Can't train a lame horse

[Vicki Rumbaugh]

Problem: brittle hoof wall, white line disease, Broken toe and sides, down at the heel, tender when moving. not fit to ride. sore.

Background: I got Sara 10 months ago. she was in foal, and lost the foal in December...8th month. When I got her, she had not had much maintenance of her hooves. She had a false sole on one front, and we trimmed all 4 hard.

She was so sore on all 4 hooves that we put shoes on the front which provided short term relief. After a while we let her go back to barefoot.

In the early summer we began riding and put shoes back on the front again. She cast the right front shoe after a month, and the left hoof developed a crack from just below the coronet to the bottom, right down the middle of the hoof. She cast the other shoe before the ferrier got back to trim.

Her foot was too brittle to shoe her so we have her barefoot again and have begun to work on the white line problem, but I'm not convinced this is the root problem.

Ferrier did not have suggestions, other than to let them grow out.

We are posting pics and seeking advice.

[Gary Hill]

Go to the Farriers helping Farriers with WLD and see how Jaye Perry shod a horse with bad feet and show it to your farrier? Good Luck! Gary

[Phil Armitage]

I do not see WLD. The mares feet are probably poor quality and weak. To help get her feet back into better shape, she probably needs to be trimmed every 4-6 weeks and put on a hoof supplement. Keep her out of manure and urine and mud. If you can't then clean her feet everyday and kill bacteria and fungus.

I do not know how long it has been since the last trim in those pictures. The heels are long, need to be trimmed down. Safely trimmed down to the sole and widest part of frog. For great info on trimming I recommend WWW.hopeforsoundness.com

[Bill Adams]

What Phil said, then shape a St. Crouix cliped eventer, burn it in and nail it on with slim blades. Reset in four weeks.
Bill

[e decker]

I would try an onion heel on this guy.
E

[calshoer]

To me the foot looks very shoeable. I would rasp the heels back as far as I could for a nice base, leave all the front half of the foot intact.
Wide web steel (NB) hot seat it in to level and harden the outer sole edge and nail it on.
Shouldn't be a problem. I did 4 feet worse broken up than this just today with plain steel NB shoes in front and plain St croix eventers on the hinds.
If your farrier really doesn't think he can shoe this foot, I suggest finding a bit more experienced farrier. And there always hoof repair compounds to build up wall, if really necessary.
Patty

[cgbighat1]

If you think the hoof is to brittle to nail into, Sound Horse Technologies has a adhesive bonded, fabric cuff shoe that will provide protection while the hoof grows out. I've used these shoes with good results on several horses.
Good Luck,
Charlie

[Ronald Aalders]

I agree with Patty here. I can not see any other reason for not shoeing the horse other than maybe a little higher grade of difficulty. Have a more experienced shoer come in and ask your shoer to attend.


Ronald Aalders