Shoeing for spavin

J

jojoebony

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What are your experiences re remedial shoeing for bone spavin. My boy has been diagnosed in both back legs and the injections and pain meds alone aren't working sufficiently. He's currently in standard shoes with a rolled toe behind and my farrier is trying his own design shoes in front to help with his overall poor foot shape (tb ex racer with dropped heels and one flat foot).
I'd be interested to here what others have tried and of any other hints/tips so I can go in fully armed when I talk to the vet and farrier.

J
 
The most important thing is that the foot is trimmed and balanced regularly. The horse may drag his toes and will have decreased height in his foot flight, so sometimes a full roller motion shoe is helpful, ie a rolled toe to hasten breakover and raised heels ditto. The heels can be raised either by trimming the foot and leaving the heels longer, or by fitting a shoe with sloping wedge heels.

Having said all that, I am married to a remedial farrier (and I teach this stuff to baby farriers
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) and my horse with spavin hasn't been shod any differently to normal, so I would very much take the advice of your farrier (probably over and above that of your vet).

It may be of interest, but my horse also didn't benefit much from medication of the joint, and surgery was not recommended in his case, so he has recently had shock wave therapy and the improvement has been remarkable. It's not something that a lot of vets do, but if you want to put your vet in touch with my vet, I can give you the contact details.

Hope this helps
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My farrier shoes my horses hinds with lateral extensions for which he charges an extra £12.50 and then he shoes my horse a little wide on his outside fores but I'm not sure why this is as he has very good feet being a WB, but he is an excellent farrier who does a very good and thorough job, using a tool to check the balance of the feet each and everytime he shoes, and he takes 45 mins per horse. His price is quite high (£62.50) a full set, but I am willing to pay this as he is a) very good at what he does, b) very careful and patient, and c) most important of all and a trait most farriers are not renowned for ...... he is reliable! In return he has a well mannered horse and works in and indoor stable block which is warm and well lit and I always pay on time. My horse was diagnosed with Bone Spavin last November, and thanks to Tildren, Adequan, and intraarticular joint injections, thoughtful riding, good joint supplement and brilliant shoeing he has (touch wood) been sound.
 
It's quite difficult to say how much the lateral extensions (hinds) and rolled toes (fronts) have worked on my pony - fingers crossed he is fine atm but as he has the steroid injections and Synequin too it's difficult to say how much each bit contributes.

However, it was hurting him again earlier this year so needed another injection so I would say the injection has made the biggest impact. The insurance runs out in June but my vet wants me to carry on with the shoes and Synequin if I can afford it as he thinks it makes a difference overall. Regular exercise makes a huge difference too but obviously you need to get him right first.

Sorry, not much help but good luck.
 
Trim the foot to footfall, then just tack a lateral extension shoe on with a couple of nails, check footfall again, some times a medial wedge might be needed to get the footfall correct, then nail on and finish as normal when level footfall has been obtained.
 
If its in the hinds then a raised heel shoe and a set toe is one of the methods that can be used.

If a shoeing method is not working then try somehting else.

Although i agree with Rowreach that the feet be done regularly as an farriery especially remedail work hinges on a good trim
 
My boy wasn't shod any differently after being diagnosed with bilateral spavins.
I just made sure his feet were attended to regularly, for him this meant being shod every 5wks.
 
My mare was shod with lateral extensions and rolled toes behind for 18 months but 4 weeks ago my farrier moved her back to normal shoes as he reckoned she didn't need the remedial shoes now the spavin has fused. I wasn't sure for the first few days as she seemed uneven but after a week she settled down and has been her normal bouncy self ever since.
 
Mine was diagnosed with spavin in both hocks about three weeks ago. He will have lateral extensions and I think rolled toes next time he is shod (he had just been done the week before vet came). My vet has emailed the x-rays to my farrier with recommendations of how he should be shod, so he'll have them next time.

FWIW, so far mine is getting on really well since having hocks medicated. He's midway through a course of Adequan and now on a joint supp too.
 
Hello, I'm really interested in finding out more about your experience of shockwave therapy. My horse was diagnosed with spavin a few years ago; one of the hocks has now fused and the other one is showing signs of fusion. We've tried the injections, keeping him working on bute etc but in the end the vet and I agreed we would turn him away for 6-months to see if that helps settle things down. However, I have read a little about shockwave therapy, although my vet didn't seem interested in it...could you tell me a bit more please?
 
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