Stuggling on hard/stoney ground

[FudgieFoo]

Fudge's hind came off last June when she went to stud and she was fine with them. Her feet had gotten into poor shape and over the next few months her hind feet looked much better. So when she had her x-rays in Oct 2006 I left her fore shoes off to. She's been fine over the winter but now is struggling to walk down the stoney path to the field although she is fine on the grass and if she can will favor the grass edge to the main path. She looks really foot sore. I am kertexing every day. Her foal is due in nearly 11 weeks so I am not too keen on putting her front shoes back on. Can anyone advise me if there is anything else I can do to help. Have been doing the Keratex daily since Tue.

[coss]

don't keretex daily :eek: twice a week at most. keretex partially dries the hoof out (not as bad as hoof oil)
keretex will harden the hoof but if the hoof gets too hard the horse's hoof can't mould around the stones. there is a fine balance when the hoof is hard enough not to bruise but soft enough to mould around the stones a little. i would back off the keretex for a week and maybe apply some hoof moist.

[FudgieFoo]

My farrier said to do it daily!!! I thought it should only be a couple of times a week but he said it would be fine daily!!!!!

[coss]

My farrier said to do it daily!!! I thought it should only be a couple of times a week but he said it would be fine daily!!!!!

:eek: i am amazed to say the least. when i asked my farrier if i should use any to prevent bruised soles etc he said not to bother at all! i would go with your instincts as i think you could be making the hooves dry out too fast and harden too fast... the instructions say twice a week until they start hardening then once a week to keep the hardness. when my farrier told me not to bother i put some on once a fortnight and everytime he came out he said their feet were looking good not realising i'd put some keretex on.

[Jessey]

For really bad hooves I have used it daily to start with, then after a week gone to twice a week then another couple of weeks gone to when I remember :p I never had a problem but their feet were normally getting plenty of moisturising from dewy grass or soaking too :D

[MelanieD]

Would you be able to put boots on her for the stoney bit? Check digital pulses since she's only started being footy at a time when grass is growing more, but could also just be carrying more weight due to foalie growing that's making her a bit more footy. I'd normally suggest magnesium for footy horses but have no idea about feeding it to pregnant mares.