Soft tissue damage in hoof due to overlong toes.

[Daisychain]

My lovely wb has now been lame for 2 months, basically the vet reckons due to his very long toe it has torn and damaged the soft tissues causing hemorraging etc.

I have changed my farrier and he has had about an inch of his toes and heartbar type shoes fitted.

These shoes were fitted about a week ago, and you could actually see streaks of blood in the side of his hoof as he rasped by the side of his heel.

Has anyone else experienced this with there horse? and how successful were you in getting it right etc... Thanks.

I havent actually had horse scanned or x rayed as very experienced vet and he has just gone on clinical signs.

 

[Flame_]

My big mare and my old gelding suffered soft tissue damage within the front feet, which was diagnosed by MRI after having been mis-diagnosed as just straightforward corns and collapsed heels. They both had damaged collateral ligaments and DDFTs, one being degenerate, the other through injury. Both horses had flat splayed feet, good remedial farriery while in my care but dubious in earlier life, and both were investigated at the AHT.

I don't know anything about the streaks of blood, all I could guess at are that they could be related to bruising or a severe corn.

My gelding was pts as his foot problems were beyond repair and he also had hindleg lameness. The mare came sound with shockwave therapy and rest but as she's a very difficult ride and unlikely to stand up to jumping she's never been brought back to work.

The best thing to do, IMO, with foot problems, is give good remedial shoeing a try and see if the horse improves. If it does, great. If it gets worse at all or isn't improving by three lots of shoeings, you need further investigations.

 

[misst]

I think Flame has given perfect advice - have had 2 with collateral ligament damage, one acute eventing injury PTS as could not get him paddock sound. The other was due to poor conformation of his foot (only visible on xray) where he had low lying pedal bones which caused collateral ligament damage. He had had excellent shoeing and was helped by silicone pads as well. He was sound to hack but could not cope with proper schooling (former excellent dressage horse). He is now retired aged 11 due to hind leg and SI problems.

Try the corrective farriery approach but if you don't see improvement have full investigations (MRI prob needed) before your insurance runs out.

 

[brightmount]

A KC LaPierre trained DAEP (degree applied equine podiatrist) is what you need. There is a list here:

http://www.aepsupplies.co.uk/index.cfm?sid=21583&pid=330568

Sorry for the short post, I can back up my recommendation if you want to PM me.

 

[traceyann]

my horse has very bad collatral ligament damage in left fore was due to be pts has had steriods no help tildren twice still no help so had irap five months box rest and is now sound and he is barefoot the vet did put gel pads he couldnt walk at all with these after two days i demanded they came of then he had egg bars still really bad but was on box rest so kept them on i have said so much on this fourm about irap but if you see how bad my horse was to now i still cant believe hes sound even now and hes been this way for three months now i also feed recovery eq from amercia which is so expensive but to scared to take him off it now

 

[Daisychain]

Oh dear... it doesnt sound very promising long term, he isnt insured, but i will do as much as i can, will see how the new shoeing goes before i go down any other route.

But tbh if i find out how bad it is and it costs me a fortune to end up with the worst case scenario whats the point anyway?

He has always been such a sound horse, it came on 3 days after his last ode. He almost looks slightly pottery, a bit like a horse with a touch of laminitis.

 

[hollyandivy123]

when was this ode? was the ground hard maybe it was concussion laminitis?

 

[Daisychain]

Yes the ground was hard, the only thing is he doesnt react to hoof testers, he is tentative on his feet.

 

[Fransurrey]

My pony doesn't react to hoof testers, either, but they are very subjective - it depends on who is using them and how hard they press! You can make a sound horse react, or a lame horse not. It does sound like laminitis caused by trauma, in which case, correct shoeing (or not) should solve it.

Remember that laminitis is a general term, relating to inflammation of the laminae. The cause varies, be it trauma or metabolic stress, but the outcome is the same.