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  Discussion on Boots Till They Heal?
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Member:
Aannk

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004 - 9:58 am:

I posted about this under a different post (about rehabbing muscle soreness). My gelding with the muscle pull has managed to become foot sore on all four feet (worse on the back) in the past few days. This all started with the muscle pull in his right hind. He has had his shoes off for a month now. He has never had hind shoes. He has very good feet according to my farrier. However, the last time I tried to have him shoeless at our place, it didn't work. No horses at our place are shoeless. The ground is pretty much rocks. We have no grass, and the dirt is full of rocks. Should I give up and get shoes put on (the vet who has come out twice now in 4 days said she would shoe him on all four), or would turning him out in Old Macs do the trick? He is fine in our indoor, and his therapy for his feet right now is for him to just go out in the indoor for two weeks with bute AM and PM. Fortunately, this coincides with his treatment for the muscle strain. Anyway, I noticed that the boots are mainly for riding. Could they stay on while he is out? They are usually out for at least 16 hours a day, and the site says not to leave them on for 24 hours. Should I just shoe him? I use him as a show hunter. I can avoid bad footing at shows easily. We do jump, and when he is sound, we jump 3 times a week.
Any suggestions?
Alicia
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 29, 2004 - 6:00 am:

I do not think turn out in Old Macs, or any boot I have seen, is a good idea. First boots maintain a moist environment and second if the boot got turned around or flipped off there would be no one to rapidly fix this. Considering you are dealing with another lameness problem, I would avoid trying to take the horse shoeless at this time.
DrO
Member:
Aannk

Posted on Thursday, Jul 29, 2004 - 9:35 am:

Dr. O.,
My vet said the same thing. She doesn't have any experience with the boots, however, so I wanted to ask. I guess I will have to get his shoes back on. Do you think I should do front and back? He has never, in all his life, had to have back ones on. I hate having to put shoes on at all. Do you think putting back ones on for a few months would be ok, or could his feet possibly have become weaker with time?
Alicia
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jul 30, 2004 - 6:02 am:

If he has not needed them in the past I don't see a need now.
DrO
Member:
Aannk

Posted on Friday, Jul 30, 2004 - 9:36 am:

Dr O.,
I looked at some of the natural barefoot sites, and saw something that I thought was interesting. They say "flares" on bare feet are very painful. Guinness has slight ones (I plan on taking pictures over the weekend). They aren't as obvious as what I saw on the sites, but they are there.
In regards to the sore feet, the funny thing is that he was fine on all four feet bare for 5 weeks. He then pulled that hind muscle, and ever since then, has had sore feet. The even stranger thing is that in about a day, he went from being kinda sore on the fronts (slight reaction to hoof testers) to very sore on all four (didn't want to walk and when he did, he limped). That is when I called the vet out for a second time and she recommended all four shoes. He has now been turned out in the indoor (soft sand footing) for two days (as of yesterday), and he is totally sound (of course I didn't lunge him in a small circle to see if his hind is still bothering him, I plan on rehabbing that slowly even if he seems perfectly fine).
Any ideas as to the suddeness of the on set, as well as the fact that the hind feet suddenly were sore too? He is 8, and has never had hind shoes.
Alicia
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 31, 2004 - 11:23 pm:

Though flares in the wall are not desirable, I see them all the time and I do not consider them painful. Without examining your horse Alicia, his history, and his environment I cannnot begin to hypothesize what is going on and why. If the horse is bruised you will have to tell me why he bruised his feet all the way round.
DrO
Member:
Presario

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 3, 2004 - 12:19 pm:

I will have to say that while some flares for some horses are never a problem (I've seen some HORRIBLE feet that were perfectly sound), some horses cannot have flares without becoming sore. They just can't take the white line stretching (which is what flares are/lead to) and get very sore. The fact your horse was fine in this environment for 5 weeks says (to me) it's probably not the environment that has made him sore, but perhaps his barefoot trim.
Member:
Aannk

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 4, 2004 - 11:43 am:

Jordana,
That's kind of what I thought. Especially as it happened all at once, which to me seemed to indicate his feet had grown to a certain point where the flares got long enough. Thing is, he is perfectly sound in the indoor. Would the flares still hurt in soft footing, if that is what is causing the pain? Also, if I went with the different trim, and he still needed shoes put back on, would that be a problem?
Thanks,
Alicia
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