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 Veteran
Posts: 134
 
| My gelding has been evaluated by 4 vets plus Rood and Riddle. Everything says he is good to go but need special shoes/trimming to keep his front sound. He struggles with long toes and under-run heels causing stress on his coffin bone. I live in Michigan and he is turned out. Any suggestions on shoe options for him?
Thanks! I see a lot if information but wanted to see if anyone has had the same issue and what worked. |
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Tell It Like It Is
Posts: 22025
 
Location: Wyoming | I found a really good NB shoer. It sure helped mine. |
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 Dr. Ebay
Posts: 8507
 
Location: Land Of Oz | I second Natural Balance. The PLRs come with wedge heels if needed. Steel front NB work great on my mare.
Edited by Jinx 2013-12-06 11:12 AM
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Tell It Like It Is
Posts: 22025
Location: Wyoming | Jinx - 2013-12-06 9:11 AM I second Natural Balance. The PLRs come with wedge heels if needed. Steel front NB work great on my mare. 
We put the alluminum PLR's on my guy because he toes in so badly. The alluminum allows him to wear the shoe down faster where he needs it.
I do want to add that I have tried to try to educate myself better on the barefoot trim and NB shoeing.
I had to use a different NB shoer for a couple of shoeings last summer. He had my horse's feet really messed up. He had the shoe to far forward and to tight at the heels, which in turn caused him to contract again, which meant I had to get him injected to alleviate the pain that was caused by the way he was shod.
Got those shoes off and trimmed back to where he needed to be...both heels on both fronts and one hind were bruised!!
edited because the first sentence sounded snarky, and it wasn't meant to. 
Edited by realitycheck 2013-12-06 11:45 AM
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 "Drank the Kool Aid"
Posts: 5496
Location: Iowa, LA | Barefoot fixed my guy! Been sound for over a year! Here is a link:
http://forums.barrelhorseworld.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4553
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | If he is turned out and barefoot you can rasp the toes back/lower to alleviate the long toe. just the toe only then have him balanced on his next trim. If your not competeing or riding leave him barefoot. |
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Tell It Like It Is
Posts: 22025
Location: Wyoming | I started with Hoofcare Today on FB. Bought a whole bunch of the DVD's so I could learn a little more about NB. They are a great investment. |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| I have two young mares that had developed long toes and under-run heels. I think that a great farrier is necessary. My first problem horse we started working on when she was 3 years old, and she's now 5 and the soundest she's been. Started out with a 3 degree wedge and injections of the coffin joint followed by the navicular bursa. She was shod every 4 weeks, and each time my farrier pulled her back as much as he could. She got better with that, but after a couple of months it seemed like we were at a standstill as far as improving her soundness. At this point we decided to try leather pads with pour in soft-pack. We thought that maybe she was getting tender soles from being pulled back so hard. That worked wonders. As we got her angles back to where they needed to be, we took her out of the wedge and put her in a regular rim shoe and left the pads and soft pack on. She is still being shod every 4 weeks. The plan is to eventually transition her out of the pads and soft pack.
The other mare is a 4 year old and we've been working on her for a little over a year. She also had coffin joint and navicular bursa injections. When we started with her she was in a 3 degree wedge and the pads and soft-pack because of the benefits we saw with the other mare. We've transitioned her out of the wedge to a wide web shoe to provide extra support because she did have a prior injury of a coffin bone wing fracture as a long weanling. She's still in the pads and soft-pack. This mare is still not where she needs to be, but she is improving so it seems like we're on the right track. Also gets shod every 4 weeks.
Both of these mares started out with front end lameness when they were barefoot. They were both evaluated by my vet with flex tests, blocks, and x-rays. He determined the wedge angle based on the x-rays. Front-end lameness is so frustrating. And it seems like no lameness is the same, so you've just got to figure out what works for that individual. I've had 4 with front foot issues, and it has definitely been an education! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2604
Location: Texas | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 383
| I went through a few shoers and vets and even a 4 hour drive to a podiatry vet - all had their opinions but my gut told me to pull the shoes and keep him trimmed every 5 weeks and make sure my new shoer ( who has done a fantastic job) on both of my boys I keep shoes on one and the other that had so much trouble I just keep him trimmed it took about 10 weeks for feet to grow out good and I bought a pair of cavello boots for feet when I will be on gravel ( its kind of a pain sometimes) but it has totally fixed him hope this helps - I would like to say most shoers want to remove to much heel I am pretty straight forward with my farrier that I want as much heel as I can to be left on both of them it has made both alot more comfy |
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"Drank the Kool Aid"
Posts: 5496
Location: Iowa, LA | TBone - 2013-12-06 4:31 PM When I think of all the money and time and stress I spent trying different shoes, pads, wedges, glue-ons, hauling him all over TX and LA to vets and farriers, and all I had to do was pull the shoes and let his feet grow out correctly--- it makes me wanna pull my hair out!!! I LOVE watching him move now! I'm in awe of his gorgeous stride and moving out so nice instead of walking on egg-shells!  I'll put a disclaimer since I seem to peeve people off here lately....I appreciate all the farriers that worked on him and all the things they tried, but it just didn't work for my boy.....or my OTTB....and my mare is happier than she's ever been with her feet, as well. The change is absolutely astounding, but more importantly is the LONG TERM SOUNDNESS in ALL of them. And while I hope to NEVER have to hire another farrier in my life, if I have to, I would hope it is one like the one who gave me the nudge to try going barefoot. He is truly a good guy and out for the health of the horse and his GF is a pretty swell chic, too! Edited by annemarea 2013-12-07 4:28 AM
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"Drank the Kool Aid"
Posts: 5496
Location: Iowa, LA | realitycheck - 2013-12-06 3:14 PM I started with Hoofcare Today on FB. Bought a whole bunch of the DVD's so I could learn a little more about NB. They are a great investment.
I wish I would have taken the initiative to learn about feet sooner than I did! It was the smartest move I've made for my horses! Good luck to you!!! |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| My farrier and i where talking about the same thing yesturday. As my gelding delveloped help pain which was strange as his outside foot angle was different than the inside foot. We found out when i carriered my horse for a rear lamness eval. The first thing the vet said is that i had a good farrier, them he got out the thermoscan the it showed heel pain the xrays showed the different angle. So joe built a bar shoe and yesturday he put back in his regular shoes. I bought my guy out of a small lot and he had a drag line on him he had his feet trimed at 18 months old when they gelded him and cliped his face for the first time. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1035
Location: TN | My boy has the same problem (long toe, underslung heels). He's in a 3 degree aluminum wedge on the front and gets shod every 4 weeks on front, 8 on back. I think it's helping him. He's been able to go from a 00 to a 0 in the last year. |
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