Update on horse who cant keep shoes on

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saddlesore

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Went to the stables today and was horrified :( My sharer has done him the past three days so hadn't seen him since Wednesday and he still had the shoe on at that point.

Went out to the field for him and he was noticeably lame the second he came off the grass. There is almost no foot left due to having it replaced so much recently and after having the same shoe replaced 3 times in 3 weeks not only could I flex his sole with my finger, it was leaving an indent :eek::eek::eek:

I have made the decision to remove the rest of his shoes, box rest him for the next 2-3 weeks on thick bedding with limited soaked haylage to help get his weight down. If he is comfortable enough after this he will be turned out for a few hours during the day for another month or so before slowly introducing work in boots and pads.

I will only be feeding speedibeet to carry an equimins biotin supplement and will also feed mag ox. He is now banned from carrots and apples!

Any thoughts on this plan? I am NOT happy for more shoes to go on that damaged foot :(
 
Poor boy. He may well need considerably more rest time than 2 - 3 weeks. Have you had the vet out? I would want him on some bute to make him comfy.
 
Thanks, yeah that's just a starting point. I have some danillon and will pick up some more this week. The vet knows I have issues as they have xrayed them previously. So angry at myself for not noticing sooner but when the shoes were on they seemed ok :(
 
Just a thought but if he's a really good dooer speedy beet makes a big diffrence to my boy and any thing more than a handful and he doesnt loose any weight. If your looking to get his weight down have you thought about giving him 50:50 soaked haylage and oat straw?

I hope you get him sorted :)
 
No point beating yourself up over it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

My plan of action would be pain relief, very thick shaving bed (pref with rubber mats) and plenty of soaked hay for a month or two. I would also be getting out a different farrier to rasp the feet whilst he is in recovery. Yo0ur original farrier shouldn' have things progress as they did.

Boots and pads may well be necessary even for turnout but that could be a while off yet.
 
If you've already got speedi beet fine but Fast fibre is lower calorie. If you are soaking the haylage I would feed enough so he isn't left for long periods without forage. Using nets to slow him down. I would add a good balancer tbh (Pro hoof/pro balance) and look into boots and pads for time outside the stable.
I think I put ideas on your other thread. The balancer is important to help him regrow and repair his hooves.
 
Personally I'd take his shoes off for good. Do you really need them? If he's footsore to begin with then use hoof boots. Otherwise, I'd keep him turned out - ideally with the option to come into his stable if he wants to whenever he wants. Definately wouldn't limit forage, not good for any horse. If he's fat then simply leaving him out will help him work off the weight a bit.
 
Thanks guys, was pretty much expecting to be shot down in flames tbh :(

The speedibeet is less than 1/4 stubbs scoop once a day. I'll switch to fast fibre when he's done. I've got old macs boots and just ordered 12mm pads there for when he ventures out of his stable.
 
If he's lame in the field without boots I'd turn him out in boots for at least part of the day because he needs the movement to help his feet grow and strengthen.
 
He's going to need as much movement as he can on surfaces where he is comfy.....boots, possibly with pads, will enable that. Movement makes the blood travel all round the hoof and helps healing and growth.....
 
If he is on no grazing and soaked haylage - I would add a decent mineral balancer with added vitamin E to the Speedibeet.

You want him to get adequate copper and zinc in order to produce good quality hoof tissue.

After 9 months - see if you want to re-shoe and if you do, make sure you allow an annual break from shoes from now on.

Prevention is better than cure.
 
saddlesore said:
Yeah fingers crossed it works!! I will get him moving, but want to give them a good rest first. Poor boy :(
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Box resting is not ideal in terms of barefoot rehab. Movement is the best medicine.
But from what you have explained of him so far - I think it's a good decision in this case. If his sole is so thin and we can't sort the diet while he has shoes on (to give his sole a head start), then keeping him in a very soft area lessens the risk of bruising and sub solar abscessing.

Sudocrem/thrush treatment his frogs and in any nooks or crannies while he is in,to get a head start on any bacteria/fungus that may be lurking.

If his frogs have a deep sulcus you may need to cram soaked swabs in there.
 
I don't think pink powder has anywhere near a good enough spec for him myself. With balancers you are only guessing tbh but in your boys case I would try my hardest to persevere and get him eating Pro Balance or Pro hoof or one of the Equimins advance complete ones. Start will a small amount and gradually creep it up and don't give up and give him something else or leave it out.
Agree with Oberon about vitamin E with no grass and it's a shame he wont eat micronized linseed as that replaces omega oils lost in no grass diets as well as other helpful properties it has especially for skin and hooves. Salt is something else to supplement.

Ps. Tbh, I would go for Forage Plus hoof health balancer but it is a big ask if he is very fussy.
 
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Try Equimin's Advance Complete to start off with if he is so fussy.

You can put fenugreek seeds/fennel seeds/turmeric/peppermint cordial in the feeds for a fussy horse.

My Tank (who normally hates all bucket feeds unless they are smothered in molasses) goes mad for Tesco's curry powder.

The most fussy horses get used to the new tastes eventually.

Worst came to the worst - you can always syringe stuff in their gob.
 
saddlesore I can't be that helpful but just wanted to comment re. the fussiness because Frank very much was with proper supplements for a long time and thought that + the removal of sugar really wasn't on but he did come round after a while (tho still prefers ff to speedibeet). Not tried curry powder though oberon ;)
 
Hilton Herbs do a big sack of dried mint for about £30. Having been round the houses and back again for something to disguise the tastes of various medicines and supplements with my girl, she now always has a scoop of mint... and we up it a bit when introducing something she doesn't like and gradually reduce it again. For example, when taking all the molasses out of her diet in preparation to have her shoes off, she was not a fan of the flavours that were left... but a bit of extra mint did the trick.

The other thing I've never had fail is a sprinkling of apple squash because it has a strong appley scent. Wouldn't want them on it all the time though as it is pretty chemical if it's not sugar, and very sugary if it's not chemical... but a little may help, gradually reduced...!
 
ester said:
Not tried curry powder though oberon ;)
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I used Verm X once and The Tank went mad for it. I looked at the ingredients and it has cayenne pepper in it :eek:

I had a pot of cheapo curry powder approaching it's expiry date so I figured I'd give it a go :o
 
If his soles are that soft you MUST get minerals down him ASAP. If he wont eat it syringe it in - had to do that with one of mine initially.

Id also think he needs boots and pads, in hand walking in them, to start getting them going.
 
Ive already said on your other thread!!!

Pro hoof but add it in slowly and add spearmint to the fast fibre.

If he wont eat it you get one large syringe, insert and depress the plunger...

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Lol Caroline B - thats the mineral mix I have from having forage analysis done - Im short on a lot of copper as you can tell from the colour!
I used pro hoof before I had the analysis done and it is beige coloured :)
 
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