Hoof casts on dressage horse -- need input/ideas.

[MapleLeaf]

I have written about hoof woes of my young horse before, but I am back with a new set. Young horse is technically a high/low in front. Although the “high” is really just a bit upright and closer to normal, while the “low” is the problem hoof. We had shod him in a nice big shoe with pour-in pads and a one degree pad on the low hoof (same set up without one degree on the high one). He loved this set up and moved really well. Last summer, between being out all night in the damp pastures and I think stomping at flies inside during the day, he was losing shoes with his hooves just falling apart. I’ve had him on several different hoof supplements + 1 cup flax per day since day one.

This summer I had to change farriers and first couple shoeings were fine. And it was not a huge surprise when I started seeing a hind hoof crumble around 5 weeks into a shoeing in July. He lost his shoe the day before being due for re-set two times in a row, which I thought was reasonable. At that time, he was in a hind steel shoe with a wider lateral branch (for support and because he travels narrow). This was vet recommended from major clinic. New farrier puts him in a similar shoe with again lots of lateral support. Hind feet start to look great and hold shoes and he starts pulling front shoes like it is his job.

He has pulled a front shoe approximately every 4-5 days for the last 5 weeks. The farrier has come out once a week and re-set one or both each time. He is double bell booted and turned out alone over night. I am guessing he is pulling these if he gallops around a bit. Under saddle, he has enough knee action that he never forges or interferes.

He pulled both fronts again this week and, no surprise, there really isn’t much hoof now to work with. Farrier recommends casting the front hooves to allow time to grow. This is a horse that is ridden 4-5 times per week and is working 2nd/3rd level. Farrier explained the downside is the cast does not allow the hoof to flex, but for one setting of 5 weeks, it should give the hoof time to recuperate. I asked about glue-ons, but farrier thinks with as much rain as we get in our climate, it could be a recipe for disaster. So we put the casts on fronts.

Does this sound reasonable? I rode last night after the casts were put on (just looks like very hard black vetwrap) and he felt okay. Should I seek another opinion on this? I am a loyal person to work through issues (especially when farrier has been extremely responsive and accommodating), but I also know even one shoeing cycle of the wrong set-up can lead to longer-term issues.

Thoughts?

[Guyot]

We have put casts on a few horses this year… the weather conditions of super wet, flies, and recently the ground really firming up has left us no hoof wall to nail shoes into. (I won’t even start on how many abscesses we have had this year, but more then the last 30 years combined)

Yes it helps, yes it is better then glue on shoes, if it’s wet in your area.

I would expect two shoeing cycles to have good wall back to nail into; well at least if your horses are like mine.

Best of luck

[Hej]

Can your farrier get and apply Sigafoos shoes? They are a shoe with a kevlar cuff that’s glued to the hoof wall.

There are a variety of shoe / pad types to address different issues. Google ‘Sigafoos shoe’ , there are web sites & youtube vids.

My GP mare has been wearing them for about two years to correct a low heel and negative palmar angle in one front foot, which they have done. I’m keeping her in them, my farrier changed the degree of the pad in the low foot as her heel growth improved.

They have been unaffected by daily hosing, riding in wet arenas, and overnight turnout in dew soaked paddocks. (Plus they just look cool.)

[luvmyhackney]

I agree with the Sigafoo’s if you have to have shoes. Otherwise I would look at boots as an alternative where you can change out the angle of the pad in the boot more as needed and avoid nailing in his foot.

Have you looked at his diet to determine why the poor hoof growth?

[MapleLeaf]

The Sigafoos look really interesting. Are these permitted at USEF/USDF competitions? Hopefully these casts are a short term fix, but those definitely look interesting.

I’ve put all of his info into the FeedXL website, and he’s within or above (in safe range) the recommended limits nutritionally. I really think the hoof quality is partly a genetic/hereditary trait combined with challenging environment. Switching farriers has maybe compounded both of those things.

[Hej]

@MapleLeaf

The Sigafoos look really interesting. Are these permitted at USEF/USDF competitions? Hopefully these casts are a short term fix, but those definitely look interesting.

I’ve put all of his info into the FeedXL website, and he’s within or above (in safe range) the recommended limits nutritionally. I really think the hoof quality is partly a genetic/hereditary trait combined with challenging environment. Switching farriers has maybe compounded both of those things.

Yes, the Sigafoos shoe is completely legal for USEF/USDF shows. It’s a permanently attached shoe that is glued in place instead of nailed, and the kevlar cuff comes about half way up the hoof wall, nowhere near the hair line.

[MapleLeaf]

So 48 hours after placing the casts, and his left front is gone. I am beyond frustrated. I think I may need to find another farrier to take a look. Of course there is a clinic this weekend. . . ugh.

