Suddenly short on hard ground?

skewbaldpony

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My 14.3 Connemaraish Cob has been barefoot since we had him (he's from rescue, I think they all had their shoes off, so that doesn't mean he wasn't shod at home)
He has supposedly had laminitis before, but nothing since we've had him, on restricted grazing, though he is looking tubby.
We've always done a bit of gentle hacking out on some roads, but mostly grass and limestone tracks, and he's always been sound for me (2 years)
About two to three weeks ago we went for a hack which had rather more road work than I'd anticipated, and later that day he was stood like a horse with sore feet. Can't find any heat, or swelling anywhere.
Farrier has subsequently trimmed him - I didn't actually see him, but no message to say he'd found anything.
Anyway, he's had a lot of time off with kids at camp and holidays and such and I'm just gently taking him out now, but he feels lame in front at walk on a hard surface. Sound as a bell on grass.
Yesterday I pressed on, and he was fine once he got of the short stretch of road, and onto a limestone track. No sign of unlevelness at all. Today I decided against it, and turned straight round to school on grass instead, and again, he was fine. Rather a good boy, in fact?!
Daughter pointed out some red marks in his back (white) feet about an inch or so up - his front feet are black - has he had a run in with laminitis and none of us noticed? No, that can't be. Bruised sole from hard hack still bothering him? Sore feet for some other reason?
Any more ideas?
 

the watcher

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Those red marks sound like bruising and could be a historic injury growing down and causing discomfort, they would be more sensitive to an abscess developing too. Does your farrier have one of those clever laser type thermometers? They are really good for identifying hot spots in feet when they can't be detected by any other means.
 
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