Wits end need feet help please

smiggy

smiggy

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Took on a pony about 3 months ago. He is a lovely Connie, 5 next month. We took him on knowing he had foot issues.
Story was (and I absolutely believe this) that he had had bad thrush the last 2 winters since coming over from ireland. Really bad thrush with crumbling hoof walls.
My farrier took one look and said looks like lami, so got vets out, they said lami too so xrayed feet-lateral pics of fronts. 1 degree of rotation of left pedal bone, so not a huge change, but both pedal bones had eroded tips. An orthapedic specialist who happened to be visiting also said lami.
There is no history of lami, just thrush. (btw mean old lami damage not active)
Vets couldnt really advise best way forward but farrier and I decided to shoe fronts and leave backs barefoot to give them a chance to get stronger without nails etc. Shoeing fronts was because his feet was so cruddy and soles so thin that with hard summer ground he would have been crippled
He was then 99% sound in the school and sound on hacks till ground got harder then he started to be footy.
3 weeks ago I had him reshod and had pads on the fronts with dental impression material. Made a huge difference, much more forward going in the school, better on hacks but he is still footy on gravel.
I have him on low sugar high fibre diet with hoof power plus and copper and seaquim (been on all this over 3 mths now)
Feet just keep falling apart though! one of the fronts you can now see a nail where bit has chipped off
Please excuse the upside down pics, PB wont let me edit tonight-sorry
feet010-1.jpg


this foot also has a large horizontal crack you can just see

backs
feet004.jpg


please bear in mind this is 3 weeks after trimming when it looked reasonable!

other hind
feet005.jpg


any advice really welcomed
 
I can really recommend Formula4Feet. I get mine in a 20Kg sack from Prequestrian and have found them to be the cheapest. It will take a while for the hoof to grow but it has helped my horse enormously. Good luck.
 
Cornucrescine on the coronet bands will also make his feet (and your nails) grow- it will take a good six months for the benefits of supplements to show in his feet though, I'm afraid... but keep at it and he will come good :)
 
Cliqmo-thank you :D

Sorry forgot to say is having formula4feet and I have been using keratrex last couple of weeks, just the normal one.
The hoof moist looks helpful

Will have a look at cornucrescine-thank you
 
Keep with the Formula4feet, it certainly turned these feet around, my farrier cannot believe the difference it has made to Lacey's feet as they are good quality now although still prone to wings if not trimmed every five weeks. They had got like this through many months of neglect and poor diet. Your horse needs a decent diet to aid the building of his new feet, just topical applications aren't enough, it has to come from within. Good luck.
feet007.jpg

feet008.jpg


Not the best pic but gives you some idea how they are now
006-11.jpg
 
Do lots of reading about feet. This is a great place to start and I highly recommend his DVD series 'Under the horse' very pricy though but worth every penny imo.
http://www.hoofrehab.com/

Hoof quality ime and from what I've learned comes from diet. A low sugar high roughage balanced diet this is especially important if laminitis is involved.
My personal advice would be to get an assessment by a 'good' barefoot trimmer experienced in laminitis.
 
Definitely all laminitis related - the thrush, the crumbling hoof wall, all those cracks. If you've got his diet as low in sugar and starch as possible - completely unmolassed feeds, no cereals, soaked hay - and there has been no improvement then you need to get him off grass completely. Turn him out in a dry lot/sand paddock or anywhere that there is no grass whatsoever. Feed him entirely on soaked hay - but it will help to get your hay analysed just to make sure it is low sugar stuff - i.e. not rye grass hay. You can paint or rub on any sort of lotion or potion you like but the only way you will improve his feet is by feeding the right stuff - and that means the right stuff for him, which looks like it means zero grass. I would also want to make sure his body is working as efficiently as it can be - there might be liver/kidney issues - I use Happy Tummy from Fine Fettle Feeds to rebalance the disgestive system and you might also give him a liver tonic like Remount to help his liver function improve.
 
Hi, i know this is a late reply but problems like this can be helped by useing www.equicast.co.uk to allow the wall to grow. A shoe can be applied to the cast to keep a horse in work when lameness goes.Hope this can be of help to all.More info on website.
 
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