Really need advice - new pony won't let me pick out feet

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Opticalillusion

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Hi guys,

I bought (well, pretty much rescued from clue-less owners) a new pony as a mother/daughter share 4 days ago. She's only young (4 1/2), and hasn't had much done with her - she was sold to me as broken but she's only backed and needs mouthing, I asked if they had long-reigned her to which they said 'what's that'.

Anyway, I digress... the issue is with her feet. She is obese, and I suspect border-line laminitic. I've stabled her and placed her on the correct diet (soaked hay, speedy beet, happy hoof, magnesium oxide) and I've seen an improvement already in her gait. She is foot-sore, and has thrush too. Her feet are overgrown. I've booked the farrier for later in the week, but will have to sedate her. I'm going to get Sedalin.

Thing is, she won't let me pick her feet up.i can stroke her feet all day - she's not sensitive or nervous- but she plants them. If I manage to get her to pick them up by applying pressure, she kicks out until it let go. She's not fidgety, she just doesn't like them being picked up at all.

She obviously doesn't trust me much, and they must be causing her some discomfort. But I can't spray them to treat the thrush as she won't let me pick them up! It's not helping that I have to stable her because of the possible laminitis, and I can't hold them for long enough to clean them properly.

At the moment, I'm just being patient and rewarding with tiny bits of carrot. But this is causing her to start nipping. I don't want to use a rope to hold her feet or smack her as I'm worried that it's the discomfort in them that is causing her to play up. (These are the two main ideas I got from a google search). They must be sensitive because of the thrush.

Any ideas would be really appreciated! TIA x
 
I suggest that you have someone at her head keeping her mind off it while you try to lift her leg up just as you said by pressure. A few seconds after lifting, even without touching the hoof let it down again and reward even just by fussing over her. Repeat this as often as you can and try to increase the time you hold her leg up for and then gradually try to touch the hoof gently. Again do this with someone at her head to distract her - maybe feed her grass/hay etc.

Keep doing this as much as you can and I would say once your farrier comes, things will be easier. Your farrier should be able to pick out, trim and take a good look at her hooves while she is sedated and talk you through what to do next. Once her hooves are picked out and trimmed etc. you will have a much better picture of details of the issues and I think you will be able to work on from that. Also after having her hooves trimmed and picked out may make her more comfortable and touching her hooves afterwards, with a bit of time, might not be just so much of a problem.

Good luck, she will appreciate the care you are giving her after her last owners. Hope any of that helps!!
 
If she's got laminitis or other foot pain it will hurt when you pick a foot up because all her weight will be on the other foot. Has the vet looked at her? She may be better on bute before the farrier comes.
 
where's Shills?
get a vet, you suspect laminitis but no pain relief given or vet check!!!
stop feeding carrots if you suspect laminitis,
how can you give sedalin without vet seeing pony it is a prescription medication

GET THE VET TO CHECK THE PONY
 
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Have you not got the sedalin from a vet??! Also farrier SHOULD be able to diagnose laminitis. Yes you will need a vet to prescribe treatment etc but when it comes to laminitis, farriers are just as good as vets for diagnosing. Don't get bute either without a vet checking horse first!!!!!!
 
Pingypo said:
Have you not got the sedalin from a vet??! Also farrier SHOULD be able to diagnose laminitis. Yes you will need a vet to prescribe treatment etc but when it comes to laminitis, farriers are just as good as vets for diagnosing. Don't get bute either without a vet checking horse first!!!!!!
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legally a farrier cannot diagnose, if there is any rotation trimming to the wrong angles can make things far far worse
 
I agree a vet visit is definitely the next thing to do. Great you got her diet improved but if she is in a good deal of discomfort training wont be easy.
 
Deep bed, little walks if she can manage, vet now, vet and farrier together if possible. Ask farrier to check her every time on yard, else book him every 4 weeks if not a regular visitor.
I would also buy a mineral like pro hoof [pro earth] as I am never convinced about minerals in branded feeds, esp if she is on soaked hay and tiny feeds.
 
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Farriers have tests they can do on the hooves and can spot laminitis easily because of many factors such as rings on the hoof etc and may be able to tell if there is any rotation of the bone. I agree fully that a vet is definitely needed asap but all I'm saying is that farriers know hooves inside out and will be able to tell if laminitis is present. Our horse went lame and was shifting weight etc and we called the vet who immediately prescribed bute. When the farrier came 2 days later he did a full check of the hoof, carried out various tests and told us that it was the dry, hard ground. He told us to wean him of the bute and keep him on soft ground for a week, hoof oil everyday. He was back to his normal self within a day and fine ever since.
 