[Zu_Zu]

Wow -I’m so sorry to read this …I’d be batshit crazy !

perhaps due the level of frustration … find a substitute horse for the weekend clinic and get away and enjoy riding without thinking about shoes / casts

Jingles ~

[SusanO]

I feel your pain. I too have dealt with casts. And I too have hauled a horse to the vet for casts and come down to the barn the next morning and found one of the casts loose in the stall where the horse, acting like an idiot in the stall, pulled it off. Augh!!! This mare was not rideable so I sawed the cast in half, fitted it back on the hoof complete with purple hoof packing stuff and taped it all together with Vetwrap and Elastoplast. Then she got turned out with a boot over that.

Maybe the glue-ons would work better but they can still pull those off and usually the take off a bunch of hoof wall that they are attached to. Did the horse pull the shoe or just the cast over the shoe? If they don’t have much hoof length sometimes it is hard to keep a cast on.

[EVneo]

Isn’t it great how horses wait until right before a show or clinic to pull shoes? I’ve been in a similar boat - wet/ dry weather and bad flies. And it’s an event fit gelding that can’t spend most of his time inside, unless I want to die that day. We’re doing Sigafoos on his front at our next trim & reset next week. I asked our farrier about glue-ons and he had the same worry about them coming off too easily, but suggested the sigafoos - he said as long as they’re done correctly, they don’t. come. off. We also do a packing with a leather pad - not sure if we’ll do that again or a pour pad with the sigafoos. I’m hoping we only need to do them a cycle or two to get enough hoof wall to go back to nails

[MapleLeaf]

Yes, the timing is always great. And this youngster is also a sensitive, dutch horse who needs his time outside. With that said, my saint of a farrier is coming tomorrow to re-cast the left front tomorrow. I am very tempted to leave him inside overnight so as not to chance fate that he pulls it again before the clinic on Saturday. However, I know he will not be a happy camper if all of his friends are outside. I may trailer to the clinic location a night early to avoid the drama.

[RedHorses]

What is your farrier changing about the trim/shoe to try and prevent the shoes coming off? Have you had that discussion with him?

[MapleLeaf]

So I thought I’d provide an update. I left horse inside to get through clinic in casts. At the clinic, one cast began coming apart at the heel bulb. Within a week both casts were again gone in turnout.

Unfortunately, after losing the casts, he became very tender footed and inflamed. Within 24 hours both front legs swelled from hoof to his knees. No real pulse but hooves and legs were warm. This of course happened when I traveled for work. He was iced, wrapped, put in softride boots and given a gram of bute (thank God for the barn owner). I made it home next day and called vet. Swelling had subsided some but was still concerning. We took x-rays which showed lots of good sole depth and no concerns in angles. Vet also recommended testing for selenium/Vit. E deficiency, so we did. We continued bute for a few days, put him on isox to encourage hoof growth, decided on handwalking for about a week, then we decided to get him in glue ons as soon as the inflammation subsided.

Within about a day of the vet visit, he really started to improve to where we could wean him out of the wraps and he was feeling much better in the softride boots.

New farrier came out and said we actually had more hoof wall to work with than it appeared. He said he would feel comfortable nailing a shoe on, but we decided to stick to plan. He put the sigafoos shoes on the front (even putting a little wedge on the low hoof). He thought with all of the sole depth, we could pass on my usual pour in pads.

We have reintroduced turnout in small paddock and I’ve started riding, and he is feeling great. Lab results came back and selenium is on high end of normal and vitamin E was borderline deficient. So I have ordered the Santa Cruz Vit E and I am optimistic that we are on our way to keeping these hooves in better shape.

Thanks for all of the advice! What a stressful process!

[jonem004]

Thanks for the update and I’m glad your boy is feeling better.

One other thing I’d bring up is depending on what part of the country you’re in (or where your hay is grown) high iron levels can make it difficult to balance zinc and copper for optimal hoof quality. Checking plasma levels is evidently not an accurate representation of chronic high iron levels, I’ll see if I can find the paper describing how to go about testing the horse. But hay and water are quite easy to test. Of course, this is just one more piece of the puzzle.

[Hej]

Great update, MapleLeaf, thanks for posting!

[jonem004]

This is an interesting article about iron overload and IR, which of course is linked to poor hoof quality. https://thehorse.com/115369/researchers-identify-link-between-insulin-resistance-iron-overload/

The Ferritin Assay test can tell you if your horse has too much iron in its system and this place can do that test for you.
http://www.ksvdl.org/laboratories/comparative-hematology/

[24eventer]

My Husband is a Certified Journeyman Farrier (Thank God!) and I have a mare with horrible feet. She has lived in the Kevlar cuff glue on shoes every summer for years now. They have worked really well. She has separation in her hoof wall that refused to grow out, so her feet are really shelly and crappy. The first year we had to use them was right before we went to our first 2* (now 3*) He was nervous about using them but was reassured by a top farrier who has used them a lot, they would work well, and he was right. We’ve done multiple FEI’s in them as well as USEA shows with no issues. Something else you may have to consider is changing your turn-out. We had to pull my horse off of pasture and keep her in smaller dry lots. She is perfectly content and has really helped keep her shoes on. Good luck!