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Member
Posts: 13
| My new horse has been lame on and off since he was brought to the great state of GA.( over a year now ) We had a very wet winter. It started out with scratches (never had a horse have those). then abcess, then cut back foot. The whole time my shoer was dropping his heels and not taking toe off while Im screaming you're are gonna cripple him. Yes, I got a different farrier. This one was better but still would not move the shoe back and give any support. Horse seems off / stiff in the hind. I had already been to 2 local vets with no answers. Finally got an appt with leg man 2 hours away. Lamness locator and x-rays show negative angles in front and back. primary lamness was right front. Can anyone tell me how long this takes to correct and if it causes others area in the hind to get sore also. I have the 3rd shoer and he has done what the vet said as far as corrective shoeing. Its been 8 weeks and still showing lame. Thanks for any advise or opinions. |
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Member
Posts: 49
Location: Southerner | I just worked on one 2 Saturdays ago that I have not worked on previously saw a pic posted on Facebook and told her to let me help her horse. I'm very educated in these and much other lameness in the performance horses. The horse had been off for at least 3 months. The horse was exercised all week and was ran last Saturday and placed 5th at a rodeo. I so wish farriers could understand the equine limb. You can always bring the horse to me! I will sound your horse up without spending big $$$ |
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Member
Posts: 13
| Thank you for your reply. It does give me some hope that it can be corrected with proper care. I have no idea what to do now. Vet says give him til spring off. More time will do what if the angles are not being corrected. I sent pictures to the vet and he said the shoes were perfect. Credit card is about maxed. LOL I am single trying to still live my dreams. Where do you live? but if I can't get a farrier to continue to shoe properly I couldn't continue to travel very far to the shoer. I have x-rays if anyone would like to see them. Thanks |
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Expert
Posts: 1815
  
| Had this same scenario on a horse we purchased a few years ago. New farrier put on alum wedge shoes to build up the heel and change the negative to a positive. After one set of shoeing, we were able to go back to a normal shoe, just setting the toe back and he has had a postive angle ever since :) |
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Member
Posts: 13
| The current shoer has contacted the vet again. We will now put a heart bar shoe on the right hind. He said the frog is pushing downward or something. He is also now concerned about suspensory issue. Does this sound normal for all these problems to be caused from improper balance and shoeing. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
 
| I had a horse with negative palmars in his hind feet only. My vet/farrier at the time put him in angled pads and trimmed him every 2 weeks to help get things back to normal. After about a year his angles were fine, but the ducking the 2nd barrel never went away. I semi-retired the horse. I pulled him out about a year and a half ago to learn team penning. No issues. I now use a natural balance trimmer and she has his feet looking great. I can tell by the way the gelding moves that he is 100% on his hiney. Back when the angles were off there was no big, definitive unsoundness, but the gelding was unwilling to engage his hind end. Now he will slide stop and roll back with just leg commands again. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | As mentioned above... wedges of some kind will prolly be needed... HEELS ARE UNBELIEVABLY difficult to grow back on anything but a club footed or foundered horse. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| If it were me (which it was with my good mare) I would get to a really good certified Natural Balance qualified in everything shoer. Get somebody that knows how to move the heel back by trimming a ton of toe, a little heel, and putting on really good aluminum wedges, and allowing the heel to grow properly back where it belongs. I'm in week 14 of regrowth, she might be able to come out of the wedges in the shoeing after next.
I've been really lucky with my shoer, he's fixed some pretty serious problems I was having and has educated me in the questions and decisions I need to be taking responsibility for. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | I am dealing with this on my big show colt. Sadly after pointing out his "funky" looking feet to numerous vets in the area and a couple farriers, they pretty much said it was just him. I got on google to see for myself and immediatly called a farrier. We are trimming him every 3-4 weeks. It is going to be slow because he has such slow hoof growth this time of year, but after even the first one, he was standing back further as he should and the toe dragging that had been going on since July stopped immediatly. |
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 Having Smokin Bandits
Posts: 4572
Location: Woodstown, NJ | Don't count on the vet to tell you whether or not the farrier is causing this. I had a similar situation when we moved to VA. Horse kept abscessing and then started stumbling. Never had a problem before. If I was the expert, I'd be doing their feet myself. But I'm not so I pay service people--farrier, vet--to do what I can't do. When this horse started having problems (and the others were having some problems as well, that's how I got so chummy with the vet), I'd ask the vet, "Is it the farrier?" I didn't want to blame the farrier. I don't think it's fair that people blame the farriers for every thing that goes wrong. Plus, I really liked the guy. But, even though his feet looked pretty good, my gut was saying they weren't right. So I asked the vet. He said, "Nah, the farrier is good."
