the "other" horse and a hoof question

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blood_magik

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Our other horse has spent the last two days chilling out and getting used to his new home :)
The poor boy is still quite sore, having spent 5 days on his travels from Dubai.

So here's a picture him - this is Stall Notz Timberland. he's KWPN and he's 11. He was competing at 1.15-1.20 before his foot issues.
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The hoof question - bare with me, it's long :rolleyes:
Timberland's feet are awful. Farriers do no have to be registered in Dubai and his feet have been ruined.
He requires corrective shoeing due to a conformational fault - his knee isn't straight and it's causing an imbalance in the hoof which is straining the suspensory.

Correct shoes were fitted the first time. When the farrier removed the shoes to trim the hoof he hasn't fitted the shoes again properly so the foot was still unbalanced. He also trimmed the frog too much and Timberland ended up with concussive laminitis.

His shoes came off under the instruction of the vet and they are still off.

He's on a supplement to encourage them to grow and I've been using Kevin Bacon grease daily.
Is there anything else I can do to help him out? I've given him a sachet of bute to make him more comfortable and he's on a deep bed.

My vet will be out on Monday to see him and he'll work with my farrier to try to sort his feet out and make him more comfortable.

And because he's cute, a picture of Jerry who is now up to 25 minutes walking and seems to be coping well with limited turnout :)
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the supplement is SNP robust hoof supplement.

he's obviously sore. I walked him about 10m from his box to the yard and you could see he was uncomfortable.

my farrier wanted the vet to see him before touching his feet. there was some growth on the sole which the farrier removed (with his hands) as he said it was the equivalent of having a stone constantly digging into the hoof.

the vet will be up on Monday to see him.
 
OK.

Don't know anything about the supplement.

To grow hoof, he needs to move.

Bare hooves grow much faster than shod because of the increased circulation plus the stimulation of the ground makes the horse lay down tissue very quickly.

However - a sore or thin soled horse cannot move.

Casting material would be perfect at this point or hoof boots and pads.

But in the absence of such things, you can get some yoga mats, cut them into hoof sizes and bandage/duct tape them on. Even nappies might do.
And then either walk inhand or turn out somewhere dryish and quiet within his comfort.

You'll be surprised how much tissue he will produce by even Monday.

Of course, this is reliant on your vet being happy with him moving around. I am impressed the vet suggested just taking the shoes off :)
 
thanks for the advice.
the vet in dubai suggested taking off the shoes - the credit goes to him :)

I'll see if I can track down some mats and hopefully he'll be a bit more comfortable until Tim comes
to see him.
If we can get him comfortable then we can address the imbalance.

thanks :)
 
I've used SNP Robust Hoof for my daughter's TB and the vet commented that she had the best hooves she'd seen in a TB:). It's quite well balanced to itself and has a good amount of zinc and copper in the right ratios and not much added iron. One of the better hoof mineral supplements.
Afraid apart from that I'm no hoof expert :)
 
No probs - good luck.

I think Argos does mats.

Anything you can cut and has a little give and resistance will do.

I cut up my memory foam mattress topper in an emergency once :p
 
Shanny_mare said:
I've used SNP Robust Hoof for my daughter's TB and the vet commented that she had the best hooves she'd seen in a TB:). It's quite well balanced to itself and has a good amount of zinc and copper in the right ratios and not much added iron. One of the better hoof mineral supplements.
Afraid apart from that I'm no hoof expert :)
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Just had a look at the specs - it looks pretty good on paper. Glad it works.
 
OP for a longer term solution than the yoga mats, I would get some hoof boots, even if just for his fronts. It will enable him to land correctly as his foot is meant to do until the hoof grows and he gets more comfortable. Good luck.
 
I have considered hoof boots for him.
I've got the vet coming to see him tomorrow at 10 so we'll see what he says.

I don't know if he'll want to sort out the hoof before dealing with the imbalance so I'm holding off buying some on the off-chance that he needs shoes.


Thanks Oberon - I'll have a look now :)
 
If it makes the horse comfortable and allows him to move about, then I'll buy him a drink :D

I shall go armed with cupcakes and stuff I'm donating to his charity of choice ;)
 
That's the thing.

The 'magic' heartbars will make him FEEL more comfortable.....

....for a while ;)
 
blood_magik said:
You Tube is a wonderful learning tool :)
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What frightens me is that when the hospital blocked You Tube, the doctors all companied
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.

They demanded access for 'learning how to do procedures'
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.

What kind of Dr needs to learn techniques from YouTube
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.
 
Oberon said:
By locking them into a metal shoe? Widen? AKA flare?
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Hope he gets well soon :)
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I haven't explained it very well, have I? :o disclaimer: this is how I have understood it - I could be completely wrong :rolleyes:

The foot is very upright. He was saying that the pastern axis (is that the right term?) is broken so they need to take the weight off of the toe and back onto his heel?

How to explain..? The foot is wider at the coronet band than it is at the bottom so he wants to encourage the foot to widen/flare to balance it out?

My farrier is going to speak to my vet today and then he'll phone me back. I'll (hopefully) be there when he's being sorted so I can ask Kevin to explain what's happening as he shoes him. :)
 
I shouldn't really, vet's advice is vet's advice and shouldn't be questioned......

But I can confidently say your horse will have a wimpy frog, weak, fatty digital cushions (red) and pencil thin lateral cartilages (green, internal).
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Therefore, it's easier for him to walk on his toes because the back of the hoof is too weak to carry him.

The back of the hoof needs to work out - like a muscle. But the shape of shoes and their action on the hoof mechanism, means the caudal hoof gets left out of the action and withers and atrophies.
hoofshoes.jpg


It sounds like your vet rightly wants the hoof to get back to what nature intended in terms of shape and function.

I just wish vets would trust time and nature a bit more, especially when a horse's problems were caused by shoes in the first place.
contractedheels.jpg
 
I don't think it was the shoes that caused the issue - it was a farrier who didn't know what he was doing. :rolleyes:
His feet were ok until the farrier took off the corrective shoes to trim his feet after the first fitting and wrecked them in the process.

I'll take some pictures of his feet tomorrow when I'm up if you're interested?

That picture of a contracted heel is interesting - timberland's foot looks like that now.
 
Aye - the contracted heel houses a week caudal hoof and internal structures. It's inevitable with long term shoeing.

I understand I am sounding fanatical right now, but shoes DO cause damage. The balance needs to be struck between performance and health in order to stave off future pathologies. And when horses have hooves so sick that they cannot manage without shoes - then there are some pretty sick hooves there already.

Walking toe-first long term, due to a weak caudal hoof, puts strain on the joints, ligaments and tendons.

I see my 'never shod' draft stomping heel first at all times and I see my 'shod for 13 years' arab (who had an infected sulcus for most of that time) still protecting that weak caudal hoof, except in the softest of mud - despite being BF for almost a decade. It's too late for him now.

If a horse needs shoeing for sports - then so be it. But we should return to the traditional 'break from shoes' as standard practice. And the veterinary profession should appreciate that sometimes time and nature can fix even the most difficult cases, rather than leaving that option as the last attempt before PTS - when the owner has already paid a fortune.
 
I do see where you're coming from.
I remember reading an article on rehabbing horses feet and there was a case study of a horse with an imbalanced foot that came from the same yard as mine (in dubai).
he was left barefoot and the foot righted itself over time. :)

one issue we have at the moment is that the paths from the stable block to the schools are covered in gravel and poor timberland is so footy and sore.

I'm hopeful that we'll be able to take his shoes off and give him a breakonce we've sorted his feet out. :)

jerrys shoes will be coming off shortly because he no longer needs them :)
 
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