Remedial Shoeing vs Barefoot

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Charem

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I've posted a couple times about my boy who had to have an op on his DDFT and annular ligament back in August. He was making good progress up until the 6th week when he went lame. This resulted in me having a bit of a panic and a trip back to the vets fearing that he had done futher damage.

Thankfully he hasn't but the vet has said that she thinks he should have heart bar shoes put on and maybe even some tiny wedges to aid his footbalance. This confused me somewhat and I wish I had asked at the time but I was so happy that he hadn't done futher damage that I wasn't really concentrating :o C has upright leg conformation which I think is part of the reason for his leg troubles, surely wedges will only make this worse? Also i'm not sure how heartbar shoes can provide better support than his feet. He doesn't have weak feet and is coping perfectly well out walking on various surfaces. Of course my main priority is getting C sound and i'm not looking to cut any corners but if I can avoid spending X amount of cash on special shoes without compromising his recovery I will.


Unfortunately vet is away until next week so can't speak to her about it until then but i'm interested in everyones opinion. What would you do?
 
Bit different but one on our yard has shredded his DDFT and it wont get better so he wears special shoes for support as when barefoot cant walk and the vet has advised this is because his feet cannot take being barefoot - she did try anyway and he got a lot worse even though he was in boots and on lots of hoof suppliments with a sympathetic farrier looking after his feet. If your boy has been fine and not damaged his tendon further without shoes though I do not see why you would need them :). I know abseloutley nothing about being barefoot though so stand to be corrected!
 
Mine did her ddft 3 years ago & was put in heartbars. 3 years later = no improvement / worse. Queue shoes coming off & the commencement of barefoot rehab. This was in July & Im so pleased so far. I've kept a photo diary & so wish id done it years ago. The heartbars ruined her :-( Would never do it again. Feel free to ask more. i don't wanna go on! :-D Rockley Farm blog is a minefield of info though. :-) x
 
Although it's not the same as your horse, mine has navicular in both front feet, spavin in both hinds, arthritis in one fetlock and damage to the proximal suspensory in the same leg as the fetlock arthritis.
After reading all the things on here about going barefoot I'm going to give it a try, with the attitude that I can always go back to shoes afterwards if barefoot doesn't work. I think it's better to start off the barefoot route rather than destroy the feet with remedial shoeing first. But I'm no expert, although I have been influenced by a lot of people on here who have had great success going barefoot after their horses have had various serious conditions. Good luck with whatever route you try.
 
Can't comment directly, but my vet said that my horse should have shoes on after an operation on her foot. As a result of the GA, she also got laminitis, and the vet said that ringing the laminitis trust would be a good idea. They said that she would have to have shoes on for the rest of her life. It took a lot of thinking, and huge support from various people on here, but I took the shoes off after six weeks. She didn't look back and is competing again now. She had been barefoot for about 8 years before the op.
My point is that some vets seem to fall back on shoes because it is the norm, rather than because it is necessarily the best thing for the horse. I'm fairly certain that I've read research that says wedges actually increase the strain on the DDFT because they cause the fetlock to drop.
 
Heart bars have reallu helped a horse I know, an ex racer who would go intermittently lame for no apparent reason, and he hasnt been lame since getting them on quite a few months ago
 
Thanks all.

I've spent many hours on the Rockley farm website and that's what's got me questioning the heartbars/wedges. Will speak to vet about it when she's back but i'm leaning towards keeping him barefoot.
 
We have a rehab center and all the horses have their shoes removed. So far none have needed to return to remedial shoeing. We are very fortunate that our barefoot trimmer trained with an internationally recognised vet and can read an x-ray better than most vets we come across. In our opinion vets seem to go with the traditional methods. Farriery is a traditional method. It is not a science. It is only recently that real research has started into the function of the foot and what really works in terms of treatment. So all we can offer is 20 years of results but no proof.

If you really want to go down the barefoot route with your horse, may I suggest that you find a good barefoot trimmer. Trimming for a shoe is not the same. Some farriers can do both but the ones that do the barefoot trimming well are usually less enthusiastic about putting shoes on the horses.
 
NO question.

The success rate for barefoot in horses that are persistently lame with back half of the foot lamenesses is around four times as high as the success rate for medication and remedial shoeing.

Classicalfan can you please tell us where your rehab centre is? We are constantly banging on about Rockley because it's the only one we know of. It would be great to be able to recommend another, especially if you are in a different part of the country.
 
