REALLY Need help with my ponies feet!!

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fonax

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19 November 2012
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hi i bought a connemara pony last summer. he was 3 years old so is 4 now. he is lovely looking with a great step. i was hoping to show him this year but have had awful problems with his feet. :confused:
when i got him he had great feet. lovely big feet and they seemed very strong. he is steel grey with black feet. (i heard black feet are stronger). anyway we started breaking him and he was living out. in a dry field which was a little stoney. he was worked in a sand arena everyday and over a couple of weeks his feet wore down a little. so before his feet got sore we got him shod in front. after two weeks he became tender behind so we got him shod behind. the farrier said you could push the nails in with your thumb his feet were so soft. once he had shoes he was fine for a week or so then pulled two shoes. we got him done again and he pulled two more. each time breaking his foot badly.
so after been shod twice and pulling all the shoes off in a short space of time he was very sore on his feet. we decided to get shod with lightweight shoes and let him out on a break to allow his feet to grow. this time he was out in a wetter, softer field. this proved to be a bad idea as after 3 weeks he had no shoes left and was lame on each foot when walking on cement ect. the wet seemed to has ruined his feet and eaten away at them. at this stage his feet were a third smaller then when i got him. completly wore away with no part of his hoof was touching the ground and the hoof wall worn down past his white line.. we got our farrier back to have a look and he said box rest was the only option until dere was enough growth left to get the shoes on again. so we kept him in for maybe 31/2 months until dere was enough growth to shoe him.
once these shoes were on he was sound but just afraid to trot incase they hurt again. we got him going again and finished breaking and backing him. the farrier checked him every two weeks. all the time since the problem started he has been getting HorseFirst HoofFirst everyday which has double biotin in it.
anyway last week we lost another shoe and after ten mins walking back to the horse box he was sore again. even just walking back broke away his foot again. so we couldnt get a shoe back on this foot as the wall was broken away. im at a loss what to do now!
Has anyone else had a problem like this or those anyone know what will help to grow and strenghten his feet?
please help :( :(:confused:
 
Dear Fonax
Please could you please PM about your pony. I am one of the researchers involved with the Hoof Wall Separation Syndrome research.

Did you import him from Ireland? Alternatively did he come from somewhere with a different climate to you? Did you start boxing him as opposed to being at grass 24/7?

Sadly if your pony is affected by HWSS you can only manage it, not cure it. It may sound totally counter intuitive but you are actually better to keep your pony in an environment where the feet are continuously damp and not allowed to dry out. There is good biochemical reasons for this.

Biotin MAY help but you are looking at a good 30 months before any appreciable difference. One owner has had positive results from feeding flaxseed oil and lucerne chaff (alfalfa). The lucerne is high protein and high calcium.

The research group can also put you onto farriers who are having some success using a new type of glue on shoes.

regards
Sheila
 
hi sheila. he is irish but I live in ireland so his envoirnment hasnt changed much. he apparently was living in very boggy land and our land was maybe dryer. he was living out 24/7 before i got him and then aswel when i got him up until his feet got bad. he was only getting grass as he was living out to start with. he is a good doer and his coat ect are in great condition. how or who can diagnoise this HWSS if thats what it is?
 
There are two research group representatives in Ireland - one down in County Kerry and the other nearish to Monaghan in Ulster. For privacy reasons I cannot put their names onto a private forum.
If you can email me at connemaranz(at)gmail(dot)com I can furnish you with this information. What would be very valuable to me would be the name of the pony so I can research his pedigree.
You could also send some high resolution pics for the research group to look over - we have experienced people in 13 different countries involved in this work. Another option is to send a blood sample to UC Davis in California for DNA analysis but you will not get any results from this until the end of your summer 2013.
Hope this helps.
Sheila
 
after looking at your facebook page i was nearly in tears because i think this is what he has? where do we go from here?
 
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