Shoes on a 17mth old for medical reasons - your views?

cblover

cblover

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I'm just about at the end of my tether with Teddy and his feet problems.....in fact I could quite easily walk away right now! Some of you will know he's been plagued with abscesses since he was born and also how hard I have worked to manage and stop them! I've even had an 8 week stint of him being sound...and thats a long time for him! But, I can't carry on anymore! He's got another abscess that either got something to do with the wet weather or having jyst been trimmed. I got him sound again and he's hopping lame again tonight. Vet coming tomorrow and we've had a long chat about his feet.

One suggestion from the vet is to shoe him! What are your views on this? Would you do it? I'm not sure but it could be worth a shot. It would lift his feet off the floor some what and protect his white line....or am I missing something in my 'frazzled' logic! I'm frazzled to start with!

Any suggestions, ideas or concerns would be much appreciated
 
Oberon said:
What are you feeding him?
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Totally unrelated to this thread but Oberon would you mind if I pm'd you about keeping a horse barefoot?

OP, stupid question but what does your farrier think? I trust my farrier more than my vet when it comes to feet :)
 
There must be an underlying reason for the abscesses and I would think putting shoes on could just give a whole new set of problems with a youngster, keeping them on while it hoons around being the first issue.

Have you looked at his diet, the barefoot gurus on here are very helpful and it would be the next route if he was mine.
 
hi
a few years back i was in exactly the same situation as you , i had a 18 month filly who had so many abcesses i lost count , at one point she had one in all four feet and could barely hobble , after much investigation vet recomended trying her with shoes and she never looked back , was sound as a pound for the further 5 years i owned her
 
He's out at grass (comes in stable to dry feet off and get wired brushed and plugged), he has hay twice a day to supplement the grass and has a rockies 5 star lick in the field. His bucket feed is Dengie Healthy Hooves with added biotin. Plus the odd carrot and thats it.
 
If that seemed to be the only way for the baby to lead a pain free life, then yes. And it would be cruel not to if it were to give him a semblance of a normal life. It does seem very odd his age and the duration of time he's been getting abcesses. Poor guy. Find yourself a very good farrier and discuss with them.
 
cblover said:
He's out at grass (comes in stable to dry feet off and get wired brushed and plugged), he has hay twice a day to supplement the grass and has a rockies 5 star lick in the field. His bucket feed is Dengie Healthy Hooves with added biotin. Plus the odd carrot and thats it.
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I'd be inclined to really push minerals in him - UK grazing has variances but it tends to be low in copper and ZINC, which your horse really needs right now and also Global Herb's Restore to detox his system. Also vitamin E.

It would be interesting to know if you have a severe imbalance in your grazing:/

If his white line is stretched - it is often a sign of excess sugar in the diet. Your diet doesn't appear such - but his feet apparently disagree! Once the white line it tighter, it is less prone to infection. I've seen this happen to my own horse.

If shoes would help him, then brilliant and if he is suffering, then it would be good interim measure while you figure out the problem.
But there has to be a reason for these abscesses. Putting shoes on won't fix that and I would worry about putting shoes on such a young horse who is still developing.

You could also use hoof boots for turnout if necessary.
 
ABC said:
Totally unrelated to this thread but Oberon would you mind if I pm'd you about keeping a horse barefoot?

OP, stupid question but what does your farrier think? I trust my farrier more than my vet when it comes to feet :)
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Not at all.
 
Oberon said:
I'd be inclined to really push minerals in him - UK grazing has variances but it tends to be low in copper and ZINC, which your horse really needs right now and also Global Herb's Restore to detox his system. Also vitamin E.

It would be interesting to know if you have a severe imbalance in your grazing:/

If his white line is stretched - it is often a sign of excess sugar in the diet. Your diet doesn't appear such - but his feet apparently disagree! Once the white line it tighter, it is less prone to infection. I've seen this happen to my own horse.

If shoes would help him, then brilliant and if he is suffering, then it would be good interim measure while you figure out the problem.
But there has to be a reason for these abscesses. Putting shoes on won't fix that and I would worry about putting shoes on such a young horse who is still developing.

