Bruised soles

[spotti]

Am I doing the right thing?

I've kept the beastie in for 2 days already - just letting her have a quick poddle about in the indoor school twice a day - and am keeping movement to a minimum. I'm in the process of buying her some hoof boots (can they be turned out in them?) to protect her feet as she has very flat feet, hence the bruising, and she has a nice deep bed on rubber mats.

Just wondered if there was anything else I could do for her?

[abi]

did the vet say keep her in? ours said turn out and stable overnight as normal, suppose that would depend on how hard your fields are though?
thought horses could live in the boots?

lots of cuddles and carrots! x

[trojanwarrior]

Yes you can turn her out with the boots on, but they must have a break from them. They make the hoof 'sweat'. Ideal breeding ground for bacteria. You could turn her out in them & then take them off at night when she's stabled. Just keep an eye out for nasties such as thrush.

If you feel she's still not comfortable with the boots on, then you can get comfort pads for them.

[joandlad]

Have been trying to refrain from posting lots with my DAEP hat on as I joined the forum as a horse lover first and foremost. But I guess if I can give advice then, as a horse lover, I'd be remiss not to.

Do you know what has caused the bruised soles? Is there any sign of Lami? Sorry to sound obsessive about Lami, but at this time of year that would be my first guess. There could be inflammation of the whole foot and not just the soles. Before anything else, you need to tackle what's causing the inflammation - workload, terrain, diet, poor structure, infection, underlying physical issues etc, etc. Whilst there is inflammation present too much movement will cause further damage to the foot. So, just use your common sense wrt movement. Do as much as she is happy with, don't force her to move if she isn't willing to. If it's just from general walking about with thin soles then the best thing you can do is to get some boots and put some pads in them (will PM you about pads). I'm guessing she's unshod, so you shouldn't have a problem with turing out in boots and pads. As well as making her more comfortable, the pads will stimulate the structures of the foot and encourage the sole to thicken up. No point just using boots on their own for protection alone, as when you take the boots off you'll still have thin soles. You ned to improve the structures of the foot so that you are not stuck in a vicious circle. A nice thick bed sounds great, so take the boots and pads off when she's in so you don't build up a breeding ground for infection. You don't say if she's usually out 24/7 or out during the day and in at night. Obviously, build up slowly to whatever your normal routine is - ie don't put on boots and pads and stick straight out 24/7! It's very rare for a horse to be truely flat footed (ground parallel coffin bone) so it's usually just a case of thin soles due to lack of stimulus.

Lots of cuddles will definitely help. But I wouldn't give the carrots at the moment - just in case it's the high sugars that are the cause.

[spotti]

I don't think its lami, but you can't be too careful.

It seems she's just bruised her soles from having to walk over the stoney paths to get to the field (which, in itself is great for her feet, but getting to it is the hard part) and since she has very flat feet anyway - hooves wore down when having to do roadwork before moving yards as we had to keep moving to fuse hocks (spavin) but had nowhere else to go but on roads, hence flat feet - and the the stones really don't help.

As for movement, she's happy to run around in the school, barge out of her stable and trot off halfway down to the field (without me!) so I'd have thought if she was in pain she wouldn't want to move?
How long would it take for the bruising to go down do you think? A week or so? I think if she still looks sore by monday then I'll give the vet a ring (again! ARGH! I already owe him about £250, just waiting on my bill to say just how poor I'm going to be!)

Abi - I think she'd be happier if she could go out (as she's not lame on her feet yet, just bruised) but I just don't want to make anything worse.

Trojan - ta!

Joandlad - DAEP? That sounds like an EP (equine podiatrist)? And what do the pads do (apart from make the boots more comfy)?

[joandlad]

DAEP/EP is all down to politics really. KC La Pierre from The Institute of Applied Equine Podiatry trained all the current qualified DAEPs & EPs (equine podiatrist). Then some of the qualified UK DAEPs set up a UK association. In order to differentiate between the two, those affiliated to the UK association are called EPs and those affiliated to the Institute are called DAEPs. Lots of arguments for and against each that I won't get into on an open forum.

They bruise pretty much the same as we do so it's hard to say - it depends on the severity and whether the cause has been eliminated. But to completely generalise, if it was just a stone bruise, I'd expect her to be on the road to recovery within 3-4 days. If she's definitely not lame and just bruised she should be OK to go out. But as I said previously, best to build it up gradually over a week or so.

As for the pads. I've dropped you a PM as I didn't want it to seem like I was plugging products on here. But the pads provide active stimulus as opposed to just comfort and protection. Nerve endings in the coriums (soggy bit) of the foot pick up stimulus. The foot responds to the stimulus as it feels necessary in order to keep the foot functioning correctly. In your case, the sole will be stimulated which will result in the foot laying down more sole to counteract the environment it believes it is in and the wear that it thinks it is receiving.

