Bad Feet???

[4thoroughbreds]

I have 3 Thoroughbreds, a mare that I have owned for a year and 2 geldings that I have owned for one month. I have started using a new farrier because of a recent move. My mare has been barefoot since I have owned her with no lameness issues. She has been ridden in grassy fields around the farm but I wanted to start trail riding her. My new farrier informed me that I would have to put shoes on her or her feet would become sore. I listened and put front shoes on her with clips. She was lame for the next 3 days and then she felt better. So then I obtained the other 2 horses fresh off the track. I planned on turning them out for a few months to get used to being horses so I asked the farrier to pull their hind shoes. He informed me that their toes were to long and he had to clip them off to obtain the proper breakover. That evening they could not walk. The farrier came back to the barn and told me that they had thin soles and that they could never go without shoes all the way around. I did not have shoes put back on them due to the conflicting information that he was giving me. I called the vet and he told me that their feet were too short and that they would need shoes to get them sound again. I am having a new farrier come out tomorrow to get another opinion. Can horses have bad feet? What are thin soles? Is it normal to cut toes off? I really like the farrier that pulled the shoes but I am not sure if he is correct and I want to do what is best for the horses. Who do I believe? I have more pictures if they are needed
[IMG]

[Jeanie Connors]

It's a little hard to tell from the small pictures, but that frog does NOT look right, from any angle. It's protruding below the bearing surface of the hoof, so that the frog itself looks like it gets a significant amount of weight put on it at each step. That can cause pain, for sure.

It's not a good sign to get conflicting advice from your farrier, and it is not a good sign that your horses are sore for several days after he comes to work on them. It's a hard decision to make, but being a good person doesn't always make up for a poor job (depends on the job at hand ;) ).

I would find someone else who can tell you more about what is happening with your horse's feet and be able to trim them without making them sore. Even with horses with "bad" feet, they should not have to be sore after a farrier visit.

[calshoer]

Judging from the pictures, they are indeed way too short. If that frog is live, (not just a thick old layer ready to peel off naturally) then trimming so much off the wall of the foot to leaving the frog protruding far below the rest of the foot will surely cause the soreness you describe. The frog is supposed to be weight SHARING, level with the hoofwall, not sticking out far below the foot like that. And if that is "live" frog, it cannot be trimmed down.
Thoroughbreds DO tend to have thinner hoof wall and soles, sometimes there is only a small fraction of an inch of sole under the edge of the coffin bone, so the farrier should have taken that into consideration when he worked on the horse. It sounds like he may have trimmed the first one too short when he shod her, as she was sound prior to the shoeing and sore for three days after,not at all normal. A horse should never GET sore from a shoeing.

As to the others on who you had shoes pulled, If he felt the feet were too thin or weak to go without shoes in your particular environment, he should have not gone along with your request to barefoot them. He should have recommended shoes. If they possibly could go barefoot, he should not have trimmed them at the same time as pulling the shoes. The breakover point (the natual roll in the end of the toe) will wear into a weak bare foot pretty quickly on on it's own. lt doesn't have to be trimmed into a weak thoroughbred bare foot.
In my own practice, when I first pull shoes on any horse, I do NOT trim them much unless they are grossly overgrown. And even in the ones that are real overgrown I trim a LITTLE just to minimize initial hoofwall breakage. I pull the shoes, round the edge of the wall a bit with a rasp and that is all. Leave them all the foot they have to protect themselves. I let them toughen as they wear off a little more on their own, then come back in a couple of weeks and clean up the edges a bit more. That method helps them through the transition period with less chance of soreness.
As for right now, the new farier may find that he cannot safely try to nail shoes back on just yet without rebuilding the hoof wall some. As well ,the feet are already traumatized and nailing again may just reaumatize them more. As well if the hoof wall is either grossly ever trimmed or over worn,so it would be an extremely difficult task to avoid sole pressure from the shoe pressing down onto the raised edge of the sole..and it would NOT be prident to pare the sole out anymore to try to gain shoe clearance! A shoe could be built that can clear the sole that, or perhaps plastic shoes used just this once because the can conform around the bottom of the foot. SO there may be options but expect it to be extra work for the new farier and cost extra. In these kind of cases I usually recommend to just place the horse in a really soft environment like deep bedding or deep sand or a deep plowed field for a couple of weeks and let them grow some foot back. Aswel lthere are chemical sole tougheners that you can aply to the bottoms ofthe feet ohelp harden them. As for never going barefoot, I find most of them can IF they can transition gradually, AND they have the right envoronment to *gently* develop the foot strength. But right now you need to follow the vets and new farrier's instructions to fix the immediate trauma. Patty

[4thoroughbreds]

Thank you for your opinions, I have been a nervous wreck about these horses. I had another farrier out on Thursday for a second opinion and he stated the same things that you have. He just shaped their feet, removed some of the frog and told me to turn them out in a soft area. He also wants me to start them on a supplement, Horseshoers Secret, to see if we get any positive result from it. He told me that it is hit or miss with these supplements but worth a shot. He also told me that they do have thin soles and walls but within about a year they would grow an entirely new hoof. I felt a huge sense of relief when he was finished with the horses and I saw some small improvements immediately.