lameness workup after being shod and he is sound and shows no difference when his feet are numbed. i just notice a shortening of his steps and hes a bit uncertain about going foreward just a few days after. putting him out for a few days seams to help as does a few sessions on the walker a day.
do you think it could be pressing?
 
but wouldnt that affect him the whole time? any time except imediately after farrier he is bright as a button. could the action of putting the shoes on be causing him pain i wonder?? he is 13...he has no arthritus or anything in his legs. his back is fine but perhaps something more subtle could be going on with his back??
thanks again!
 
firstly i am a qualified expert,
thin soles don t hurt, it,s what lies underneath that hurts, the sole is supposed to protect the bone corium etc, cant you all see that.THE SOLE DOES NOT HURT.EVER.NOR DOES THE HOOF WALL. ITS INSIDE THE FOOT THAT HURTS.
human shoes get more flexable with use, steel , or as you point out aluminium [same but lighter] does not
you wont see any swelling on x rays as he is just plain bruised and sore. if you,r farrier trims a little of his bars, he will most likely find red bruising, this is where a horse with flat,sh feet makes heavy ground contact , the foot deflects, the sole comes down and the bars cause point loading. at the risk of repeating my self, why do you continue to use him if it hurts him. on a more avisory note, there is a wonderfull product which i use all the time, it is sole guard by vettec. if you make sure his bars are trimmed, use soleguard on his sole, rest him for a week to let things settle down, if necessary reapply the sole guard he should be fine. just dont let him keep hurting himself or he will start abcessing.just remember that thin soles are not good, but they dont hurt.
 
I just wondered if it was stiffness related as you said he got more comfortable after work, and that he was worked up for lameness after he was shod and came up sound.

Have you actually mentioned to your farrier that the horse was sore? He will probably want feed back from the equipak anyway and may have a few more tricks up his sleeve.


i never have to shout at users and insist i am an expert. All i am is a professional in my field giving advice for the HHO users to use at their own leasure or not.

Eitherway i have never seen your horse so my ultimate advice is to ask your own farrier as he knows your horse and its feet!

I would never suggest barefoot or shoes without having seen the horse myself but will add that sole guard is for unshod horses and equipak is for shod horses
 
i had to say i was pro and expert as it was implied that i was not, so to make my advice credible i had to say that,
it would seem that the present hoof care is not working, that seems to be what this is all about. now about soleguard, you should really learn more about this product. soleguard is for horses soles both barefoot and shod, it works better on shod horses as it gets a better grip and the edges are protected. if you get some litrature on vettec products it will explain.
if you take time to read all the posts here you will see that there is a horse with sore feet and an owner who needs help. it should be obvious that the horse should not be worked untill he is not sore, no matter how this is done, no matter what the event is.
 
thanks, my farrier knows and seams to think this is just my horse getting used to pressure on his soles.
he is already using the equipack thing and it has almost certainly made the difference.
problem is last week my instructor was going to lunge my horse and picked out one of his feet without thinking
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use soleguard, it sticks much better than equipak, that is why it isa new product, equipak is better used with mesh as it dosent stick very well to the sole. you would have a job to pick out soleguard, is it wise to lunge the horse at this time.
 
i have read all the posts again, and it now seems that the horse is not so bad afterall, and perhaps all the advice was not needed. farrier thinjs nailing the shoes on might be causing somethind in the shoulder furthur up[my god] sombody else is lunging the horse [with problem feet] there is no end to this nonsence. the bottom line is god help the horse the next move will be natural ballanced shoes. this whole thing would be solved in my yard without problem. remove shoes and nails, form shoe with superfast, keeping toe very short, fill the mid with soleguard and leave him 4wks . does nobody see the facts. sore horse dont use till better dont nail shoes onto sore feet
 
I'm an owner not an expert but I've actually used Mr hoofsculpture once and also tend to agree with what he is saying. Better add that Mr hoofsculpture came a very long way to trim a pony with laminitis for me.

Really for a horse to wear shoes and work he must have good feet... if his feet aren't good then they have to be rehabillitated imo otherwise you are just papering over cracks and will have a long line of problems to face unless you take action to get his feet well, this imo will require you learning a bit about what a healthy foot is yourself.... the internet is full of info so it's relatively easy to find out. Here's a starting point I highly recommend http://www.hoofrehab.com/
 
hi...we tried the stick on shoes whilst he was having the 6 month off period and he would get them off in days in the field...and i prefered for him to be out. we carried this on for about 2 months with no luck realy and poor boy would almost alwaya come in with a shoe missing and a bruised sole. then vet recomender the aluminium shoes and equipack things.
my horse is sound offficialy passed a 5 stage vet check 2 months ago and weve had lameness work up twice second time no problem, i have just noticed a shortening in his stride.

ive been doing my own research and there is an article in horse and hound about the hoof fillers and someone is describing the same thing on their horse i think its online.
 
You have been given some good advise here... I think you were a bit rude to Hoofsculpter who took considerable effort into replying for you to more or less dismiss what was said
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Wether people are experts in their field or not, remember you asked for advise and bottom line is your horse STILL isnt quite right so you need to look at every available option.

You cant see soft tissue damage on an xray.

I hope you get it sorted.
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hoofsculpture said:
i have read all the posts again, and it now seems that the horse is not so bad afterall, and perhaps all the advice was not needed. farrier thinjs nailing the shoes on might be causing somethind in the shoulder furthur up[my god] sombody else is lunging the horse [with problem feet] there is no end to this nonsence. the bottom line is god help the horse the next move will be natural ballanced shoes. this whole thing would be solved in my yard without problem. remove shoes and nails, form shoe with superfast, keeping toe very short, fill the mid with soleguard and leave him 4wks . does nobody see the facts. sore horse dont use till better dont nail shoes onto sore feet
Click to expand...

Hoofsculpture, what is wrong with Natural balance shoes?
 
tazanotabza said:
i have to say i trust my vet and farrier as they are qualified EXPERTS!
Click to expand...

SO why have you posted on here?

I would love to make some suggestions but I'm not going to waste my time if you already know the answers.


I would just add that if the farriers and vets who fail to get these horses consistently sound were such experts then my first rehab would not have overcome navicular and paper thin soles and be hunting barefoot and I would not now have another in my yard, four years unsound in shoes, rapidly coming right and likely to do the same very soon. Mind you, as long as those farriers and vets continue to fail these horses I will continue to be given wonderful horses worth many thousands of pounds for free, so I'm not complaining ;)
 
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Only three years Oberon :D

Didn't spot that. Damn these fiddle phones that people are using when they can't see the dates on them!!!

I expect the horse has been shot by now.
 
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