Thoroughbred always lame - suggestions please!

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StarcatcherWilliam

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I have owned my 8 yr old exracer since August. In that time he has been on box rest on three separate occasions due to lameness. First time, vet put it down to laminitis, however all tests came back clear and the cause was all a bit of a mystery which makes me think it was never laminitis. The second two times I put down to bruised sole as I actually saw him tread on a stone the second time as I was leading him in from the field.

The horse is a very poor doer and wind sucks. He is on a low sugar/starch diet of Veteran Vitality (I know he's only 8 but this was suggested by vet), Alfa A Oil, supplemented by micronised linseed, copra, Provita Equigest and Pro Hoof Platinum. I have been putting eucaluptus on his soles to try to toughen them. Farrier suggested I try Keratex but haven't wanted to after reading people's comments on here! But I think I will try.

He is currently on box rest with the third bout of lameness. I am feeling very frustrated! Farrier has suggested either I go for hoof boots or gel inserts. Any thoughts/suggestions? I'm scared to go barefoot, but could this be the best option for him?
 
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Veteran vitality is NOT low starch/ sugar and may be contributing to his ongoing foot issues, it is fairly good for fussy eaters but not suitable as a diet for barefoot horses which even though you are not is still best for good feet. Alfalfa does not work for all horses as it can make them sensitive and footy.

Has he been scoped for ulcers as they are linked to cribbing and windsucking as well as causing problems with weight and footiness, my barefoot ex racehorse had dreadful feet but is now pretty much rock crunching, is in regular work and has not missed a day through lameness, other than a few minor cuts, if I were you I would address the diet/ scope or treat as if he has ulcers and then look at getting the shoes off and using boots, putting pads on will just cover up the problem rather than treating it.
 
be positive said:
Veteran vitality is NOT low starch/ sugar and may be contributing to his ongoing foot issues, it is fairly good for fussy eaters but not suitable as a diet for barefoot horses which even though you are not is still best for good feet. Alfalfa does not work for all horses as it can make them sensitive and footy.

Has he been scoped for ulcers as they are linked to cribbing and windsucking as well as causing problems with weight and footiness, my barefoot ex racehorse had dreadful feet but is now pretty much rock crunching, is in regular work and has not missed a day through lameness, other than a few minor cuts, if I were you I would address the diet/ scope or treat as if he has ulcers and then look at getting the shoes off and using boots, putting pads on will just cover up the problem rather than treating it.
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Thanks for your response. What would you suggest instead of the VV? Something like Fast Fibre? I did wonder about the Alfa A and even posted about it on here last year.
 
Agree the VV won't be helping either his feet or his windsucking as full of starch and sugar

I feed mine (cribs) alpha a oil, oats, linseed, yea sacc for digestion and seaweed for his feed and his feet according to my vet (jokingly) are his best bit, I notice he is more prone to abcesses without the seaweed, his digestion and cribbing are worse without a diet higher in starch and speedibeet also seems to aggrivate it. Think fibre and oil based diet
 
The thoroughbred that came to me in the summer had terrible feet and was lame even with heartbars.

We changed his diet and and took his shoes off and he's now spot on!

He's fed readigrass, grass nuts, micronised linseed and whole soaked oats. He has the Pro Earth foot supplement too. He looks incredibly well and his feet have been transformed in just 6 months.
 
Thanks so much for your advice everyone. I had decided to give readigrass a go and am off to the feed shop later. Thank you _HP_ for the link about measuring collateral groove, that is very helpful. He definitely wind sucks more now than when I first got him and he was fed a load of rubbish at previous yard (banana cool mix and mollased chaff!).

Interesting that some of you suggest oats - is this not a starchy grain??
 
TB's quite often have flat feet with long toes and heels and their feet can be weak. Keratex is a really good idea, its a brilliant hoof hardener, I used it on a previous horse who lost shoes due to the horn being penetrated by wet in the winter, so not sure why its been slated on here. I have used both rubber pads and Vettec silicon packing material and both were good although the silicone stuff did break up rather quickly when my horse decided to paw his feet in a river bed when he got excited whilst stood still!

As the saying goes 'no foot, no horse'. If your horse is lame maybe you need to be preventing concussion in order to help any other problems which may have resulted from a 'knock on' affect.
 
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applecart14 said:
TB's quite often have flat feet with long toes and heels and their feet can be weak. Keratex is a really good idea, its a brilliant hoof hardener, I used it on a previous horse who lost shoes due to the horn being penetrated by wet in the winter, so not sure why its been slated on here. I have used both rubber pads and Vettec silicon packing material and both were good although the silicone stuff did break up rather quickly when my horse decided to paw his feet in a river bed when he got excited whilst stood still!

As the saying goes 'no foot, no horse'. If your horse is lame maybe you need to be preventing concussion in order to help any other problems which may have resulted from a 'knock on' affect.
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Thanks for your response. I know only too well about no foot no horse :-(
People have said Keratex shouldn't be used as it contains formaldehyde...
 
poor you and poor horse :( I don't have a lot to add but the stress of him being on box rest regularly will probably add to the cribbing issue.

I am not against the barefoot idea as I mine is barefoot but if you have a horse that has very sore feet without any sort of real diagnosis as to why its lame IMO if you take his shoes off its going to be a while before you can adequately assess whether there is something more going on- has he had any xrays or nerve blocks to get to the bottom of the issue?
I think if you do take all his shoes off some sort of hoof boots preferably all around to make sure the poor fella is as comfy as possible :)

Good luck X
 
Good luck! I have had 3 TBs 2 with typically poor feet and 1 with feet like iron! The 2 with poor feet were flat bread. Formalin sorted the poor feet
 
Have you had him scoped and his gut scanned? I ask because he sounds a lot like my boy who also had bouts of laminitis (he was already barefoot) and was a poor doer among other things. His issues were related to his hind gut. He's been treated with Equishure and is a totally different horse.

Mine couldn't cope with beet, alfalfa or copra, they made him worse.

Going barefoot might help if the issue is foot related, if the lameness is laminitis then you need to solve the reason for that first or you'll struggle to get him sound barefoot.
 
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Scarlett said:
Have you had him scoped and his gut scanned? I ask because he sounds a lot like my boy who also had bouts of laminitis (he was already barefoot) and was a poor doer among other things. His issues were related to his hind gut. He's been treated with Equishure and is a totally different horse.

Mine couldn't cope with beet, alfalfa or copra, they made him worse.

Going barefoot might help if the issue is foot related, if the lameness is laminitis then you need to solve the reason for that first or you'll struggle to get him sound barefoot.
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Thank you. Yes, I am planning on getting him scoped.
 
Have a look at his posture as poor posture often contributes or causes poor foot conformation. Check that the centre of his fetlock joint does not over hang the heal/ back of shoe as this means his balence will always be rocking him back onto his heals and also cause muscle tension higher up.
 
I've got the vet coming out today. Horse was sound yesterday morning but very lame on both fronts again last night. I'm going to ask about having him scoped for ulcers as I've been doing some research and ulcers can result in leaky gut which could cause laminitis. This would make a lot of sense so we'll see what happens. I just want a happy, healthy horse!
 
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