Thin Soled TB that cant be shod

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Breezesmum

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Hi everyone,

My boy cant have ant shoes on as there just isnt enough hoof wall for the farrier to nail into and when he has been shod the nails come to close.

Ive had the vet out and had xrays done and he has very thin soles which are bruising all of the time and causing him to be lame. he is even going lame off wearing hoof boots.

The vet has just been called again today as i thought his new lameness was something else and it is bruising again.

I have tried Keratex and Rock hard, he is fed happy hoof and extra biotin, does anyone else know what ~I can possibly do to promote healthy sole growth?? x
 
I can really reccomend you speak to Sarah at Forage plus and consider having your forrage analysed and a bespoke feeding plan written. It sounds like he is quite metabolically compromised and although it will cost you about £100 plus the minerals, in your case I would say it is well worth the money.

In the mean time I would treat him as a laminitic. turnout on restricted grass only and supplement with soaked hay.

Don't believe for one minute that because happy hoof is laminitis trust approved that it is good for his feet. It contains alf-alfa which, for some horses is too rich.

I personally would put him on Alan and page fast fibre, continue the biotin and supplement Magnesium, brewers yeast and also put him on a mug of micronised linseed a day if you don't have your hay analysed or forage plus do a feed balancer which you can feed instead of the above supplements but make sure you keep feeding the micronised linseed with the fast fibre- it is magic stuff!
 
RE Biotin. I had an interesting discussion with my farrier about it and he said that not a single horse from the UK that has been tested, has been found to be deficient in biotin. The (small) study that was done, that showed hoof improvements in the horses that were given it, was done at the Spanish Riding school on their Lipizzaner stallions.
 
Thankyou, I will change his feed in the morning.

The Xrays ruled out laminitis completely, so we know it definately isnt that, but the vet said she wished it was as it would be easier to treat
 
The Xrays ruled out laminitis completely, so we know it definately isnt that, but the vet said she wished it was as it would be easier to treat
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That's madness!

Do you have a sand school available? If you do, turn him out in that for a bit eveyday (with a mate if needed) as it will help his hooves.

Can you post photos of his hooves and soles?

Does he have any flare? Are his soles flat or concave? Are his toes long? Does he have under-run heels? Can you walk him happily over flat tarmac or concrete with no stones? Is he happy moving around when out at grass?
 
Breezesmum said:
Hi everyone,

My boy cant have ant shoes on as there just isnt enough hoof wall for the farrier to nail into and when he has been shod the nails come to close.

Ive had the vet out and had xrays done and he has very thin soles which are bruising all of the time and causing him to be lame. he is even going lame off wearing hoof boots.

The vet has just been called again today as i thought his new lameness was something else and it is bruising again.

I have tried Keratex and Rock hard, he is fed happy hoof and extra biotin, does anyone else know what ~I can possibly do to promote healthy sole growth?? x
Click to expand...

I'll send you my Barefoot 101 pm as I am short on time.

What about glue on boots for a cycle? Or casts?
http://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/easyboot_Glue-On/easyboot_glue-on.aspx
http://www.equicast.co.uk/
 
The vet said he is very flat footed, and one of his pedal bones in the front is slightly tilted backwards, he is lame whatever surface i put him on but the vet said thats because of the bruising at the minute. He is usually sound on surface and grass, only lame when he gets onto gravel. The vets tested the sole thickness with playdough and a thumbtack for the xray and its 3-4mm thick
 
Look up Rockly Farm. One of the posters on here (Bikerchickone) sent her hose there and it pretty much saved the horse. I believe that Nic from Rockly will give advice via email and this would be very helpful for you and your horse.
 
Hi, I deal with feet like this a lot, I'm an Equine Podiatrist. You need specialist help for feet like these, including hoof wraps to see him through this delicate period. Look up a practitioner in your area.
 
My boy is tb and you have described exactly him thin soled I have tryed the farriers formula ect he also is very back on his heels when I first had him underneath were Luke cushions I use iodine spray on them and underneath.
 
He may not be showing classic signs of laminitis but believe me, you need to treat him very much as a laminitic horse - restrict his grass and soak his hay. his feet are very compromised by the sound of it and the most common cause of this is excess sugar in the diet.

As already said he needs mollases free feeds.

Most commonly used are

Fast fibre
Speedi beet
Micronised linseed
 
I had a TB like yours. She was hard to shoe because she never grew any hoof. She had very thin soles and when she was barefoot she had to stand on rubber mats or she couldn't stand on one foreleg to be shod.

I tried all sorts of hoof additives and none of them worked. One winter we ran out of hay and I had to feed haylage, her feet improved a lot, and really very quickly. I then started to feed her Top Spec Balancer - the fullfat Competition version. She looked fabulous and her feet started to grow properly and she had a decent sole.

Her only other "hard feed" was Safe& Sound.
 
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