[Hippolyta]

When I see threads with titles like this, I go to the kitchen, make some popcorn & pull up a chair....

[SuckerForHorses]

I just wanted to update the folks about my mare, who was ouchy after the "new" farrier (but he did a standup job on my gelding's trim & shoes).

He trimmed her back in August, and she was sore following the trim. He suspected that he had taken a little too much off, and on top of that, she was really out of balance prior to his trimming her, so her balance was altered quite a bit during that trim (she is pigeon-toed and the barefoot trimmer was not balancing her up - one of the reasons I sought a different farrier).

Anywho, she was still sore up to last week. I also noticed that she seemed to have thrush (putrid odor, but no dark color) and that her frog seemed to be almost receeding/not really growing. I called my vet to discuss.

She has always had a long-toe, underrun heel. Part of the reason I ditched the last trimmer (and the 4 before that) is because none of them effectively addressed this.

My vet knows about her underrun heel issue as he's been our vet for a long time. His diagnosis is that from years of an underrun heel, she understandably developed heel pain. In order to accomodate for this, she did start "toe stepping" to keep the weight off her heel (I concur with this, it did seem to be the way she was always walking). Then when the farrier took off too much toe, and she was sore from that, the heel pain and the toe discomfort came to a head, and she was sore all around with no way to accomodate anymore, and that is why she was off.

He also explained that with her limiting her weight on her heels, her blood circulation diminishes in that area, thereby not promoting the growth of healthy frog tissue and promoting the development of thrush. Her frog also was not contacting the ground surface.

He suggested giving her previcox to help with her comfort level, and to trim her heels back (they weren't low, but underrun from not being trimmed and thus got crushed forward), put on shoes with a wedge pad to give her heel support and to get her heel bearing weight again so it can start to get healthy blood flow.

The farrier came out on Friday, and trimmed her up, and put on an aluminum shoe with a 3 degree wedge (the shoe is wedged, instead of using a wedge pad, I'm not sure what they're called, a wedge shoe?). He also used magic cushion and denture mold around and over the frog to give her frog that stimulation/contact that it wouldn't otherwise getting to encourge the healthy growth. He used a leather pad and then the shoes.

Saturday morning she was walking like a different horse. I went on a trail ride yesterday because I had the day off, and she was moving like she's never moved before (in a good way).

The vet suggests having this set of shoes on for 4 to 5 weeks (I don't go beyond 5 anyways) and then reassessing at that time. He doesn't think this will be a "permanent" fix because the farrier can hopefully get her feet back into good shape. We may do a set of just regular shoes after 5 weeks, and then try to get back to barefoot for both horses. [DISCLAIMER HERE: I realize not all horses can be barefoot, but both of mine have been for years, but with the riding I was doing this year and with it so dry, I did put shoes on my gelding because he told me he needed them by being ouchy. This set of aluminums on my mare are the first set of shoes she's had in the 7 years I've owned her.] If we try barefoot and it doesn't wrok out, I'll put shoes on again.

I am hoping to get her back into good shape so she can be comfortable again. My vet is very well respected and great with these types of issues (lameness, corrective foot work, etc) and my farrier is actually his farrier, so I feel comfortable that this farrier can get the job done right.

[JB]

That is very good news that she was noticeably happier after wedging . Hopefully the MC is enough "medication" to get rid of whatever thrush is there, but consider maybe a good soak with Clean Trax as well

Fingers crossed!

[SuckerForHorses]

Forgot to add...prior to the Farrier getting there, I cleaned out both fronts, and soaked in a water & bleach mix per the vet. The Farrier also squirted thrush buster in there prior to the MC and shoes. Hopefully she continues to improve...she's my heart horse & I will do anything for her. She is the one that had ulcers last year.