At 22:37:07 on 16.06.09, HorseVet wrote:
If you have any questions about horse lameness then please ask it here.

At 11:20:11 on 20.06.09, Maggs wrote:
Magnus has been lame on and off for a couple of months. We have established the problem is with his near fore but have never found any heat or swelling. The farrier has also checked his hoof but he showed no sensitivity or any other symptom. Sometimes he would appear more lame after being stood in for a while, sometimes not. Having had a horse with Navicular previously, (kept sound for the best part of 15 years by the same farrier I have now), my brain was in overdrive, so after being lame for 5 days in a row, I called the vet. Out came Magnus and trotted up sound! The advice was to work him as normal and if he went lame again, to look into nerve blocking etc. Over all this period of time a pattern emerged in that Magnus would appear sound after shoeing, but gradually, especially in the two weeks before the farrier was due again, he would go lame. We had noticed though, that his heels tended to be rather long and low as his next shoeing date approached. I spoke to my farrier again and he has shod Magnus with shoes that are rolled just at the very point of the toe and set back a little to give the heels more support as the hoof grows. Last month he stayed sound and having been shod again two weeks ago, is still sound. However, I'm still paranoid about Navicular changes and would be grateful for any thoughts you may have.

At 19:45:52 on 20.06.09, Equine Dental Tech wrote:
please pardon my ignorance but why do you have your horse shod? i don't have much of a background as a horse person, but i do have a keen interest in natural horsemanship. So i do tend to think of things that benefit the horse rather than the rider, even though a happy healthy horse surely is a benefit to the rider lol anyhow i thought you might appreciate this link
http://www.strasserhoofcare.org/aboutstr.html

At 11:52:28 on 21.06.09, Maggs wrote:
I tried leaving him unshod which was of benefit to me financially, but unfortunately Magnus became very footsore which was of no benefit to him and meant I couldn't ride him which kind of cancelled out my original benefit. I take your point though and agree that a happy healthy horse is what we ultimately aim for. We do a lot of road work when hacking in our area and we have a long gravel driveway to get in and out of our yard and while we have a couple of horses on the yard who are unshod and cope well, unfortunately Magnus isn't one of them.

At 23:03:28 on 21.06.09, HorseVet wrote:
Hi Going barefoot can be a slow process and many horses will become footsore as the circulation improves and the nerve function returns to normal. This is actually a good sign and horses will become sound and able to continue barefoot afterwards without problems. With regard to barefoot trimming Strasser is not much favoured in the UK after a few court cases involving horses where that technique was used. I think there are more recognised schools of barefoot trimming now from KC La Pierre and Jamie Jackson. Your usual farrier should of course be able to do a barefoot trim but may not know all the latest knowledge and research into barefoot and the transition that happens. Lucinda McAlpine in Devon is probably one the best known and most experienced people I know with helping advise on the practical transition to barefoot. Best wishes HorseVet
http://www.naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk

At 20:12:08 on 28.06.09, Rich the Farrier wrote:
This lameness sounds more like a arthritic condition. I would think that he is suffering from some sort of ringbone. Ringbone is arthritis of the pastern bones and joints. It will cause lameness that will be worse if the horse stands in a stable, is worked on hard ground or if the toes are allowed to grow long. Your farrier seems to have the right idea with the shoes. If you are in dout then you should have an x-ray instead of a nerve block. This will (or should) show up and changes to the joints in the lower limb. Let us know how you get on.

At 10:31:36 on 05.08.09, farasi wrote:
Go bare foot, your horse will reep the benefits, I have a shod and un shod horse, so I understand the benefits of both. Hoof boots will keep your horse comfortable in front while your horse adapts. you won't have a problem with the hind, only on gravel till they harden up. Paint soles daily with hoof hardener, keep the horse out as much as possible (grin and bear the foot sore horse in the paddock. Ride in the school as much as possible in the begining (without the boots) only use them on hard surfaces and gravel). Its worth it, I have done it with two TB's as we had problems and I am not looking back. You need to be fully committed otherwise it will not work, you management needs to be changed too. Your horses working life will be extended. My farrier and I do my horses feet, I am sure their are a lot of good barefoot trimmers out there, but they do not have the experience of a good farrier. It is not the easy option and requires work. Read bad backs thread all about one of my TB's and there is an album of his feet.

At 10:35:31 on 05.08.09, farasi wrote:
PS My horses hinds have been off longer than his fronts and I can go on any ground with his hinds, and I can go on gravel now with his fronts, just not uneven stoney ground (my has very flat soles untill we get a whole new hoof).

At 17:53:32 on 15.11.09, Uzumlu Couple wrote:
Hi I have a 16.3 gelding who in May/June this year, has badly blown his left front tendon and torn the right tendon. Pulled the muscle in his right shoulder and has an infection in his right hoof. We also have a second gelding (16.2) who is a bully and will herd the injured horse around all day. He also shows typicial stallion like behaviour and our vet here thinks he may be a rig. He has advied that if possible we seperate them as they take chunks out of each other at the best of times. Our vet her in Turkey advised that we box rest him for 8wks, then section of a small paddock allowing him to graze for 2months. Then start him of on very short walks out for 15mins every day building up to 1hr (split over 2 walks) per day for a month, then very short bursts of trot. Our vet came out several times and monitored his progress and advised that even when we started the walks that we keep him to the small paddock as not to cause the tendons to break down aagin until they are totaly healled and he is fit again. Our groom has advied that this is a load of nonsence She has stated " They had been 'separated' but in fact the horse who was being bullied had been given a meagre amount of space which amounted to box rest - which I’m sure he saw as punishment and entrapment as he became very frustrated and aggressive each day. When we arrived he was recovering from an injury to his shoulder, however even when the vet advised us to start working him in gently he wasn't given any more space at home." At the beginning of this month she advised "We found that when they were turned out together at their other field 10 minutes away they were much happier" This was against our orders and that of the vet. We have also found that she has worked him hard and now he is back to square one. My question is: Is the vet over here correct to advise this type of rest and reabilitation? or is this groom correct?