I live in the desert and the ground is mostly decomposed granite. Almost all the horses around here have hock sores. I keep several inches of sand in my mare’s pen and for years, that kept her from getting sores. Recently, she has developed sores even with the sand. I bought a pair of Hock Shields which worked amazingly. Sores gone in about a week. The problem is on the front of the leg about 2 inches below the elastic of the boot, she has developed a raised line on each leg. I cannot figure out for the life of me how the boots can be causing it since they do not sit near it, but they must be (maybe when she lays down?? I don’t know). If I put the boots on any looser, they fall to her ankles. They are not tight (only snug with what seems to be plenty of room to put my fingers in). Has anyone had this happen with this product? Is there anything else I can use to prevent the hock sores?
My guy was turned out in the boots and they’d either fall off, or if tight enough to stay on would cause a bump above the hock. I couldn’t live with that so he just has sores 
I will say they got better with hind shoes (he has shivers) BM refused to allow me to create a sand are for him to lie on.
Yeah - that was kind of my thought too. I think the hock sores are the lesser of two evils.
The liquid bandage stuff for people works pretty well on hock sores. I bought the boots and then tried the liquid bandage and haven’t had to use the boots yet 
I really glop it on though, and it doesn’t do much for the hair in the area when you try to clean it up a little for a fresh coat. But the hock sores healed and have stayed healed for a while now.
Squares of duct tape (sometimes double thick) work very well for preventing hock sores. I’ve used silk hospital tape also if the duct tape won’t stick. Just put about a 2" square over the area of the sore (if it’s big, you may need a bigger piece). I’ve had them rub a hole in the tape, but skin is fine.
Duct tape works better than anything else I’ve tried. Put a lillte square of it over a clean dry bed sore and replace after riding or if it falls off. New hair will grow back in a few days. Buy the basic silver colored real dictionary tape brand. The other colors ones don’t work as well for some reason.
I have to say I used duct tape and elastikon and the latter was better, but in places with hard ground the tape is gone in a few hours. I tried it for weeks, different kinds of duct tape too. Small circles of it, longer strips. Clean dry hair, the works. Never stays on.
My mare developed hock sores when she was on stall rest. I was never able to get any kind of tape (duct tape, gorilla tape, or Elastikon) to stay on. My hock shield boots ended up rubbing and causing hair loss and the new hair grew in white (my horse is dark bay). So that was kind of a bummer. What worked best for me was Alushield, reapplied daily.
Oooo - I have bright orange gorilla tape. I’m gonna try it! I knew you guys would think of something! @Gardenhorse - what is Alushield?
It is an aerosol wound spray made out of aluminum powder. I’m not sure why aluminum would actually be good for wounds, but it makes a sort of barrier that does stop them from reopening the skin. With my horse, she would scrape off the Alushield each night when she laid down, but it was just enough of a barrier to keep the sore from getting worse.
Most tack stores/feed shops have it (at least in my area).
https://www.sstack.com/first-aid-equine-wound-care/Alushield/?gclid=CjwKCAiA8rnfBRB3EiwAhrhBGk6ltPRGiHsfM1Oz_xvrKHLsudgVb1CozES7YTPiaNV1JmXrmPhxKxoC2FYQAvD_BwE
Thank you for this! My TB gets them and I have a can of this. I will do it daily.
This may not work but can you put a couple of bales of straw down to make her a nice bed where she sleeps? If it is deep enough maybe she won’t rub her hocks when she gets up/down. Now my mares would probably pee in the straw…
We live in the high desert and we typically have 30 to 50 mph winds (we are where all the wind power comes from). Anything like straw or shavings just blows away.
I am trying Alusheild so lets compare results.
Cool. I’ve had the gorilla tape on now for four days and it is still attached. When it falls off, I will take a pic of the old wound and see if it has improved and/or if there is hair loss due to the tape.
The AluShield works great on open sores to protect them from dirt and flies. I think the shiny surface repels the bugs. But since it is so thin and doesn’t provide any sort of padding, I wouldn’t think it would be good for preventing a scrape, but let’s see.
I’ve done Alushield with no results at all for hock sores. But Gorilla or other tape comes off in 24 hours for my guy too - so YMMV!
I wonder if alushield under gorilla tape would help the tape stick better.
@CindyCRNA I was actually thinking of using superglue to stick something to the hair around the wound. Of course, we’ve just had our first rains here in CA so problem is solved (by mud) until April/May!
Well it appeared that one sore was doing better with the alushield and the other was raw every day despite daily application so I applied another layer of alushield on the wound and a generous square of Gorilla duct tape to both. I will report back how long it lasts.
So question: once healed how do you prevent them? Perpetual duct tape?
