Shoeing woes

Wagtail

Wagtail

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I am tearing my hair out here. I have just brought my mare back into work after 3 years off due to injury and she was doing fab. She was wearing imprint shoes on the fronts and barefoot behind. Previously she was barefoot for two years of her 'retirement'. I was forced to put imprints on her after she went lame in one of her fronts (due to laminitis affecting the growth of the foot and making it really flat, though there was no rotation. I persevered for weeks but she was in so much pain walking that the vet suggested imprints). Her frogs were a bit thrushy, and her soles had wet bruising breaking through which I have been cleaning and spraying with anti biotic spray. The imprints were working fine until she started to come in at night. She is a door banger and just kept banging one of the shoes off! :rolleyes: In the end I decided to have some ordinary metal shoes put on her. That was yesterday. She was sound as a pound afterwards. But when I brought her in she seemed a little stiff. Now she is really foot sore in both fronts. :confused: I would have thought if it was a fault with the shoeing she would have been lame right away. Any ideas?

ETA: She is completely off the grass as being turned out in the all weather at the moment.
 
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It could still be caused by the nails. Have a look at the sigafoo shoes sold by soundhorse, I had a lot of success with these and provided they are fitted properly and they are a fiddle they shouldn't be kicked off but avoid the need for nails.
 
Sarah_Jane said:
It could still be caused by the nails. Have a look at the sigafoo shoes sold by soundhorse, I had a lot of success with these and provided they are fitted properly and they are a fiddle they shouldn't be kicked off but avoid the need for nails.
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They do look very interesting. Probably more secure than the imprints. It's so annoying though as she managed to keep her first set of imprints on for six weeks. :(

Sukistokes2 said:
I would give my Farrier a call and see what he thought, but then I have a knowledgeable Farrier,
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I will give him a ring tomorrow fi she's no better. I don't like ringing on Sunday. It's so frustrating as I wanted to get on with her rehab.
 
It sounds a little like nail bind (misplaced nail) but being both feet it could be that too large a nail was used causing the same effect. Worth asking your Farrier about.
 
Wagtail said:
ETA: She is completely off the grass as being turned out in the all weather at the moment.
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I would feed soaked hay too and see if she improves. The sudden drop in temperature is playing havoc with lots of horses it seems. Of course look into the shoeing itself as well. If she has flat feet and possible thin sole it might be worth looking at boots and pads if the shoeing is the cause. They offer more sole protection and padding.
 
POLLDARK said:
It sounds a little like nail bind (misplaced nail) but being both feet it could be that too large a nail was used causing the same effect. Worth asking your Farrier about.
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That's what I thought but when it's happened to horses in the past, IME they have been lame straight away. She was done yesterday at 9. I turned her out at 1 and she was competely sound. When I brought her in last night she seemed very slightly uncomfortable. But this morning she was very sore indeed. I will give my farrier a bell in the morning if there's no improvement.

reborn amandap said:
I would feed soaked hay too and see if she improves. The sudden drop in temperature is playing havoc with lots of horses it seems. Of course look into the shoeing itself as well. If she has flat feet and possible thin sole it might be worth looking at boots and pads if the shoeing is the cause. They offer more sole protection and padding.
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I had wondered about getting her boots for when she is worked or turned out. I have the easy boot trails for my other horse but she doesn't seem to like those much. Which boots would you recommend?
 
Oberon said:
Let's start at the beginning.

Why is she constantly laminitic and what is she eating?
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She has Cushings which is controlled by one prascend daily. She was recently tested and found to be within normal levels.

She is fed one scoop of Pure feeds easy a day and haylage which is tested less than 3% sugar and low protien. She is not on grass at all. She was sound until she was shod yesterday.
 
Wagtail said:
I had wondered about getting her boots for when she is worked or turned out. I have the easy boot trails for my other horse but she doesn't seem to like those much. Which boots would you recommend?
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Boots are not my thing really but I recommend you ring Justine here and have a chat with her. http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/ She is very helpful.

Re diet. May I suggest you look to vitamin and mineral intake. For laminitics, magnesium, salt and good quality vitamin e are very important for starters. :)

Ruling out nail bind etc. is a good step though as well. Hoof pain/discomfort does make horses appear stiff.
 
reborn amandap said:
Boots are not my thing really but I recommend you ring Justine here and have a chat with her. http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/ She is very helpful.

Re diet. May I suggest you look to vitamin and mineral intake. For laminitics, magnesium, salt and good quality vitamin e are very important for starters. :)

Ruling out nail bind etc. is a good step though as well. Hoof pain/discomfort does make horses appear stiff.
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Thanks. I have some magnesium oxide that I can add to her feed. She has a salt lick and I believe the pure feeds easy has enough vitamin E but will check. I would really like her to get back barefoot. I am a bit angry with myself really for getting the metal shoes put back on her. I was just overtaken by wanting to keep up her rehab and not lose time. I have been bulding up her fitness really slowly over many weeks and it was going so well. When the lost yet another imprint after only a few days, she was not that sore on the bare foot so I thought she would cope with normal shoes. The farrier was suggesting equipaste, but I am not that keen on it as the sole cannot breath.
 
Wagtail said:
She has Cushings which is controlled by one prascend daily. She was recently tested and found to be within normal levels.

She is fed one scoop of Pure feeds easy a day and haylage which is tested less than 3% sugar and low protien. She is not on grass at all. She was sound until she was shod yesterday.
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Ah. It makes sense now. It's fair that she isn't going to be easy due to the Cushings :o

I can't help re the current issue with being shod....you need hands on help for that.

Obviously the autumn plays havoc with our Cushings horses. We can't do anything about it....other than ride it out and wait for the hormones to settle back down.

