Shoes or barefoot for laminitis

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RHM

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Hi guys!

In the ongoing saga of Mollys lameness. We have an acute laminitis episode caused by her respiratory infection.

Now in this scenario would you shoe or boot?
- non insulin resistant lamanitic all bloods normal and inflammation is coming down on bloods
- some rotation in left fore
- thin soles

Vet is pro boot but has told the farrier it’s completely up to him. Farrier is pro heart bars 🤦‍♀️

What would you go for and why?

Wine and choccys for all!
 
I think in this situation I'd go shoes to ensure full stability of the hoof. Boots will always have some wriggle room.

Having said that I'd usually go with vet advice over farrier.

Hope she recovers quickly 🤞
 
Jambarissa said:
I think in this situation I'd go shoes to ensure full stability of the hoof. Boots will always have some wriggle room.

Having said that I'd usually go with vet advice over farrier.

Hope she recovers quickly 🤞
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Thank you! Here’s hoping!

Appreciate you sharing your opinion. It’s such a minefield when you google it and quite polarising opinions!
 
Frog supports and nappy wrap and vet wrap as per abscess treatment in first instance, then boots for support with frog support as necessary.

Once heart bars are on, they're on. I'd rather be able to keep an eye on what's going on underneath. This is what I did when my mare (another Molly) had suspected acute lami. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Good luck.
 
What TP said. My vet wanted shoes off when my previous mare developed lami. With a boot you can add padding to support the sole and frog and stay on top of thrush, which is trickier with heart bars.

Lami is a cr*p thing to be battling because it’s a series of battles forever, not a blitzkrieg. All the best whichever you decide.
 
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You have described B’s laminitis episode to a T except his was triggered by concussion. I took him out of steel shoes to allow as much blood flow to the foot as possible, padded then booted. He’s now been barefoot for 18 months and we haven’t had a reoccurrence and when he needs shoes he wears Duplo composites rather than steel.
 
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Tricky one, we took shoes off and padded and wrapped for the first few weeks. X rays showed 11&13• rotation so we got referred to the best remedial farrier for heartbars.
 
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Tiddlypom said:
Frog supports and nappy wrap and vet wrap as per abscess treatment in first instance, then boots for support with frog support as necessary.

Once heart bars are on, they're on. I'd rather be able to keep an eye on what's going on underneath. This is what I did when my mare (another Molly) had suspected acute lami. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Good luck.
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Thank you! Yeah that’s what she has on now and seems comfortable in that so boots make sense to me 🤔
 
Lindylouanne said:
You have described B’s laminitis episode to a T except his was triggered by concussion. I took him out of steel shoes to allow as much blood flow to the foot as possible, padded then booted. He’s now been barefoot for 18 months and we haven’t had a reoccurrence and when he needs shoes he wears Duplo composites rather than steel.
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That’s interesting! Seen those duplo shoes on Facebook but not heard of anyone using them.
 
SadKen said:
What TP said. My vet wanted shoes off when my previous mare developed lami. With a boot you can add padding to support the sole and frog and stay on top of thrush, which is trickier with heart bars.

Lami is a cr*p thing to be battling because it’s a series of battles forever, not a blitzkrieg. All the best whichever you decide.
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Thank you ❤️

Yeah I was wondering how we can support the sole when heart bars are on 🤔 so much to consider with this!
 
holeymoley said:
Tricky one, we took shoes off and padded and wrapped for the first few weeks. X rays showed 11&13• rotation so we got referred to the best remedial farrier for heartbars.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. How long was your horse in heartbars for? Mol has had nearly two weeks in padding so similar time frame you had too.
 
As above padding with frog supports until acute phase under control then boots with thick soft pads, gradually changing to thinner firmer pads as comfort allows. Keep on top of thrush/sweaty feet.
 
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It depends on whether she was shod before or not as to what I’d do. I’d go with either shoes/pads or boots/pads. It also depends on how sore she is and whether she is stabled or not. I had one that had never been shod so boots and yoga mat for pads worked well. Another of mine had always had shoes on so pads and thin aluminium shoes worked best. She also lived out so it was more of a permanent solution than boots which couldn’t stay on 24/7.
 
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It can be a combination, it doesn’t need to be one or the other.

