30yr old horse with Proximal Suspensory injury kicking so can't have recc'd bar shoes put on

[TheHorseComesFirst]

I have a previous post with my horse who is 30yrs old who has proximal suspensory ligament injury with a dropped fetlock. The 2nd vet came out and recc’d bar shoes on the hinds .

Well my horse has started kicking again in the stall and bar shoes cannot be added until we can make sure to stop him.

Kick chains I don’t think will work as he has kicked hard enough to scrape his hocks,etc and it has not deterred him. Also the stall is not safe enough in my opinion for kick chains ( the stall wall have gaps big enough for chain to get stuck and it has a metal stall gate latch inside to lock gate open to the inside of the stall that I think he could get caught in.

Farrier suggested a suspensory shoe that has penciled heels and wide toe to help the heels sink which makes sense but vet suggested bars shoes with how bad his fetlock has dropped.

if he can’t wear the bar shoes, should he just stay barefoot ? I feel the suspensory shoes would just be like being barefoot with him needing to stay in a deeply bedded stall anyway.

I still cannot lift the diagonal foot ( RF) anyway. or would even the suspensory shoe give support.

I have a message in to the farrier.

[endlessclimb]

We put feed bags on the wall of a kicker once. The crunching freaked her out bad enough she stopped.

Can you sedate long term?

Kick chains can be put up above the hock so there’s minimal risk of them being at the “wall side” of a kick. Way less likely to be caught in the wall.

He’s gotta stop kicking, or this will never heal.

[Bluey]

Can you hang rubber mats where he kicks, from a 2" x 4", so there is an air gap between the wall and rubber mat, so he can’t really injure himself, the kick is muffled, not a solid hit anymore?

[NaturallyHappy]

Genius w the air gap!!!

[beowulf]

This worked really well for me at a barn I managed. We had a mare who was a heavy hitter. In her case I really think she enjoyed the extraordinary noise the kicks made voicing her displeasure. We hung up the mats with a spacer and it stopped almost overnight.

Can you figure out why he is kicking? Is he anticipating food? Is it a neighbor? Isolating that might help too. My vet is not above putting horses in corrals or round pens instead if it keeps them quieter. In many cases horses just want to be with their friends and being near them without being in a stall helps.

[TheHorseComesFirst]

I personally think it is a bit of everything. He seems to throw a tantrum when he wants out and also at feeding time. when " his" mare stall neighbor leaves to be worked up at the arena he will throw mini kick tantrums. the ones I am talking about he BIG kicks seems to happen in the evening randomly.

I am not sure what causes the big ones. I will ask my bf to hang a 2x4 up and rehang the mats and see if it helps

[Bonnie2]

Mats sound like a great idea! All that kicking isn’t helping his suspensories!

[TheHorseComesFirst]

He already has rubber mats hung but no air gap. the boards on the stall sides are on the flimsy side and not connected to the rafters ( open at the top of the walls), so hanging a mat just from a 2x4 from the top might bring it down orbow out the wall, not sure.

I may at least be able to hang one with an airgap towards the back.

I wish I knew exactly why he was kicking but sadly I do not. A complexity of things.

I was going to try kick chains but there is a latch inside his stall to hold the gate open ( his stall has a sliding door and yolked metal gate to shut off the run and the latch inside secures it to the stall wall ( which is also on the side he kicks with the corner bashing him right at his suspensory, below hock, which did not help either I can imagine) I am worried that the kick chain’s links will get stuck in the latch and hang his leg up ( I tried it out and it CAN get stuck easily if he makes it up that high) with the chain

maybe I can duct tape over it or something.

[tipzythegreat]

From what I understand, the suspensory shoes with the wider bars and toes STOP the horse from sinking – ie, in sand or deep bedding. Which helps decrease the stress on the suspensory. That’s what my vet said, anyway.

I think therapeutic shoeing is always worth a try, as long as it’s safe.

But, honestly, at 30 years old with a dropping fetlock… I wouldn’t imagine you’ll be able to turn his situation around with just shoes. I’m not sure I’d bother if he was my horse. The extra strain and time just TO get hind shoes on, especially on an already sore and older horse, is just going to aggravate his injury and perhaps his temper. I had a hell of a time getting my horse done until he healed (which took months and months).