Regarding the hooves long term. My boy's ACTH is 172 at the moment and he is on 2.5mg a day.

As well as the meds, I use a balancer that provides extra copper and zinc compared to iron - which helps him control his insulin and produce good quality hoof. He is on grass too - but he still manages to walk along this comfortably every day :D

obibrickcrunchingsmaller.jpg


The Pure Easy is just under the combined starch and sugar of 10% recommended, which is good....but it depends on the amount you are feeding as to how much copper and zinc you are getting from it?

If shoes are the best option for her - then that's cool. But if you find yourself stuck.....there may be other options for you :)
 
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Oberon said:
Ah. It makes sense now. It's fair that she isn't going to be easy due to the Cushings :o

I can't help re the current issue with being shod....you need hands on help for that.

Obviously the autumn plays havoc with our Cushings horses. We can't do anything about it....other than ride it out and wait for the hormones to settle back down.

Regarding the hooves long term. My boy's ACTH is 172 at the moment and he is on 2.5mg a day.

As well as the meds, I use a balancer that provides extra copper and zinc compared to iron - which helps him control his insulin and produce good quality hoof. He is on grass too - but he still manages to walk along this comfortably every day :D

The Pure Easy is just under the combined starch and sugar of 10% recommended, which is good....but it depends on the amount you are feeding as to how much copper and zinc you are getting from it?

If shoes are the best option for her - then that's cool. But if you find yourself stuck.....there may be other options for you :)
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Thank you. I am very impressed by your boy's feet! To be fair, my mare was really sound barefoot until she got her first laminitis episode last Christmas. But she came back sound and barefoot for many months after that. But then suddenly her flatter foot seemed to splay really badly. She was trimmed by the farrier, and then still further by my sister whose a BF trimmer. Then a week later she went badly lame on that foot. I thought it was a lami flare up and so for 8 weeks she was off the grass and on soaked hay etc. But was still crippled on hard ground. That was when the vet suggested the imprints which made her instantly sound. It's such a shame that they wont stay on now she comes in at night. Staying out 24/7 isn't an option due to the amount of mud here. The horses are all in the sand turnout for now.
 
meandmyself said:
Could it be that the shoes have made her feel better and she's been having a buck and play while she's been turned out?
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She has been doing loads of that, yes, but was doing before the shoes. She's not today though as she's sore. I think I will give her some bute when she comes in, so at least she feels more comfortable before the farrier comes, hopefully tomorrow.
 
Wagtail said:
Thank you. I am very impressed by your boy's feet!
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Thanks. I am very proud of that pic as it shows that we are doing OK.

The day he can't walk down that track as happily - I know there is a problem.

His hooves aren't perfect - he has a cracking event line/separation half way down that seems permanent.
It irks me to look at it....but I'm never going to get him perfect so I have to learn not to look at it :o

He is also refusing to go out now due to the weather :o.

If your lass went splat at the sole - that indicates a metabolic issue (it was what prompted me to get Obi tested finally).

Perhaps tinkering with the diet might help?
 
I think the pain is definitely down to the shoes. She is just as footsore in the sand as on the hard ground. When she has lami or is just foot sore, she is fine in the sand.
 
Is there any way you can adjust the door by putting a bar to the inside that prevents her reaching the door with her foot .
Then you might be able to use the imprints again.
But boots are a very good option.
 
Goldenstar said:
Is there any way you can adjust the door by putting a bar to the inside that prevents her reaching the door with her foot .
Then you might be able to use the imprints again.
But boots are a very good option.
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Nah, she's a hooligan and would quickly dismantle anything that stuck out in her stable. :rolleyes: I think barefoot and boots maybe the only way to go.

Poor thing is in agony. I have given her a danilon. I just can't understand it as there is no heat in her hooves, no digital pulses. So I don't think it is a lami flare up. Can only think it is the nails pinching her. But she never had trouble before. I will be on the phone first thing tomorrow morning to the farrier.
 
Farrier came this morning first thing (on his day off) and seated out the, put smaller nails in and only four in each shoe. She appears more comfortable, though difficult to tell until the bute wears off.
 
Fingers crossed. x

I forgot to say I would use the boots for exercize as she is turned out on a conforming surface. If you go that route at some time in the future, try her in boots in the turnout and if she is more comfortable I would perhaps use them for periods of turnout too until there is no difference in her comfort. x
 
Thanks. I was so disappointed when she could no longer cope barefoot after coping really well for so long. It is my longer term ambition to get her out of shoes again. If this doesn't work and she doesn't come sound within a day or two, my farrier said he would come back and take the shoes off and go from there.
 
It is so hard when they aren't comfortable. x

I swear by EPS pads that I can tape on for emergency relief but you already have some boots for temporary if you need them. Do phone Justine if the shoes come off for booting and padding advice.
 
How about not using the stall door and putting up a webbing and a stall chain. No kicking the door and gets to stay in Imprint shoes. I have all of mine behind one single chain. Including the most annoying 2yo and ponies that come to us completely unhandled and never been stabled horses. I will say I never had door bangers but that's because the first time they ever did they got something thrown at them. Sorry can't tolerate that habit and it spreads like wildfire through a barn. At any rate my horses have all been so much happier without the solid doors. I took this action as my landlord refused to cut the badly made metal grids off the top. The V never reached either side of the door. Nice space for heads to get stuck. I figured loose was safer than hung up. But no one has escaped. Just a thought that means maybe you can keep the shoes you like.

Terri
 
reborn amandap said:
It is so hard when they aren't comfortable. x

I swear by EPS pads that I can tape on for emergency relief but you already have some boots for temporary if you need them. Do phone Justine if the shoes come off for booting and padding advice.
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Yes, I will. Thanks. I also have some pads I can tape on temrorarily.
 
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