A specialist recommended me hind shoe trailers or egg bar for extra support of the suspensory ligament for my DSLD horse. To be honest, I’m not quite sure of whether to go with them or not. First, the farriers in my area do not give balanced trims to begin with and nearly all trim with low heels/ long toe and refuse to come out sooner than 8 weeks apart. There are mabye one or two I haven’t tried yet. The barefoot trimmer I have been using for years is against the idea for that very reason, as they had helped fix a few issues caused by previous farriers over the years (angles great on x-ray now!) and the hooves are looking great now. The other thing I am unsure of is that my horse isn’t always good to stand long enough for trimming in the hind. Right now, he is on previcox and is better, but I’d hate to get into a situation where he has to stand longer for shoeing and that in itself is hard on him. What do you think? Will hind shoes be worth thr risk or should I continue barefoot? The horse is currently retired completely, I just want to do what’s best for him in the long-run.
Eggbars did help one horse I knew with progressing disease. But you’ve got to apply them to a well trimmed foot.
Do a google search for “therapeutic farrier’s” in your area. Oftentimes they do travel, if you find one within a couple of hours from you. The worst you can hear is “sorry, no”, when you call:)
They are well versed in shoeing, barefoot, and how to actually trim a hoof and have it balanced:)
Make sure they have the credentials to go with the word “therapeutic”:’
I second @walkinthewalk. I struggled for years with a chronically unsound horse that has suspensory ligament issues (I posted about him a while back). The issue was in front, but my farrier put natural balance egg bar shoes on him, with a slight wedge and pads. The horse has been sound since! My farrier travels the whole east side of the United States and I’m blessed to have him. If he has trouble standing, could you give him banamine prior to being done? My guy isn’t on previcox but I give him either banamine or a good dose of bute before the appointment and it helps him out.
My mare has dsld. She’s barefoot. I don’t think she could stand for shoes. We only trimmed 3 hooves last time because she refused to lift the one hind. I plan on trying banamine next time. You could try the shoes. If they don’t work, take them off the next time.
I searched therapeutic farriers for my area and nothing came up, unfortunately. We have a very small horse community here, so I’m not surprised, although I’ll keep looking. Is there a certain certification I should be looking for in specific?
I just remembered that a lady I used to board with told me about a new farrier in the area and I may check him out after quarantine is lifted. This horse has had DSLD now for a year and seems to be doing well on previcox. He isn’t too bad for standing on the previcox, but I’m thinking about any possible future complications. I know shoeing could be different.
Where are you, generally speaking? Maybe we can help:)
I got lucky and found my therapeutic farrier on “new horse.com” in the farrier section for my state of Tennessee. What luck that she only lives about 35 miles from me.
She has about 20 years experience. Her father is a medical doctor, so I’m sure that was an inspiration for her to want to delve further into the mechanics of horse hooves than just nailing a shoe on and doing a simple trim:)
In her case, she is AFA certified, interned one year under Ric Redden, https://www.americanfarriers.com/authors/138-ric-redden, and also interned with an established/credentialed barefoot trimmer.
Just like farrier’s, barefoot trimmers also are not all created equal, in spite of how highly they think of themselves:)
She is someone who is capable of thinking outside the box when “the norm” doesn’t work. I’m truly not sure where my foundered horse would be, were it not for her. The founder is several years old but it was severe initially, therefore issues are on-going. 25 years ago, we didn’t have the technology to save him (and give him quality of life), that we have Today:)
This same horse is also sickle-hocked (he’s a Tennessee Walker, and this is kind of common), ANNND has fractured his sacrum twice, to where I thought I’d lose him the second time.
Between the equine chiro, this therapeutic farrier, and me following their instructions to the letter, the untrained man-on-the-street would barely be able to see everything that is wrong with this horse. He’s a gentle-natured happy fella, who has been given quality of life thanks to these two women:)
I’m in Atlantic Canada. If I could find someone like that, it would be wonderful because that is exactly who I’d be looking for. I love my barefoot trimmer, they take their time, keep up on new research/ methods and I learn so much from them (also in nutrition). The only real downside is that they don’t do shoes and I think that shoes could potentially be beneficial in my horse’s case.