Cut to two years later when I moved to the next county and was using a new farrier but the same vet. The vet obviously forgot that he approved that farrier, and maybe even forgot that I was using him, because now he said, in passing, how unskilled that guy was. I learned a lesson. Don't count on anyone telling you the truth if it might mean they will step on someone else's toes, even if they are your service provider. Especially in small towns. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | SmokinBandits - 2014-12-17 8:04 PM Don't count on the vet to tell you whether or not the farrier is causing this. I had a similar situation when we moved to VA. Horse kept abscessing and then started stumbling. Never had a problem before. If I was the expert, I'd be doing their feet myself. But I'm not so I pay service people--farrier, vet--to do what I can't do. When this horse started having problems (and the others were having some problems as well, that's how I got so chummy with the vet), I'd ask the vet, "Is it the farrier?" I didn't want to blame the farrier. I don't think it's fair that people blame the farriers for every thing that goes wrong. Plus, I really liked the guy. But, even though his feet looked pretty good, my gut was saying they weren't right. So I asked the vet. He said, "Nah, the farrier is good."
Cut to two years later when I moved to the next county and was using a new farrier but the same vet. The vet obviously forgot that he approved that farrier, and maybe even forgot that I was using him, because now he said, in passing, how unskilled that guy was. I learned a lesson. Don't count on anyone telling you the truth if it might mean they will step on someone else's toes, even if they are your service provider. Especially in small towns.
I used lameness vets from out of town and never mentioned the farrier's name. They wouldn't know them anyways. I pay these people that are professionals in this field to know what I do not. I am beyond ****ed. The new farrier, I pointed out what all was wrong, also pointed out that I am an internet farrier. He laughed and got right to work correcting what has been done for over a year. |
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Veteran
Posts: 276
| After wasting 6 months and $5k in vet bills, a couple years ago, my "backyard" vet figured out the angles were my horses problem. I don't know what degree your horse's are at, but my guy was at 15. We started with wedges and supplements to make his foot grow faster, resetting him usually at 4-5 weeks and he was finally sound in 6 months. Nightmare. I blame myself for letting his feet get like that, although I know that the drought in 2011-2012 caused his feet to not grow like they should. I spent a long time doubting myself when I KNEW something was wrong. I should have went with my gut. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | SpaceCowboy - 2014-12-18 8:58 AM After wasting 6 months and $5k in vet bills, a couple years ago, my "backyard" vet figured out the angles were my horses problem. I don't know what degree your horse's are at, but my guy was at 15. We started with wedges and supplements to make his foot grow faster, resetting him usually at 4-5 weeks and he was finally sound in 6 months. Nightmare. I blame myself for letting his feet get like that, although I know that the drought in 2011-2012 caused his feet to not grow like they should. I spent a long time doubting myself when I KNEW something was wrong. I should have went with my gut.
I am in your exact shoes. he has a ligament issue now in a front foot. I think it happened when he cut his foot back in April. Healed his cut and he seemed fine and then all these strange symptoms started to happen. To the point I even tested him for EPM.
I knew his feet were strange and then he was dragging hind toes and then resting them a lot. Chiro and vets said he was tight in his haunches. Never said feet could cause it even when I pointed it out. He would stand around with his hind feet up under him. Now he is straight from the tail to his hocks. That is with only one trimming.
