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  Discussion on Heat in BOTH hooves
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Member:
Gageten

Posted on Sunday, Feb 27, 2005 - 4:13 pm:

Hi Dr. O,

I had my horse's hind shoes pulled 6 weeks ago and he seemed fine and I rode him daily with no problem in our sand arena. The past few weeks, I noticed that some of the outer hooves had started to crumble away slightly where the old nail holes were, which I assumed was normal. Then, last week I could not come out to ride him for a few days, and it was too wet for turn-out, so I asked the groom to let him run in the indoor arena a little. When I came out the next day to ride him, he was lame in the back end; worse going left hand track. I assumed that the groom had over-done it, and the horse had pulled something, but he did not seem severely lame and there was no swelling, so I did not call the vet. I've continued to ride him gently and have allowed him to be turned out, and he seems a little better, but today when I got off, I noticed that both of his hind hooves felt warm; one more so than the other. Also, I noticed that the toes of his hooves have gotten long, and one toe seems to have broken off so that the front of the hoof is flat. When I felt all of his hooves, I felt a distinct warmth in both the back hooves whereas the front hooves are relatively cool to the touch. People have told me that heat in a hoof means an abscess, but my horse is not severely lame and odds are that there could NOT be an abscess in both back feet at the same time, right? What else could cause heat in both hind hooves? The warmth extends from the entire hoof to about an inch above the coronet band, and then stops. As I said, it is worse on one side than the other. I am also noticing that he has been shifting his weight every so often from one hind side to the other, which is not typical behavior for him. I can see no puncture wounds, scrapes or bruises of any kind, and there is no swelling. Any ideas?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Feb 27, 2005 - 5:10 pm:

Molly bilateral remarkable bruising might cause the shifting and make them both warm Molly. This may be due to too much work without shoes, which explains the distribution. I would have my vet out to confirm this. For more see, Equine Diseases » Lameness » Diseases of the Hoof » Hoof Abscesses, Bruises, and Gravels.
DrO
Member:
Gageten

Posted on Monday, Feb 28, 2005 - 7:38 am:

Dear Dr. O,

Yes! You are so smart! That makes perfect sense and is most likely EXACTLY what is going on here! I will call my vet ASAP. Thank you so very much for all the help you give to all of us each and every day.
Member:
Gageten

Posted on Saturday, Mar 12, 2005 - 1:07 pm:

Dear Dr. O,

I had my vet come out and look at my horse, and he said that there are no bruises or absesses and added that his back feet are just tender from having had the shoes pulled. He told me to paint them with Venice turpentine and that I should NOT put the shoes back on. Well, my horse has continued to be lame, and in fact has gotten even worse! I rode him yesterday and he was so lame that I had to get off. When I was leading him back to his stall, he stopped and got wobbly on his feet, like he was going to fall down! I got his saddle off ASAP and when he recovered, was able to get him to his stall. I called the vet frantic, because I have never seen a horse wobble around like that, but he INSISTED that his feet were just extra sore because he had been turned out in ice and snow and he refused to come out and take a look at him. His temperature is normal and he is eating just fine, but he seems horribly sad and does not want to walk at all! The vet said to keep him in his stall for 3 days with no turnout. I am starting to get really scared because I have never seen my horse like this, and I don't want him to fall down with me on his back. Should I listen to the vet and keep the shoes off, or does it sound like there is something more serious going on? I am beside myself with worry. I can't imagine a horse being in so much pain that they would wobble around and appear that they were on the verge of falling! I want to put the shoes back on, because enough is enough, but now I am scared to over-ride the vet's decision. I might make things even worse!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Mar 13, 2005 - 7:41 am:

Though I cannot tell what is going on from your description Molly it does not sound like tender back feet. I think you need to get someone who will come out and examine your horse to figure out what is happening. In the meantime stall rest, no riding, and following our instructions in the article on bruising until the vet examines the horse.
DrO
Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005 - 3:11 pm:

Molly -- When one foot is terribly sore (as with an abscess) the horse will shuffle from one foot to the other and try to take the weight off the sorest foot. You mentioned nail holes and then hoof breaking away at the toe. If moisture (and bacteria) got up into dry hoof that cracked away, you could have a "gravel" or abscess in one foot and the other getting sore and warm because of being forced to bear more weight than usual. This can even extend to soreness in other feet if the favoring becomes too severe. Two of my horses have had this type of situation when they had a crack in the toe of their hoof and we went from dry weather to rain and wet conditions. In one horse, the pain was so bad the horse went down on the ground. In both of my cases it was a front foot. With my other horse, it sounded very similar to what you are describing. My Vet. at first treated it as laminitis (X-rays didn't show abscess or coffin bone rotation at that time) and things got worse and worse. Finally my Vet. referred me to an equine hospital and by doing nerve blocks they were able to determine which foot was the sorest. By then he was acting sore on all 4 feet due to the favoring he was doing plus he was starting to colic. They pared the foot out and found an abscess. After that the horse wasn't sore any more. He was X-rayed again before being released from the hospital, and there was no rotation, though they didn't entirely rule out a mild laminitis in all 4 feet. At that point they had me keeping the hoof bandaged (changing the bandaging as directed) and wrapped up so it would stay clean with the horse kept inside. Though he didn't seem sore any more he did have some nasty drainage out the bottom of the hoof and about 3 weeks later another abscess broke out at the coronet band. At that point he didn't need hospitalization but I took him to a foot and leg specialist for a recheck. This Vet pared the foot out some more, poured a special concoction inside the cavity, packed it with cotton and slapped a polo plate on top of it. I was then allowed to turn him out (and ride him) as long as there was no standing water. After weeks stalled up and being hand-walked, what a relief -- he was fine after that though the white line widened out where the abscess had been and there was a hoof crack that took a very long time to grow out. Eventually it all came back to normal. I post this only because the symptoms sound similar. One other remark (You mentioned pulling shoes)-- when pulling shoes or adding shoes that change the horses angles, the foot and leg specialist I use suggests using bute a couple times daily for 3 days. I've had a horse be dead lame after shoeing with an angle change OR pulling shoes, but after a couple days of bute he was sound. I hope your problem is soon resolved as I know how you feel to have a horse in pain like this. I am new to this service so hope I am allowed to comment on this situation. I am still finding my way around all the information offered and find everything very interesting! Good luck with your horse.
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