Barefoot horse has sore hind feet

[Chestnut_Mare1]

Mare has been a little sore first on the right hind and now the left. I can see some bruising growing out on the white hind and suspect that the black one has bruising too.

By appearances she has rock hard feet. There is no chipping or flares, her angles are good and improving. She is trimmed every 4 weeks and wears renegade hoof boots on the fronts for trail riding. We have very rocky terrain and some well used trails are hard packed gravel. Mare is landing toe first on the sore hind foot right now. She is on lush pasture 24/7 and has not had any laminitic issues in the past.

Is it possible for horses to get laminitis in the hind feet only one at a time? She is not overweight, can feel and just about see ribs, no crest or fat pads. She is fit and healthy but really lacks hind end muscle despite doing hill work, an awesome diet, etc.

Could she simply need hind boots for riding? I have a feeling that she will carry more weight on the hind end with boots on and perhaps she will finally start building some but muscle! Right now she is all t!ts and no ass LOL!

[Scribbler]

Put some hind boots on and see what happens. If she’s just sensitive to the footing that will fix it. If there is another problem it wont. Easy diagnosis and even a second set of Rens are cheaper than a vet call!

I use Renegades on my mare and put hinds on last month after she was trimmed a bit short to address hoof balance. I just used my old worn out paif with the holes in the toes. I thought she’d need a smaller size behind but they are just fine and shebtrots out on the gravel again.

Sometimes the simplest solution nis the right one.

I don’t think.a horse would founder in only one foot from a systemic issue like diet. They could founder in.one foot from a structural issue like a bad club foot or if they were very lame in one leg for a long time the supporting good foot might founder.

If you had grass laminitis you would have heat and raised digital.pulse

Sounds like she just needs rear boots .

[Chestnut_Mare1]

@Scribbler

Put some hind boots on and see what happens. If she’s just sensitive to the footing that will fix it. If there is another problem it wont. Easy diagnosis and even a second set of Rens are cheaper than a vet call!

I use Renegades on my mare and put hinds on last month after she was trimmed a bit short to address hoof balance. I just used my old worn out paif with the holes in the toes. I thought she’d need a smaller size behind but they are just fine and shebtrots out on the gravel again.

Sometimes the simplest solution nis the right one.

I don’t think.a horse would founder in only one foot from a systemic issue like diet. They could founder in.one foot from a structural issue like a bad club foot or if they were very lame in one leg for a long time the supporting good foot might founder.

If you had grass laminitis you would have heat and raised digital.pulse

Sounds like she just needs rear boots .

So true! I had vets out twice and they couldn’t figure out where the lameness was other than hocks down. I should just listen to my gut and try the boots. Her back feet are smaller, so I’ll have my trimmer fit her next week.

Do you think sore hind feet could hinder muscle development? I’m guessing she is probably loading the front more. There has also been some mild bullnosing on the hind feet prior to the bruising showing. Could these things be related? I’ve been stumped with her misc. hind end problems for a while now since I pulled shoes a year ago.

[Scribbler]

You should probably post pics for the more experienced farrier folks here to comment on.

I understand bullnosing can be a sign of bad changes in coffin bone but it can also be a cosmetic thing from how they are rasped.

I would put on boots and if she is sound in boots and stepping out nicely, probably that’s it.

As far as muscle development if you are riding with no arena you still need to make horse carry herself correctly and not just slop around trails. You can do lots of walk lateral work on trails, also transition within gaits, collected to extended walk and collected to medium.or extended trot. And makes sure she is giving you a marching walk and at least a good working trot. And that you are practicing good posture.

On the other hand also do some of this on a loose rein. If you are too.focused on round and strong contact you roll.the horse onto the forehand and the front end overdeveloped relative to the hind end.

Get her feet happy, get her moving forward on your footing and then work on moving correctly

[Larbear]

@Chestnut_Mare

By appearances she has rock hard feet. There is no chipping or flares, her angles are good and improving. She is trimmed every 4 weeks and wears renegade hoof boots on the fronts for trail riding. We have very rocky terrain and some well used trails are hard packed gravel. Mare is landing toe first on the sore hind foot right now. She is on lush pasture 24/7 and has not had any laminitic issues in the past.

Can you take some good lateral shots and sole shots? The toe first landing makes me wonder if her heels are underrun or maybe the bars are weight bearing. These can make the heels sore such that they don’t want to weight them.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

The good news is that I am moving her to a barn with large ring and big round pen tomorrow. I will get some photos of her feet on the weekend.

I didn’t make this connection before, but she has developed some heal “cracks” the past couple of weeks. I’ve started up full thrush treatment last night and am thinking that she may have deep sulcis thrush that I can’t see. I haven’t been riding much and think that the lack of movement may have contributed to some of this.

Last spring she was VERY lame with a bad case of thrush.

[JB]

@Chestnut_Mare

Mare has been a little sore first on the right hind and now the left. I can see some bruising growing out on the white hind and suspect that the black one has bruising too.