[abi]

joandlad is very good at this!

yeah i'd stick her out if i were you, as long as the field isnt stony or rough, as if shes happier it'll boost her immune system and make her better (how is her cold now spotti?)
xx

[scattymare]

joandlad/spotti can you please PM me some details of these Hoof boots and pads please. The Doof has very flat feet also and I wonder if they would help her. Are they very expensive?

[spotti]

Abi, her cold is as good as gone now (still coughing a bit when exercised - not when walking, only trotting) but her snotty nose is clear now and she's definitley more full of beans than she has been for a while.

As for the hoof boots, mine (to be) are Boa boots. No idea how they'll be, but can give you an update when we get them and give them a go? I'm getting mine from Robinsons, but if you type in 'hoof boots' or 'boa boots' or similar into google then you can find out loads! Cost wise, the boas I've ordered are £105 a pair. I think I've seen Old Macs cheaper, but I needed mine asap hence buying the first ones I found.

And Joandlad, I got your message and thank you, I'll look into the pads

[Becca]

Bernie in his Boa booties when he was lame



Spotti have you though abour using an EP (or DAEP) my friends mare had quite flat feet (no heels) and over time our Ep has encouraged the heel growth so she is much more comfortable.

There are also a couple of products you could try, i think keratex do a hoof hardener as do naf. There is also farriers formula which is supposed to be good (there is also something tha is 10x cheaper but i can't think for the life of me what it is)

poor ponio, they are all going through sore feel at the mo aint they

[spotti]

I've tried to get in touch with the loaca EP but to no avail! I must have phoned her about a hundred times (well, maybe more like 50) over the last few months but still get no answer! She answers emails...eventually, but not her phone, even though she told me the best time to ring and still no answer. I'll keep trying though because the vet is trying to persuade me to get her shod , which I'd rather not do if at all possible.

Just to add, Bernie looks really good in his boots...just looks like he's got black hooves on the front

[Becca]

ooo do we have any pics of faith in hers yet? any luck with the EP?

[zara]

Spotti, has your farrier been to see Faith recently? I might upset the "barefooters" and "EP's" but some horses with flat feet are better with shoes Zx

[spotti]

Zara, I had the farrier out yesterday. He says her hooves are flat but are looking better than last time he was out (about 6-8 weeks ago) so there's hope yet. He asked what I was doing with her, which at the moment is nothing, so said shoes would just be a pointless expense and would be more likely to hurt another horse if she kicks someone when out in the field, so for now we're staying barefoot (although may need fronts on when we get riding, depending on how things go).
Vet recommended some special shoes to help with flat feet, although farrier thinks we should see how we go before we start nailing shoes onto her feet, so again, barefoot for now.
Something else the farrier said was to let her go back outside, although I'm still a bit wary because her feet still look very bruised, but will let her out again just as soon as we've sussed out the boots and got used to having them on.

As for her boots, they didn't fit at first (toes too long) but now they fit like a dream (except she managed to spin one around because she insisted on standing still yet bending double to get a bit of grass, so we're still experimenting with tightness ect). I do have a few pictures of her, albeit not very good ones because she wasn't in much of a posing mood, but they show her with her special trainers on. They're just uploading now, will add them on in a few minutes...

[spotti]

Right, pictures!

Faith in her special trainers - looking a bit like 'Mum, what have I got on my feet?!?


From the front (excuse the weird pose, she was eating grass and decided to go for the bit that was the furthest away!)


From behind


And one from a little while ago that makes me smile

[Becca]

aww what a cutey, they wont stay that clean for long haha!

[spotti]

I know! Hopefully she should be out in the field at the weekend, even if its only for an hour or two (probably with me watching so she doesn't hurt hersefl!), so they'll get plenty dirtier then!

Becca, how do you get on with the gaiters? They look really narrow and fiddly (esp the bits that go in the bottom of the boot before putting them on) and look like more hard work than they're worth. Do you use them at all?
And your Old Macs, how are they (thinking we might get some of those for her back feet if we can't get suited with Boas - her back feet are smaller and weirder than her fronts lol)

[Becca]

oh i don't use the old mac my friend does, they are soooo much easier by the look of it, she has the original ones. i think i have used the gaiters like twice, it's a pain because i have to sort of twist bern's boots on, stating with them sideway and straightening as i pull them on! yes i have an odd shaped horse haha. and trying to keep the gaiters straight whit doing that is so hard. if hers go on easily they could be worth a try tho

[Becca]

[zara]

Hi Spotti, who's your farrier? IM me if you don't want to go public Zx

[spotti]

Ross Skelly - like you said when you told me about him a while ago, he's not very experienced, but he's really good with Faith and answers all my silly 'what if' questions and hasn't (as of yet) made Faith's feet any worse than they were...infact they've improved a lot since having him!
Like I said, he did say we might try shoes at some point, but for what she's doing at the moment its pointless - but if needs must...