Spinoff of Deb's thread -to shoe? UPDATE KA-POW!

[sarafina]

Hi guys - not a lot of posting from me, but a lot of lurking!

Despite our best efforts to keep the princess barefoot, I'm struggling with the idea of putting some front shoes on her for the summer (she seems more prone to abscess inthe summer because of the stones on our paths here). I hate seeing her in such pain.

Farrier is coming out this AM to do the hoof tester deal (I've been soaking and wrapping since Monday). She gets at least 2 per summer, typically. I'm less concerned about the time off from riding, but more concerned about weighing out her long term comfort. When or if you decided to shoe, what tipped you into it? I don't believe the work that she's in (hacks and light trail riding 3-4 times per week, jumping 1x per week) is causing any undue wear or stress for a bare foot.

With this abscess, I noticed a little filling on the inside of her front legjust yesterday, right up under the knee to about 3 inches down. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping it's not a tendon issue, as there's no heat, but i'm getting the vet out if the farrier doesn't find anything. In the meantime, she's gettng cold hosing, standing bandages at night and her abscess bootie, and a little bute for comfort. She does go out to graze all day (sans standing bandages).

Thoughts? Wisdom? I'm not a barefoot warrior, but I've really enjoyed having a barefoot horse. So low maintenance, economical and I haven't walked the pasture to find a lost shoe in years!

[Lisann]

I have front shoes on most of mine through the summer. Stomping flies on hard, dry ground breaks up their hooves more than I like to see.

[Big Tee©]

There is something wrong if she is getting abscesses every summer - feet are allowing bacteria inside, so I would suspect there are more cracks than you see. The stones MAY cause bruising but not actual abscesses, however if a horse steps on a stone 'right', it can crack a hoof enough to let in the bad stuff. If you do a lot of riding over rocks/stones, shoeing may be the solution. I know lots of horses that wear steel in summer and go barefuot in winter. Treating abscesses all summer is NOT low maintenance.

Leg swelling with an abscess isn't that unusual - last one I dealt with, the horse had quite a puffy hot leg, and it was so tender I thought he did something else. The abscess blew out high so was the source of the swelling and heat in the lower leg.

[Deb]

I have had a case of hoof abcess here with Cody, my Appy gelding. He was favoring one of his front feet. When my farrier got here I pointed out that Cody was off on one of his fronts. After the farrier looked at it he said to leave it alone that nature had taken it's course. The abcess had ruptered and nature's course was taking place. Cody never showed a favorered step since.

[sarafina]

Ok, so the abscess blew out after a bit of prodding from the farrier. It was huge, apparently, and she totally groaned a sigh of relief when he did it. Poor girl.


The farrier thinks she has thin soles, and I would agree. We do have to walk over rocks/grave; (try not to) to get to the rings and fields, and also to access the trail area, but I try to minimize that, because that seems to be a big cause. Also, I try to only walk her over stuff like that if her feet are dry.

Glad to hear leg swelling isn't unusual. She'll stock up a bit if she stands a lot, but this is the first time i saw that kind of filling so high on the leg. So, of course, I freaked.

Other than the soles, I do think she has nice feet. They don't really chip readily, even in fly season, and she's not on any supplements. Just good grass, good hay and racehorse oats.

thanks for the replies. I may try an aluminum shoe, just to give her some height, maybe a pad. We'll see what farrier says after she heals.

[alisonph]

SF,

We had a mare like that. Lovely feet, no noticeable issues, but without front shoes, she had more than enough abcesses. Toss some front shoes on for her comfort. Ours didn't need pads, only a shoe.

[Deb]

Back when I was riding all the time I kept both Candy and Cody shod, mostly because I did a lot of country back roads riding. Not only that, but one of the rules of the National Kidney Foundation Benefit Trail Rides and American Diabetes Association Trail Rides I participated in required all horses to be shod on all fours. During those years I honestly did not have any problems with their feet at all. From the time Cody first went blind I stopped having him shod, because I retired him. The abscess that he presented was not a deep one. The ground of the area I have him on is nothing but dirt with maybe a rock here and there.

[easychoice]

I gave up on Tony going barefoot this summer and had his front feet done. He's very 'ouchy' on grave and concrete. I'll take em off for the winter and hopefully by next spring his heels will be long enough and toes short enough (ie racing feet) that that will help.