Shoe or barefoot for horses with arthritic hocks?

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Sunny08

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I have been doing a bit of research and come across a number of articles suggesting barefoot management is better for horses with arthritic hocks and in low level work or on rest?
Does anyone have any experience or views of this?
 
Hi Sunny,

I am now in to my second year with a horse with arthritic feet and I must say that things could not be going better. Knowing what is wrong helps you sort out what you are going to do to make your horse comfortable. When Ffin was diagonosed I did discuss going barefoot with my farrier Peter Savage. He is a brillent farrier and really knows his stuff. First he went through all the pros and cons and then we matched them to how I worked my horse and the demands he is under. Peter dicided that I did too much road work for him to be barefoot but changed his shoes and removed his road pins. He now is in rolled topped natural balance shoes. I also have him seen every six weeks so his foot is kept short, this along with the medication mean he is going better then at any other point in his life. The arthritis affected him from such a young age and it was very difficult to work out just what was wrong as he was never lame just uneven.

My advice is to talk it through with your farrier and then make the best decision for you and your horse with all the information.
 
No first hand experience, but what I read is that because shoes increase concussion then they are more likely to make the horse arthritic. Once the damage is done, I don't think you can reverse it, but you could try out boots with thick pads and see if your horse feels comfortable in them.
You need to find a good trimmer that can fit the boots for you because it can be tricky to get the right size and type of boots.
 
I have been recommended by the vet to use shoes with raised heels for hock problems.
One vet recommended shoes with lateral extensions by farrier poo pooed it !
 
It depends on how your horse is compensating. Maybear twisted her foot on landing, so vet moved her from wedges to lat ext's. Now she's walking with her leg under her too much, like a supermodel. It's hard to know. Concussion is good as it encourages fusion, but you do need a regular painkiller. One school of thought is that the horse will naturally grow their own wedges or lat ext's going barefoot, but I think thats wishful thinking ......
 
I have had the alcohol treatment and am currently working Zara hard to get the bone to fuse, I also made the decision last December to take both my horses barefoot.

Zara has been in work for eight weeks now and has gone from 4/10ths lame on bute to 100% sound without bute. She is hacking out for 1.5 hrs a day and trotting and cantering.

And yes she has grown odd shape feet which I believe are her version of lateral extensions!!!
 
My farrier said I needed to keep back shoes on fr support. We have alot of stones for him to go barefoot as can sometimes be footy on them even with shoes on
 
Arthritic hocks may cause the horse to drag the toe, meaning shoes are necessary depending on the amount of road work.
 
My boy has bilateral bone spavins and was barefoot. However he was very stiff and unlevel so after advice from vet and farrier he's now got lateral extensions on behind. He's moving much better and completely changed how he carries himself. I think it varies very much from horse to horse you just need to find what works!
 
I would imagine shoeless/barefoot is better if it can be managed - less concussion, and the chance for the horse to grow the foot that it needs, not necessarily an aesthetically pleasing one.

I can't help but feel heel wedges trying to even out any compensation etc is a bad idea. Its being compensated for, for a reason - either fix the reason, or if you can't, allow it to be compensated for.
 
Achinghips said:
It depends on how your horse is compensating. Maybear twisted her foot on landing, so vet moved her from wedges to lat ext's. Now she's walking with her leg under her too much, like a supermodel. It's hard to know. Concussion is good as it encourages fusion, but you do need a regular painkiller. One school of thought is that the horse will naturally grow their own wedges or lat ext's going barefoot, but I think thats wishful thinking ......
Click to expand...

Not wishful thinking at all. My horse with spavins grew feet that matched his level of lameness at any one point in time. His collateral grooves became very markedly different in height - one twice as deep as the other. This was the equivalent of a one-side only wedge. He already had lateral extensions, presumaby grown in response to the problem before he went noticeably lame with it. When the weather went warm and dry and he was sound, the difference in height reduced, when he was lamer, it was bigger. I have a picture of some moulds I took which is very striking.

No horse in shoes can make these adjustments for itself, so I would go wholeheartedly for barefoot. The horse is still shoeless six years later and sound without medication except for the joint support that you would expect to give a 15 year old horse.

The farrier posted about above who said that the horse concerned did too much roadwork to go barefoot was wrong.
 
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