I am hoping to avoid shoes. We have too much snow and ice. We are doing what we can this winter and if I need to be more aggressive this spring I will. He is already better in his front foot. It is amazing how bad angles can cause a hoard of other issues. |
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Member
Posts: 13
| Thanks so much for the replies. I am in an area where there is not very many shoers or vets that know about performance horses. The 2 local vets said shoeing looked good to them. I am trying to believe this last vet and let GOD take care of my horse but I keep wondering if there is something else wrong. I have not ran him any so any injury would have been in the pasture. His feet actually don't look on the outside as bad as the inside. Does that make sense? Patience I guess. It took a year to get this way, it will take a while to correct. |
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Veteran
Posts: 276
| I hate that you are there too! I swore back then, if one more vet (after about 10 of highly recommended ones) told me to inject his hocks, stifles, shoulders, SI, etc. and he'll be ready in ten days..." I was going to knock them silly! I didn't care about being ready in ten days. I love this horse and I want to fix his pain! So frustrating. Wish you the best! |
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Member
Posts: 13
| YES! Very frustrating. I know how to do my job. I expect other to know theirs. I know what looks normal and not normal but I rely on the farrier to understand the mechanics and stop saying if I give him more support he might pull a shoe. GRRRR I will put bell boots on him but if he is trimmed properly front and back he shouldn't snatch a shoe but under extreme circumstances or something out of the ordinary. This was definitely more damaging that pulling a shoe ever now and then. Thanks for letting me vent to you guys. I'm a new member and you have been very understanding. |
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Having Smokin Bandits
Posts: 4572
Location: Woodstown, NJ | We wyoming barrel racer - 2014-12-18 11:24 AM SpaceCowboy - 2014-12-18 8:58 AM After wasting 6 months and $5k in vet bills, a couple years ago, my "backyard" vet figured out the angles were my horses problem. I don't know what degree your horse's are at, but my guy was at 15. We started with wedges and supplements to make his foot grow faster, resetting him usually at 4-5 weeks and he was finally sound in 6 months. Nightmare. I blame myself for letting his feet get like that, although I know that the drought in 2011-2012 caused his feet to not grow like they should. I spent a long time doubting myself when I KNEW something was wrong. I should have went with my gut. I am in your exact shoes. he has a ligament issue now in a front foot. I think it happened when he cut his foot back in April. Healed his cut and he seemed fine and then all these strange symptoms started to happen. To the point I even tested him for EPM.
I knew his feet were strange and then he was dragging hind toes and then resting them a lot. Chiro and vets said he was tight in his haunches. Never said feet could cause it even when I pointed it out. He would stand around with his hind feet up under him. Now he is straight from the tail to his hocks. That is with only one trimming.
I am hoping to avoid shoes. We have too much snow and ice. We are doing what we can this winter and if I need to be more aggressive this spring I will. He is already better in his front foot. It is amazing how bad angles can cause a hoard of other issues.
I can relate to this. We also thought about weird things like EPM.
And to the original poster, I think a bad farrier can cause them to lose shoes. Another horse of mine suddenly started losing shoes continuously. Never lost one before and I had him for years. Didn't want to blame the farrier. Was living in a new place for about a year so I thought maybe it has something to do with the land. When I got a new farrier (for other reasons) he stopped losing shoes and never lost one again.
I'm on my 5th farrier in three years now. This one SEEMS like he knows what he's doing but I never know for sure until time has passed and damage has been done. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | I wouldn't think anything to special is required. Should have been able to just re-shoe/trim to correct the angles. Then re xray to confirm and the horse should be fine with continued growth. |
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 Famous for Not Complaining
Posts: 8848
Location: Broxton, Ga | WhatNext - 2014-12-17 11:39 AM
Thanks so much for the replies. I am in an area where there is not very many shoers or vets that know about performance horses. The 2 local vets said shoeing looked good to them. I am trying to believe this last vet and let GOD take care of my horse but I keep wondering if there is something else wrong. I have not ran him any so any injury would have been in the pasture. His feet actually don't look on the outside as bad as the inside. Does that make sense? Patience I guess. It took a year to get this way, it will take a while to correct.
What part of Ga are you in.............. |
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Expert
Posts: 2122
Location: The Great Northwest | He may be under slung that is the heels grow forward and a lot of toe. Get a vet to check the degree his coffin bone needs to be to be level. Get a shoer that will stand them up, as back the shoe to the white line. Your horse can be under slung in the rear feet too. |
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