You could also use hoof boots for turnout if necessary.
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^^^ I agree with this, there is a reason that its happening, I don't think covering them up is the answer and ultimately you're only then treating the symptom rather than the cause.
I also think shoeing from such a young age is asking for trouble in the future!
 
In the short term could you not use hoof casts or the KC La Pierre version of them? At least they should leave the horse with bit of leeway for the foot to flex and develop, which shoes wouldn't.
 
I would definitely Xray - was going to ask if they'd showed up anything. Also get them to send you a digital copy and share on hoof forums far and wide - obviously read everything with a pinch of online salt, but many minds can come up with great ideas!
 
'I'd be inclined to really push minerals in him - UK grazing has variances but it tends to be low in copper and ZINC, which your horse really needs right now and also Global Herb's Restore to detox his system. Also vitamin E.' Not before you had tested your forage however as oversupplementation can be dangerous.
I'd get a second opinion as constant abcesses is not normal, a 17month old should not need shod. Is your ground particularly flinty or anything? Have bloods//xrays been run? Is itonly one foot?
 
I had this problems with yearling, solved by moving to different grazing.
My field had poor clay soil with a gritty texture, perfect for working its way into the white line in warm wet weather...
Moved to old dairy pasture which had been rested for a year. Grass so long there was no mud to be seen. Hoof immediately sprouted and abcesses reduced until stopped completey after a few months. White line closed up nicely
 
SusieT said:
'I'd be inclined to really push minerals in him - UK grazing has variances but it tends to be low in copper and ZINC, which your horse really needs right now and also Global Herb's Restore to detox his system. Also vitamin E.' Not before you had tested your forage however as oversupplementation can be dangerous.
I'd get a second opinion as constant abcesses is not normal, a 17month old should not need shod. Is your ground particularly flinty or anything? Have bloods//xrays been run? Is itonly one foot?
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Yes, sorry should have been more clear.

I'm not advocating ad hoc supplementation of copper and zinc without an analysis to work from. As SusieT rightly says, that is dangerous:)
 
Thanks everyone for your support. I'm going to ask for x-rays tomorrow and set the wheels in motion to make that happen asap! I've not had bloods done either, but did suggest it a while ago and vet said it wasn't necessary at that stage!

I'd prefer to keep his barefoot, my other 2 are barefoot and never skip a beat. Shoes aren't really my thing, which is why this decision to try them would be a big one!

Our land isn't gritty but can get very wet, although we've had a good dry spell. It does seem that as soon as the land got wetter, the abscess was back. Thankfully in one foot (front/nearside) but he has had 3 at once before today! I really want to do my best by him, but the truth is I don't know what else to do! And I'm tearing my hair out to the point I want to sit and cry!
 
Maybe boots are worth a go... if the abscesses appear to get better when the weather dries up, then it would suggest that if you were able to keep the foot dry it would help. A boot would keep the entire foot dry and also protect the white line appose to a shoe which will only offer partial protection. Then allowing you to try and get more vits and mins into him as others have suggested, to help from the inside out. Perhaps this type of boot may help - http://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/easyboot_rx/easyboot_rx.aspx
May also be worth posting some pictures of your boy’s feet for the hoof gurus on here. Maybe his foot balance is slightly off, putting too much pressure on areas it shouldn't, causing the white line to weaken and split?
Also, could it be possible that he has a weakened immune system hence why he suffers so badly with the abscesses? I imagine running bloods could show this.
Just a few thoughts that come to mind.
 
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cm2581 said:
If that seemed to be the only way for the baby to lead a pain free life, then yes. And it would be cruel not to if it were to give him a semblance of a normal life. It does seem very odd his age and the duration of time he's been getting abcesses. Poor guy. Find yourself a very good farrier and discuss with them.
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I completely agree, it would seem you would have to veer from the norm for what is best for your little man, I would have for ben without hesitation if I thought I would allow him to be free from pain. One idea, I don't know too much about them, but would hoof boots do the job? may be a good investment, if they wont rub if left on for too long, perhaps wear them out in the field and allow the hoof to breath without them in the stable. Someone else would be more able to advise you on this.
 
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