Our mare had a mechanical laminitis episode post surgery for septic pedal bone osteitis. Lamintis trim first (nerve blocks were required) then put in boots. Then heart bars (had to keep the sole of the hoof with surgery off the ground) just for 4 weeks, then composite wide polyurethane heart bars as we were reintroduce her to turnout. Reshod every 4 weeks but this was a little too long between shoeing for her.

Once her sole had regrown, shoes off and transitioned back to barefoot by spending a day time barefoot, night time back in boots with pads.

Now she is barefoot/in boots we are trimming every 7-10 days and her x-rays show her hooves are so much better.
 
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meleeka said:
It depends on whether she was shod before or not as to what I’d do. I’d go with either shoes/pads or boots/pads. It also depends on how sore she is and whether she is stabled or not. I had one that had never been shod so boots and yoga mat for pads worked well. Another of mine had always had shoes on so pads and thin aluminium shoes worked best. She also lived out so it was more of a permanent solution than boots which couldn’t stay on 24/7.
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She is barefoot currently and has been for about a year. She is currently on box rest on vets advice but normally out 24/7 this time of year so you can imagine how thrilled she is!

We are hoping to get her out in a pen soon as soon as we have the go ahead from the vet. The farrier preference is for heart bars as he likes to get them moving sooner rather than later.

She is completely sound now she is on Bute. Was only lame turning beforehand, she was sound in a straight line. No idea how looking at the x-rays! She is one tough cookie!
 
Bonnie Allie said:
It can be a combination, it doesn’t need to be one or the other.

Our mare had a mechanical laminitis episode post surgery for septic pedal bone osteitis. Lamintis trim first (nerve blocks were required) then put in boots. Then heart bars (had to keep the sole of the hoof with surgery off the ground) just for 4 weeks, then composite wide polyurethane heart bars as we were reintroduce her to turnout. Reshod every 4 weeks but this was a little too long between shoeing for her.

Once her sole had regrown, shoes off and transitioned back to barefoot by spending a day time barefoot, night time back in boots with pads.

Now she is barefoot/in boots we are trimming every 7-10 days and her x-rays show her hooves are so much better.
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That’s interesting to hear. I guess if one doesn’t work it’s easy enough to swap to the other options.

Glad to hear your horse is doing better ❤️
 
As she was barefoot anyway I would try not to shoe and use frog supports pads and boots if they are working, my farrier uses the imprint shoes for laminitis I think they are glued on and he really rates them.
 
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RHM said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. How long was your horse in heartbars for? Mol has had nearly two weeks in padding so similar time frame you had too.
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Hello, mine got his first set of heartbars on January 7th 2019. He got reshod by another farrier who was completely incompetent and butchered his toes and made him chronically sore again. He was then shod again by remedial farrier. It was various peaks and troughs of ups and downs which laminitis is, but I do feel we were dealt a blow by the incompetent farrier. Basically he was x rayed again in the April/May 19 and he had 1• of rotation and was sound. We started in hand walking and turned him out in a bare paddock with soaked hay and he went from strength to strength, finally got a clean bill of health and 0• rotation in the July. His heartbars came off in the September 19 when most of his new hooves had grown down. He’s now back to work, turned out with a grazing muzzle and enjoying life more than ever. I fed him formula4 feet from the January for optimum help with growing new hooves.
 
I am a bit in the not camp of heart bars my horse was sound after really bad laminitis on 6 bute a day initially, and I got her comfortable with padding and frog support and then had heart bars on and she just went downhill, I don't if it was related but I'm just very wary of them now.

I'm sure they have worked for lots of horses but it scared me and I'm now cautious.
 
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holeymoley said:
Hello, mine got his first set of heartbars on January 7th 2019. He got reshod by another farrier who was completely incompetent and butchered his toes and made him chronically sore again. He was then shod again by remedial farrier. It was various peaks and troughs of ups and downs which laminitis is, but I do feel we were dealt a blow by the incompetent farrier. Basically he was x rayed again in the April/May 19 and he had 1• of rotation and was sound. We started in hand walking and turned him out in a bare paddock with soaked hay and he went from strength to strength, finally got a clean bill of health and 0• rotation in the July. His heartbars came off in the September 19 when most of his new hooves had grown down. He’s now back to work, turned out with a grazing muzzle and enjoying life more than ever. I fed him formula4 feet from the January for optimum help with growing new hooves.
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Great to hear he is loving life again! And for the timeline that’s really helpful.