Most bruising is from unbalanced feet. The excess hoof material creates pressure, which slightly (or worse) tears the lamina connection, which makes it bleed a bit, which becomes apparent with white feet.

By appearances she has rock hard feet. There is no chipping or flares, her angles are good and improving.

Improving from what?

Feet that are softer/thinner/more flexible will tend to flare more and sooner than feet which are hard. Hard feet will tend to force curves in the coronet band before they flare, assuming things aren’t really bad. How straight, or curved, are the coronets? I do agree that pictures will help a lot. But make sure they are like this - pictures with the lens at anything but perpendicular to what you’re shooting distorts angles and distances
http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/good-hoof-photos.html

Mare is landing toe first on the sore hind foot right now.

Sounds like an abscess brewing.

She is on lush pasture 24/7 and has not had any laminitic issues in the past.

How old is she?

Is it possible for horses to get laminitis in the hind feet only one at a time?

It’s possible if it’s a mechanical cause, but really, really unlikely if it’s systemic.

She is not overweight, can feel and just about see ribs, no crest or fat pads. She is fit and healthy but really lacks hind end muscle despite doing hill work, an awesome diet, etc.

Going back to her age - any chance of Cushing’s? How’s the rest of her topline muscling?

@Chestnut_Mare

Do you think sore hind feet could hinder muscle development?

100% yes. Know, not think. When feet hurt, they cannot use their body properly. When back feet hurt, they are not going to take the weight back there that’s required to develop sit and push and overally body muscling. If the hind end can’t carry, the front end can’t properly develop. It can IMproperly develop as compensation.

There has also been some mild bullnosing on the hind feet prior to the bruising showing. Could these things be related? I’ve been stumped with her misc. hind end problems for a while now since I pulled shoes a year ago.

Bullnosing is a matter of when, not if, it’s going to cause obvious hoof soreness, and soreness in the hocks, then stifles, then SI, then move forward, it if doesn’t all sort of happen together.

Bullnosing doesn’t happen overnight either. How fast it happens depends on how off the trim is, and for how long, but it is a sign of longer-term poor trimming.

[TWH_Girl]

Is it absolutely necessary to keep this horse barefoot? Why not try shoes for a while? Sounds like she may need them.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

Yes she does a lot better barefoot. She went barefoot for the first 11 years of her life and even competed successfully. I put shoes on her for the first time before I knew about hoof boots.

With shoes on she rides just fine just as well as barefoot in the arena. She stepped on herself a lot with shoes on despite bell boots and did some damage there.

I will take some photos today but discovered sulcus thrush that mat be to blame. I’ve slacked off on thrush treatment because I thought it was gone. Feel like a bad momma.

[JB]

You also need to understand why there is thrush, and why “slacking off” resulted in a resurgence. Healthy bare feet don’t get thrush, not even with mud.

[TwoTrickPony]

I’ll leave the finer details to the experts, but just wanted to add Dursasole to the ideas–it thickens the soles.

[Larbear]

@JB

You also need to understand why there is thrush, and why “slacking off” resulted in a resurgence. Healthy bare feet don’t get thrush, not even with mud.

This!

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@JB

You also need to understand why there is thrush, and why “slacking off” resulted in a resurgence. Healthy bare feet don’t get thrush, not even with mud.

:yes:

[S1969]

OK just re-reading.

She is trimmed every 4 weeks and wears renegade hoof boots on the fronts for trail riding. We have very rocky terrain and some well used trails are hard packed gravel. Mare is landing toe first on the sore hind foot right now. I’ve been stumped with her misc. hind end problems for a while now since I pulled shoes a year

I would consider a new farrier because of the bull-nosing issue, but it seems like the answer might be right in front of you. A year ago, the horse was sound, shod on all 4 feet. You pulled the shoes and have been riding horse on very rocky terrain and been stumped with hind end problems ever since?

Why not go back to shod all around?

[JB]

Shoes won’t fix the bullnose issue **. We need to know if a change in farrier was made around the time the shoes were pulled.

**Caveat - Sometimes ,a horse’s conformation and/or hoof quality can be such that without shoes, their way of going causes a wear/growth pattern on the feet that show up as bullnosing, and unless trimming is kept up with perfectly and frequently enough, can then exacerbate issues. My TB mare stands under herself just enough that if I’m not careful, she’ll develop a bit of excess toe height, and crush heels a little, and develop some bullnosing. It doesn’t happen if I trim her frequently enough. I think this is the least likely of the 2 possibilities though.

[S1969]

@JB

Shoes won’t fix the bullnose issue **. We need to know if a change in farrier was made around the time the shoes were pulled…

Agreed. Just pointing out that the two issues may not (yet) be related. Would also help to know why the horse was in shoes all around and then why were they pulled. (Change in workload, new farrier, new barn/situation, etc.)