My boy has egg bar shoes on the front as he is upright in conformation, brought him back sound straight away. My vet told me to take them off once sound but having spoken to my farrier he has said that because of his conformation he would benefit from keeping them on. In my experience farriers know far more than vets about lameness issues. speak to your farrier.
 
Mare has done her sdft and ive whupped her shoes off to help as remedial shoeing I have heard remedial shoeing can actually cause the tendon to shorten in healing especially with wedges.

Vet supported me taking her shoes off as well as her feet were in some state :)
 
cptrayes said:
NO question.

The success rate for barefoot in horses that are persistently lame with back half of the foot lamenesses is around four times as high as the success rate for medication and remedial shoeing.

Classicalfan can you please tell us where your rehab centre is? We are constantly banging on about Rockley because it's the only one we know of. It would be great to be able to recommend another, especially if you are in a different part of the country.
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Would love to help but we are not based in the UK. Most of our clients are German and Dutch so we are based in northern France.
 
Charem said:
I've posted a couple times about my boy who had to have an op on his DDFT and annular ligament back in August. He was making good progress up until the 6th week when he went lame. This resulted in me having a bit of a panic and a trip back to the vets fearing that he had done futher damage.

Thankfully he hasn't but the vet has said that she thinks he should have heart bar shoes put on and maybe even some tiny wedges to aid his footbalance. This confused me somewhat and I wish I had asked at the time but I was so happy that he hadn't done futher damage that I wasn't really concentrating :o C has upright leg conformation which I think is part of the reason for his leg troubles, surely wedges will only make this worse? Also i'm not sure how heartbar shoes can provide better support than his feet. He doesn't have weak feet and is coping perfectly well out walking on various surfaces. Of course my main priority is getting C sound and i'm not looking to cut any corners but if I can avoid spending X amount of cash on special shoes without compromising his recovery I will.


Unfortunately vet is away until next week so can't speak to her about it until then but i'm interested in everyones opinion. What would you do?
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Heart bars and wedges may well make your horse feel better immediately. The function of them is to support the caudal foot and therefore the tendons and they work a treat for many horses.

But they don't actually help with the initial problem. And often, the relief they bring isn't permanent.
The caudal foot needs to be strengthened and developed and be allowed to function as designed - barefoot (done RIGHT) is the only reliable way to do this IMO.

Regarding your horse's lameness, I am wondering if the balance of the hooves is 100% for the horse? Just being barefoot isn't going to help if the trim isn't correct for the horse's needs. It might be worthwhile to seek a second opinion on his foot shape and balance from a good source.
If allowed to, his hooves should grow in a way to support and accommodate his upright leg conformation. This is especially where the 'eye' of the hoof care professional needs to be spot on.
 
soloequestrian said:
Can't comment directly, but my vet said that my horse should have shoes on after an operation on her foot. As a result of the GA, she also got laminitis, and the vet said that ringing the laminitis trust would be a good idea. They said that she would have to have shoes on for the rest of her life. It took a lot of thinking, and huge support from various people on here, but I took the shoes off after six weeks. She didn't look back and is competing again now. She had been barefoot for about 8 years before the op.
My point is that some vets seem to fall back on shoes because it is the norm, rather than because it is necessarily the best thing for the horse. I'm fairly certain that I've read research that says wedges actually increase the strain on the DDFT because they cause the fetlock to drop.
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That was a very brave decision! Well done you.
 
Ah you beat me to it with this thread...

Slightly different, but my boy has spavins in both hinds and showing lame in front too. He goes back to the vets next week to try steroid injections into his hocks.

He did have two fronts on but had them taken off this week and he's now barefoot... Going to see how he copes but his farrier did mention remedial shoeing and discussing it with the vet.

Anyone any experience of this?
 
milesjess said:
Ah you beat me to it with this thread...

Slightly different, but my boy has spavins in both hinds and showing lame in front too. He goes back to the vets next week to try steroid injections into his hocks.

He did have two fronts on but had them taken off this week and he's now barefoot... Going to see how he copes but his farrier did mention remedial shoeing and discussing it with the vet.

Anyone any experience of this?
Click to expand...

Milesjess, this is EXACTLY how my mare's problems started. Diagnosed with spavin and then went lame in front. The fronts have now been diagnosed with navicular and it turns out that although she does have spavin, it's actually the proximal suspensory ligament that is causing the pain. I had shoes on the back which had lateral extensions on to help with the spavin, but to be honest I think they've made the problem worse. I have a UKNCHP barefoot trimmer coming next Friday to start her on her barefoot journey - I'm actually quite excited about it!
 
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