It must have been terrible when you had the bad farrier. It’s so hard to know who to trust. I really like my farrier but he is so young and I’m not sure how experienced he is with remedial work. Which might be unfair of me but I definitely have a seed of doubt in my mind!
 
Pinkvboots said:
I am a bit in the not camp of heart bars my horse was sound after really bad laminitis on 6 bute a day initially, and I got her comfortable with padding and frog support and then had heart bars on and she just went downhill, I don't if it was related but I'm just very wary of them now.

I'm sure they have worked for lots of horses but it scared me and I'm now cautious.
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Sorry to hear that. That’s why I am feeling a bit dubious just because she is comfortable in her padding, I feel wary rocking the boat. But, I want to do the best for her and the farrier is convinced that’s the way to go.

I wish there was a clearer direction.
 
RHM said:
Sorry to hear that. That’s why I am feeling a bit dubious just because she is comfortable in her padding, I feel wary rocking the boat. But, I want to do the best for her and the farrier is convinced that’s the way to go.

I wish there was a clearer direction.
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Thank you, this was about 8 years ago my farrier is brilliant I still use him now and trust him, I did loose her though but my vet did say that sometimes they relapse and she was unlucky, but he does say now he prefers the imprints to heart bars his shown me lots of pictures of cases his dealt with so times move on.

I am in the camp of if it ain't broke don't try and fix it! So if she is comfortable just carry on and keep a close eye.

I absolutely hate laminitis been through it twice it's my worst nightmare, so I'm thinking of you and am always here if you need any help or support happy to help with anything.
 
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Aww thanks so much. That message actually made me a bit tearful. Such a lovely offer.

It really is awful, you have been very unlucky to have this twice. Having horses certainly is character building!
 
From experience of 2 laminiticsI would go with boots. My vet recommended heart bars for my heavyweight traditional due to her being over 600kg with quite small hooves. The heart bars worked well for her but I wish had not gone the same route with my second smaller pony. I have learnt a lot about laminitis and the natural hoof in the last year and heart bars just disguise the lameness. With boots you can offer comfort and foot support while being able to monitor what’s going on. Both my ponies are now barefoot. I think second pony would have had a better recovery if I had not used heart bars
 
Melandmary said:
From experience of 2 laminiticsI would go with boots. My vet recommended heart bars for my heavyweight traditional due to her being over 600kg with quite small hooves. The heart bars worked well for her but I wish had not gone the same route with my second smaller pony. I have learnt a lot about laminitis and the natural hoof in the last year and heart bars just disguise the lameness. With boots you can offer comfort and foot support while being able to monitor what’s going on. Both my ponies are now barefoot. I think second pony would have had a better recovery if I had not used heart bars
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Thanks for sharing your experience!

They do seem to offer a higher degree of support looking at them. She does have thin soles so I think they will be more comfortable potentially too. 🤔

Glad to hear your ponies are now doing well. What boots did you use?
 
I use flex boots with pads, they don’t rub and I leave them on for around 20 hours before taking them off to let her skin breath and prevent her frog and bulb going soft, she is no longer actively laminitic but has thin soles and my hardstanding is very stoney in places. Her hooves are just at that point where the wall is separating from the hoof and I am trying to prevent them chipping till the new growth is further down. She was previously barefoot and I wish I had realised how barbaric it was nailing a shoe on to a compromised foot instead of using the boots but we learn through our mistakes I guess . I tried cavallos but I find the clumpier boots get sweaty and rub more. Flex boots have not rubbed at all. I hope you come out at the other end soon
 
Melandmary said:
I use flex boots with pads, they don’t rub and I leave them on for around 20 hours before taking them off to let her skin breath and prevent her frog and bulb going soft, she is no longer actively laminitic but has thin soles and my hardstanding is very stoney in places. Her hooves are just at that point where the wall is separating from the hoof and I am trying to prevent them chipping till the new growth is further down. She was previously barefoot and I wish I had realised how barbaric it was nailing a shoe on to a compromised foot instead of using the boots but we learn through our mistakes I guess . I tried cavallos but I find the clumpier boots get sweaty and rub more. Flex boots have not rubbed at all. I hope you come out at the other end soon
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Great thanks so much for this. Glad your girl is doing well.

She has started pulling off her padding and bandages in the stable. So, I don’t think she appreciates how warm and sweaty they are so flex ones could be a good fit for her.
 
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