Bad feet

[racaille]

I could spit.

Racaille has always had lovely hard little feet. After his 'accident' in the club my farrier recommended that we kept him shod in front for a while (even after the teenager left and he was out of work) to protect his foot as it grew back following the severe cutting it got when the emergency vet was searching for an abcess.

Finally, he was trimmed and left unshod. But now it seems he has worn his heels down too much and the angle of his front feet is not good.

My farrier trimmed him yesterday and wasn't too bothered because R isn't working but said that when/if he comes back into work he must be shod again to let the heel regrow and rebalance the feet. He says R has worn down the heel on the stones but it has been very wet this winter and even the winter paddock is a bit muddy rather than stony.

I trust my farrier - he saved the feet/life of a haffy that I was very fond of who got a really bad bout of concussion lami - and so I'm not worried about R, he'll be fine.

But I'm really puzzled as to why R's heels have just disappeared

[solomon]

No idea! Hope it all settles down.

[racaille]

i've been mulling this over and have decided the weather is to blame. It's been such an uncharacteristically wet winter that I think it has softened his hooves which have then worn away on the stones - although it doesn't explain why the toes got long and the heels dissolved ....

[pboy]

How long has he been out of work? It could be that the lack of stimulation from the work has reduced the growth rate. Pocholo's feet look better the more work he does!

My TB has very long toes and no heel and I'm doing the opposite to you - I plan to take his shoes off over the summer to encourage his heels to grow (I assume he's been in shoes since he was broken as a yearling / 2yo, though I took his back shoes off a year ago and he's coped fine). I changed his diet to a more 'foot-friendly' diet a couple of months ago and I'll take the shoes off in a month, once the show season ends.

[brigadier]

Bit of a mystery Rac, might just be his way of going that encourages his heels to collapse. Ive found that due to the wood pellet bedding all my horses have very dry feet. Ive to soak and dress them to counteract this which is fine with Toudle and Basil as they will stand with legs in buckets but Frank is having none of it and is a real fairy!

[racaille]

I'd love to see a pic of Basil standing in a bucket of water!!!!

It really is a mystery Brig, you're right. He's been barefoot before without any problems even under snow when he was no loan in the Alpes. I think that he will have to have his shoes back on sooner rather than later as his feet are a terrible shape now.