Pingypo said:
Farriers have tests they can do on the hooves and can spot laminitis easily because of many factors such as rings on the hoof etc and may be able to tell if there is any rotation of the bone. I agree fully that a vet is definitely needed asap but all I'm saying is that farriers know hooves inside out and will be able to tell if laminitis is present. Our horse went lame and was shifting weight etc and we called the vet who immediately prescribed bute. When the farrier came 2 days later he did a full check of the hoof, carried out various tests and told us that it was the dry, hard ground. He told us to wean him of the bute and keep him on soft ground for a week, hoof oil everyday. He was back to his normal self within a day and fine ever since.
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do farriers have xray vision where you are? you cannot see rotation without xrays which is why the xrays are taken to guide the farrier as to how to shoe or trim the hoof of a horse with lami. rings on the hoof are usually from a change in diet and are common when there is no lami. your frrier was breaking the law by diagnosing and giving advice that contradicted the vet-saying that I do trust my farriers judgement but he would not contradict the vet but advice the vet is sought for another look if he felt the advice may be slightly off the mark.

just out of interest what did your farrier tell you the hoof oil would do?
 
always used hoof oil on our horse to help protect from cracks ect and to keep in good condition. Our farrier gave his suggestions to us which happened to be against what the vet had said. The vet did not check our horse in person, she diagnosed over the phone and strongly advised to put on bute in case of laminitis - quite right but she came nowhere near our horse and we did not suspect laminitis. Never had any problems with weight, lush grass, hooves etc before and although laminitis can just come on suddenly even if never before previously in horse's life, we still did not suspect this was the case. His symptoms did not seem to add up to laminitis and also was on good diet and not over weight. Just in case we were wrong, we took the vets advice, gave him the prescribed anti inflammatory and got our trusty farrier to have a look. He agreed with us having known our horse for years and told us what he would do and what he thought. He could see that laminitis was unlikely for our horse and hooves were showing no signs of it. What else would he say if this is the case. Knowing that the vet had not even looked at him, he suggested that he should not be kept on bute. He also told us to get another vet to look if we felt the need. We chose to follow his suggestion and once we saw that he had improved greatly and was back to his old self, we felt no need for a vet to look. Farriers can also take radiographs of the hoof. This is only my experience and obviously will be different to others.
 
Pingypo said:
always used hoof oil on our horse to help protect from cracks ect and to keep in good condition. Our farrier gave his suggestions to us which happened to be against what the vet had said. The vet did not check our horse in person, she diagnosed over the phone and strongly advised to put on bute in case of laminitis - quite right but she came nowhere near our horse and we did not suspect laminitis. Never had any problems with weight, lush grass, hooves etc before and although laminitis can just come on suddenly even if never before previously in horse's life, we still did not suspect this was the case. His symptoms did not seem to add up to laminitis and also was on good diet and not over weight. Just in case we were wrong, we took the vets advice, gave him the prescribed anti inflammatory and got our trusty farrier to have a look. He agreed with us having known our horse for years and told us what he would do and what he thought. He could see that laminitis was unlikely for our horse and hooves were showing no signs of it. What else would he say if this is the case. Knowing that the vet had not even looked at him, he suggested that he should not be kept on bute. He also told us to get another vet to look if we felt the need. We chose to follow his suggestion and once we saw that he had improved greatly and was back to his old self, we felt no need for a vet to look. Farriers can also take radiographs of the hoof. This is only my experience and obviously will be different to others.
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so your vet broke the law too? by prescribing prescription medication without seeing the animal to diagnose, never in over 25yrs of working with horses have I heard of a farrier taking xrays in the UK but maybe you are not in the UK?

sorry to hijack thread OP I feel you may be getting some poor advice I shall back out of this one now or things will end up bouncing back and forth
 
Laminitis is a systemic condition shown in the hooves and usually with a metabolic cause so has to be treated by diet, drugs if required, hoof support and correct trimming according to X Rays if rotation is present.
Painting on oils etc. is irrelevant. Only vets X ray and can diagnose in UK.

Here's a good read op. http://www.thelaminitissite.org/

ps. Once pony is stable start the training and treating thrush op. I wouldn't worry too much about that at this stage. A decent balancer should help with the thrush in the longer term.
Also, don't take for walks until you know what is going on and if it is laminitis, supportive pads should be worn when off deep bedding.
 
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exactly the reason we didn't stick with the vets advice! Lets not get het up here. we stuck with our own gut feeling and our farrier's. My advice was for ways of making hoof picking easier for owner and horse and that farrier will be able to help give a better picture of hoof issues. cheerio now
 
Dizzle said:
I'd chop out all hard feed except soaked hay, speedibeet is still packed full of sugar.
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No, speedybeet is less than 5%, there are not many feeds lower, maybe FastFibre, but any soaked feeds need to have minerals replaced and supplemented, so a small feed is needed to carry minerals . There are non molsassed chaffs, but most are molassed/coated in moglo
 
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