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Post by solomon on Jan 16, 2010 14:58:18 GMT
I have a concern about Pete's back feet. His shoes are very worn, front no where near as bad but his toes are scuffed straight. It looks like he has been dragging his feet for a year! He will have the farrier again soon, but don't remember this being a problem before. Thoughts?  |
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Post by fimacg on Jan 16, 2010 16:56:25 GMT
back feet will always wear quicker than fronts (at least that what my farrier says) how often does your farrier come?
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Post by fleabitten on Jan 16, 2010 17:51:30 GMT
OMG deja vu! This is what happened with Kieran and we aked people and they just said he was being lazy and to ride him on but he was doing it walking round the yard (traling back feet) etc.
In one of my books it says: symptoms of injury to the flexor tendon 'inability to raise and flex the leg resulting in dragging of the toe'
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Post by solomon on Jan 16, 2010 21:29:46 GMT
Farrier every 6-7 weeks, maybe 6 this time!
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Post by fimacg on Jan 17, 2010 14:26:02 GMT
Flea, thats the danger of books, you always think the worst,
Sol, ask you farrier next time he is out, you may just need to shorten the interval between shoeing if Pete is doing quite a lot of work (or more work then previously), escpecially if its road work.
Chompy has road nails in his back feet (one nail with a tungsten tip) its much harder to wear, so they dont wear out the shoes as quickly and also gives them a little more grip on the roads.
I put a thread up a few months ago about chompys worn shoes (he had worn them to 1mm thick) on his back feet. I'll see if I can find it
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Post by fimacg on Jan 17, 2010 14:28:42 GMT
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Post by fleabitten on Jan 17, 2010 15:53:45 GMT
Yeah, its probably nothing bad Sol. We never found out why Kieran was dragging his toes and nobody could tell us and then mum was flicking through the book at Christmas and spotted that. I think the most likely thing with kieran was either he knocked his legs when rolling or it could have been to do with the possible arthritis in his hocks. You could even give your farrier a ring and see what he thinks  Good luck. |
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Post by racaille on Jan 17, 2010 18:40:52 GMT
This might be a bit random Sol, but it's a thought.... Here the farriers shoe hind feet "short", that is the front of the hoof wall overhangs the shoe by a tiny amount. This means that the hoof front can wear down a bit and it usually wears straight across, giving what I think is what you're talking about. The reason they do this is that it in some way compensates for the wear on the back part of the hoof wall which is in constant friction with the shoe and wears down naturally. (I don't know if this makes any sense  ) Could this be the same for Pete? He's worn his shoes down because of a lot of road work due to the freaking weather, and you've noticed that his hind feet are a bit 'scuffed' at the front? If he is shod like our horses this would be entirely normal. |
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Post by brigadier on Jan 17, 2010 20:56:39 GMT
Squaring off the toes of the hind hoofs is usually a sign that the horse isnt using his hocks as well as he can. Its quite common and nothing to worry about unduly as long as there is no obvious injury or exreme stiffening. Common in young horses that havenit learned how to flex at the hock and balance themselves properly and in older horses with the onset of arthritis and general wear and tear.
Basil is five and he has done it since Ive had him, he moves better in front than he does behind and one of my hardest jobs has been to improve this.
Setting the shoes back slightly can help as can rolling the toe of the shoe which is what your farrier will probably suggest to improve this. This causes the stride to break over quicker and stops the drag. I dont have Basil shod so when we do road work the wear is quite marked.
Also ask your farrier if he has noticed if Pete is getting stiffer when he props the hind leg up- if the answer is yes he could be getting a bit lazy behind or it could be a touch of arthritis in the hock.
Havent heard of the flexor tendon thing that Flea mentions but when the deep one is damaged they do tend to knuckle over at the fetlock more so that makes sense but if it was damaged he would be on three legs, so as Fi points out there is a danger of reading too much into books!!!
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Post by solomon on Jan 17, 2010 21:07:51 GMT
Thanks everyone as always.
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Post by fleabitten on Jan 17, 2010 21:24:47 GMT
aah brig, it really must have been stiffness then. that makes sense as he had wear and tear in his vetting and then someone said he might have arthritis in his hocks... that was only one of the symptoms of damage so it doesnt necessarily mean its injured. |
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