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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
    Location: OK | For a horse with unidentified stiffness in the shoulders, what are the best pads for feet? Something to take the concussion out? So far, I've tried chiro, bot, time off, vet visit. Stiffness Is intermittent. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
    Location: 31 lengths farms | I've been told and so far it has held true on my horses,what looks like sore shoulders often are problems with their heels, ie, contracted heels. |
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
       Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | You could have a foot problem and not a shoulder problem. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
    Location: OK | The reason I say shoulder is she drags her foot off. the trailer. Heels aren't contracted. It's been too long to be an abscess. I guess I can go xray her feet. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
    Location: 31 lengths farms | My gelding was on and off sore in his right front for almost a year. When he came up sore again I took him and had x-rays done, that was June of last year. The vet there and the vet that saw him in October missed the abscess on the x-ray until they started to trim the foot for shoeing and he found what he thought was some thrush...as he flicked it with the hoof knife it got bigger rather than smaller. My gelding had an abscess in the bar of his foot so deep it was literally up against the digital cushion and they had all read it as a problem with the coffin bone itself. The first time he came up sore I would have sore he pinched a nerve in his shoulder. He was barely sore on flat ground, try to take him down a small incline and he shuffled. From everything he experienced I have no doubt that thing had been brewing the entire time he had been having trouble, and he was sound immediately after the vet drilled it out and that was before they got any packing material in it and reshod. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
     
| jojammer - 2016-03-03 2:39 PM
The reason I say shoulder is she drags her foot off. the trailer. Heels aren't contracted. It's been too long to be an abscess. I guess I can go xray her feet.
From my experience contracted heels not many people can identify early contraction.
I had a gelding who quit turning his first nicely, I asked the farrier if his feet were contracted, he said no.
Two vets looked at him one was a board certified surgeon, tested positive for caudal heel pain with hoof testers and nerve block on both fronts, they both missed the contracted heel.
Third vet never told him anything, the horse had 1 foot off the trailer and was diagnosed, confirmed with X-rays and block.
After we fixed the contracted heels he started cranking his first again.
He wasn't bad, but it turns out he is a big baby when it comes to pain. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
    Location: OK | So does anyone know about pads? |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
      
| You can try leather pads - I had great luck with them in a similar situation. They were riveted to the shoe and fit between the shoe and hoof. We filled the space between the leather and hoof with Equi-pak to help cushion too.
They were a temporary fix for the issues I had with a filly growing weirdly out of balance. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
    Location: 31 lengths farms | Leather works nicely if you ride on groomed ground. Leather wears out quickly if you do much "trail" type riding at all.
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
    
| I would consider a hoof xray before going any farther. It's helped fix several intermittent lameness issues for me. Angles are not always what they appear to be.
My older gelding 2 summers ago appeared to be getting along just fine at home with no issues and then one night at a race we got on the backside of the second, he took the bit and bolted back across the timer line. That horse will pack kids around the pattern, it was super uncharacteristic and everyone who saw it and knew him thought so.
The next day we went into the vet and on their sloped asphalt parking lot he was obviously lame in one front.
He toes were a little long to the naked eye but didn't look bad - the xrays showed that they were super long for the rest of his foot and he was starting to drop down and stress tendons and ligaments. We were cruising for serious issues if we didn't change the shoeing regimen. Changed it via a new farrier and we've been good to go since. |
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