My thoughts are, unless you can find a farrier that would do a trim that you are happy with (ie your trimmer), a trailer shoe or egg bar shoe isn’t going to help much if the trim isn’t right. If your trimmer is doing a good job and keeping your horse comfortable weighting his/her heels that’s what I would be focusing on. Low, wide heels properly underneath them (not high heels and quarters) wouldn’t alarm me but underrun heels and long toes with a shoe tacked on would alarm me.
If you can find a farrier to do a 5/6wk schedule, they actually make suspensory shoes
https://www.grandcircuitinc.com/products/denoix-suspensory-hind-clipped-shoe
I had the vet from MSU recommend these to me, but Dr. Gillis recommended egg bars.
In the end I asked my farrier. He said he sees horses do better with the denoix suspensory vs the egg bars. So I went with the denoix myself. Granted my horse doesn’t have DLSD, but he did have hind suspensory injuries.
Definitely have the angles evaluated. My horse had really bad NPA in the one foot which took probably 6-8 months of 5 week trims to resolve.
I didn’t know about the denoix shoes. Thank you for sharing. I’ll have to ask about those.
Jan 23 - Just wanted to add for anybody in a similar situation that I ended up going without shoes due to the struggle of finding an appropriate farrier in the area. My horse seems to be doing okay and I’m glad I’ve made this decision because it allows me to monitor things more closely.
What allows you to monitor things (what things) more closely?
My DSLD horse lived six years after diagnosis with shoes that lifted his heels. My farrier was very considerate of the need to be flexible about how to shoe him, how to make him stand, and how long. He was awesome.
Hi, It is explained in previous comments that I am unable to get a farrier to come any sooner than 8 weeks apart in my particular area and that any farrier I have tried here is accustomed to the low heel, long toe trim. We are in a smaller community and unfortunately I have no access to certified therapeutic farriers, though I have certainly tried. I’ve undergone previous issues with my horse’s hooves under local farriers and so I felt this was the best decision for my horse, given the circumstances.
My DSLD horse needed his toes to be as short as he could comfortably cope with and kept there religiously - we trimmed him (literally a couple of rasp swipes) weekly to keep him where he was most comfortable. He’d never been shod behind and our vet didn’t think there was any point in going down that road with extensions - we tried wedge pads in boots but saw no improvement. So short toes and a rockered heel it was and that worked for him until the DSLD progressed too far for anything to work (He was pts once his legs started giving way, all four legs were affected by this point 
)
Would you be confident keeping his toes back yourself in between farrier trims?
My DSLD horse is affected in both hinds. This year will be five years since the disease showed up and he has been barefoot the whole time. He stays out 24/7 and gets his feet done every four months to maintain his squared off toes and boxy heels. His hind leg angulation has straightened considerably and his hocks have gotten very knobby. But he looks great otherwise, still gets up and down fine, and bosses his brothers around and enjoys hoovering up feed and hay. I debate whether to let him go soonish while things are still good or wait for a change which demands it…
Do you mean every four weeks?
No. 4 mos. He has great feet and hasnt needed more frequent trims since becoming a pasture ornament due to DSLD. It is also easier on him since standing on one hind leg while the other gets done, is hard on him. If his hooves needed more frequent attention, he’d get it. Again, he stays out 24/7. This works for him.
And I think that’s the most important thing wrt horsekeeping in general, but especially special needs ones like ESPA/DSLD horses. What works for them varies, and shouldn’t necessarily be ruled out or in.
So sorry to hear about your guy. It’s truly heartbreaking dealing with this disorder. It took me so long to just cope with the idea of my horse having it and having to be retired. I’m doing much better now, mentally, but I certainly fear the day It will happen. I need to speak with the vet and have things prepared, just in case. That’s going to be a rough conversation for me, even if I won’t have to go through with it for a while.
I am able to do small trims in between, though I get my trimmer or farrier to do the big trims 6 weeks apart. My trimmer that I’ve worked with for years and that collaborated with the vet is unfortunately experiencing health issues right now and I live in a city away, so I’m working with my previous farrier, currently.
