She's footsore again

[Bobbin]

Arrgghhhhhh!!

Bryony is footsore AGAIN.

I just burst out crying today when watching her in the stable filling her gob with hay.

She's so footy its unreal, she's just had a tapewormer which will not have helped matter and the fields are wet again.

What do I do?

She seems to go ok in the school and is fine with her old macs on but general walking around the yard is agony for her........

I need some dry weather...and fast

[KarinUS]

Oh no. Poor girl. :(
Are you boarding or is it your own place? If it's your own you could make some adjustments to the footing.
How long has she been transitioning?

[Yann]

Is it the wet or spring grass causing the trouble? Has she been pretty good all winter and suddenly gone backwards? I've just had a similar scenario with Rio, although cutting out her winter rations has helped a lot, it might be a case of the dreaded low grade lami, or even not so low grade, as Rio was just cautious rather than in any agony. Review what you're feeding (if anything), stable part time if you aren't already and up the mag, it may make a difference.

PS The wormer may not be a coincidence either

[Bobbin]

I took Brys shoes off at the beginning of September, to begin with she was fabulous, just carried on as normal.

Then the wet weather came late November and she went incredibly footsore.....around the same time we wormed aswell funnily enough.

So I put her on half day turnout and scrubbed her feet out etc. Christmas was bad, she was ouchy all over christmas but mid Jan she improved again but I stopped hacking without her boots.

Trimmer came mid Feb and said I needed to do more without the boots, first 2 hacks were ok then she went footsore again and has been ever since. She's better in the morning after having been stabled all night, she's fine in her field, plenty of galloping and bucking, she's just not happy at all on concrete, even the smooth stuff she just kinda shuffles around with her head down. Goes ok in the school but is very reluctant to walk after.

I'm really worrying about concussive laminitus, as she has had trauma to her feet and the spring grass could push her over the edge...or is that not how it works? Although she's a good doer she's not 'prone' to Laminitus if that makes any sense.

[Whatanejit]

Runs to put on bullet proof vest before I say this!!!!!!!!!!


Put her shoes back on!

[Bobbin]

Runs to put on bullet proof vest before I say this!!!!!!!!!!


Put her shoes back on!

I think fate had a hand in my mobile phone falling into Brys water bucket last night as I was determined she was going to have her shoes put back on.....but said phone needed a night on the radiator before I could get the farriers number off it.

Still not sure though............

[Libbyo]

Karen

Just talk to the farrier. A comfortable horse is a happy horse. The farrier might have some ideas to help.

[KarinUS]

But if it's just been too wet to really condition her feet, why can't you ride her with boots until conditions get better for conditioning? If the wet weather makes their feet too soft then why not continue to ride her in boots? A comfortable horse is a happy horse... ;)

[Denbenj]

Runs to put on bullet proof vest before I say this!!!!!!!!!!


Put her shoes back on!

I would to very compelled to at least try this, maybe barefoot is not the perfect soloution for the gorg bry. However if you do get them put on, and still experience problems, at least you know there maybe more of a problem going on x

All the best with her anyway, whatever you decide to do x

[MelanieD]

Really footy when just been wormed and grass growing = bit worrying. Do you know how to check digital pulses? Would be well worth contacting your trimmer and trying to figure out why she's sore. If it's just wet weather or the feet aren't up to the work your doing then boots or shoes could be the answer. OTOH if it's a warning that you need to be careful of laminitis shoes would do nothing good.

[Yann]

Runs to put on bullet proof vest before I say this!!!!!!!!!!

No need for a bullet proof vest as far as I'm concerned, it's a decision for each owner to make for the best, and will obviously be influenced by why the shoes came off in the first place. If she was good and she's not so good now then there's a reason, be it the wet, her diet, too much wear, infection, the wormer or whatever. If she's hobbling on smooth hard surfaces then I'd be concerned, how much difference do the boots make to this? Has your trimmer (I assume it's a trimmer?) got any thoughts on her down turn?

I'm really worrying about concussive laminitus

Whatever the type of laminitis, shoes are actually the worse of two evils, they increase concussion and load the outer wall.

It's your choice like I said but if she's happy in boots and turned out I'd personally persevere, you've spent the money on boots and you may as well. It's very much early days and the wrong time of year for any horse that's only been out of shoes for a short while. If you can stick with it into the summer when the ground hardens and the new unshod growth starts to hit the ground then I suspect you'll see a big difference, we did with Rio :)

[sheryl]

Hi,
Is she foot sore front and back?

Most of the horses weight is carried on the front. How about just getting front shoes back on, and see how she goes.

A happy compromise;)

[Bebe]

I don't understand why someone would recommend that a horse who has been struggling recently (and I'd say that between Christmas and mid-Jan is recent in hoof terms) be worked without boots. It seems counter productive to me.

It does sound like you've got a lot of things going on, and the link between footyness and worming would worry me to be honest. I'd want to work out why this is causing a problem regardless of whether you choose to have shoes put back on or not.

If you don't choose shoes, then I'd work this horse exclusively in boots and pads for quite a long period.

FWIW I recently very seriously considered having my mare shod again as her comfort levels took a nosedive and I couldn't get to the root of the problem (still don't know what set her off). I would have done it too if there was a decent farrier in my area, as it was I just couldn't bring myself to have her badly shod (well shod is a whole different thing!). She's in boots and pads on all 4 hooves now and if I'm honest it's a right pain, I can be witnessed cursing mud, cursing boots and hooves on a regular basis (Yann can probably confirm this, his stable is just down from mine!). She is improving though, she's now sound over all surfaces again in walk, not quite there in trot but there's noticeable improvement. That's not to say that if a great farrier moved into the area I wouldn't be the first one with his phone number!

[Bobbin]

I hacked her out in all four boots today and she was absolutly fine, like a trojen warrior.

I had a chance to really look at her feet today when I took the boots off and she has cracks in her walls, you know as you look at the bottom of the foot and you can see the outer hoof wall there are little cracks spanning the diameter of the wall. I meant to take some pics but didn't have a chance. I wouldn't mind betting there is a bit of infection in there.

I didn't turn her out at all today and I'd say she was alot better for it, so I think the wet is having an effect.

I also got some pink powder today to try and replace what the wormer has stripped out of her gut.

[KarinUS]

I don't have much else to offer but just wanted to say it's nice to hear you guys had a good hack and that you already have a plan to help her get better. :)