Mare with flat feet...help?

[All That Sass]

what is the best thing to do for a horse with flat feet. i prefer to keep her barefoot if i can .She isn't being ridden right now, but eventually i hope to ride her agian and would like to know the best way to help her get some concavity in her feet. When i was riding her she tended to be on and off and i did have shoes on for a while, but that seemed to just cover up the problem instead of solve it. is there anything i can do? she also has soft soles as the hoof testers displayed. so any advice??? thanks

[cynthia-jay]

flat feet are an indication of a dropped or retained sole and occour for a number of reasons

Laminatis or trimmed to short come to mind

The hoof testers may indicate more than soft soles, brusing may be occouring deep in the hoof

If shoes helped by aliging and proper placement of the hoof you may want to consider them temporaryily untill balance is acheived , or eliminating sole pressure

Once the hoof is growing in a more normal growth pattern the hoof may regain its concavity andthere are a number of products ava in the Market place for hoof hardners

Some horses do not have the hoof qulity to go barefoot and may require shoes

Your horse is showing sensativity with the hoof testers at this time performed by who?

best of luck to you

as ever

Jay

[THamilton]

What concerns me is your comment about the foot flexing under the testers.

This can be an indication of a couple of things. First...
improperly used by the person testing.

Second...

A very thinned soled horse. Is by chance your horse a throughbred or paint? These breeds are morelikely to be genetically predipositioned for this.

As far as shoeing, some might say a shoe and pad, others like myself prefer a Natural Balance shoe. Then a pad if needed. Like Cynthia said, some horses cannot go barefoot because of the environment that they live/work in.

Sole development will occur...
To what degree I can not say. But it might not be a degree that will "fix" the issue. The root cause of the issue is genetics. Nothing you can do there except bred better horses. Trimming horses like this for soundness can be tricky because of the design of the foot. One must see this before trimming and address it.

best of luck,
Tony

[All That Sass]

i guess more info would have been more helpful (it usually is)

She is an anlgo-arab mare. has one black foot in the front and one white foot. the white foot tends to flare HORRIBLY and will end up like a pie plate if left too long. that foot is more flat then the other. the hoof testers were done by a local ferrier. i wouldn't know if they were done correctly or not. we leave her sole alone and never trim it. we also have been rolling her wall back at every trim and her white line is starting to tighten up. right now she is 100% pasture sound and thats all she is doing so i'm not worried about her for now, but i'm wondering if there is anything i can do (besides the hoof hardener which i will try out) to get her white foot more like her black foot or if its just going to always be like that. i have no problems putting shoes or shoes with pads on her once she is starting to work again, but i want her to have as healthy a foot as possible.

[Bill Adams]

It sounds like the black foot may be a bit clubbed and the white is a low heeled long toe type. The black leg could be shorter so the shoulder is weaker and smaller as viewed from behind the horse.
You mentioned that shoeing seemed to cover up the problem insted of solving it. With conformation like this that is probably inherited, shoeing the induvidul foot to it's needs, dose solve the problem. Nature solves these types of problems by having lyons and tigers get involved.
Bill

[cynthia-jay]

hooves can be healthy with shoes when applied properly

As for the white line being stretched out and platter footed or like a pie plate, that too can be remidied thru proper trimming/shoeing

If all you want is a "pasture pet" then leave her bare foot (watch out for the lions and tigers and bears)

However, this condition can and usually leads to problems if left unattended

She may be pasture sound as you say, as she is ridden, other problems may arise

You have been given some excellant advice by the above Farriers

Enviromentals such as very wet conditions in your pastures may be adding to your horses conformation problems as well as her imbalances

Discuss all the above with your current Farrier He/she can help you make a decision in regards to trimming/shoeing

best of luck to you

as always

Jay

[All That Sass]

thanks for all the great advice! if i do choose to ride her again i will talk to my ferrier about different types of shoes and what would be best for her. (BTW, we are in canada so no tiger/lions and only few bears that aren't likely to try and take down a big horse like her. coyotes won't even come into the paddock to try for a foal, so i think shes safe) the only time she was ever off and on lame was when i was jumping her regularly. she still bombs around in the field like a crazy horse from time to time.

[Donnie Walker]

I have been working for the last three years on a brood mare that has extremely flat feet. We would leave her barefoot except in wet weather when shoes became necessary as her hooves softened. She suffered a mild laminitic attach about 10 months ago so we have kept her in an EDSS wedge pad with impression material and an NB aluminum shoe with breakover set at the apex of P-3 since that time. I reset her this last Friday and could not believe the change that has taken place over the past 10 months. She has developed sole concavity and her under-run heels moved caudally with a more vertical tubule growth. This is the first "flat footer" that I have ever kept on the books for a period of time that allowed me to observe changes.
I have one more I intend to try this on, but not with a wedge pad, to see if it is repeatable.

[All That Sass]

what do you think contributed to her developing concavity? in your opinion was it the shoe/pads? the wedge? moveing the breakover back? or all of the above?

I am just learning about all this stuff as i always just relied on my ferrier to do whats best for my horses. I think its important to be informed and someday i would love to take a course but right now my 3 young kids keep me buisy enough.