My gelding has generally been very good about letting me pick his feet. He’s due to a visit from the farrier but my recent quit due to my horse suddenly acting out. His front right hoof has been almost impossible to pick as of late. I can pick it up no problem and rub over it with my thumb. It doesn’t look like he has an abcess, And there are no bad smells coming from it so I don’t think he has thrush. I’m getting my vet out as soon as they are able and a new farrier. But any ideas of what it could be? I can still pick the foot up no problem but once I start picking he will flinch in pain and yank it away. All other 3 hooves can be picked with no problem.
Probably abscess.
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Are you sure he is sore in that foot? How long will can you hold up that foot, just hold it without doing anything with it? My farrier said that when they don’t want to pick up one foot it can be because the other foot is sore and they don’t like putting weight on it. Often the problem is with a diagonal leg, but since more weight is on the front legs than the hind legs, I would look at the other front foot as the problem.
I am no expert but I would test this theory by simply holding up the problem foot for a long time, like several minutes or the amount of time you would need to do a thorough cleaning and trimming, and see if the issue is really pain in the foot or if it is actually the amount of time he has that hoof up.
Another thing is, make sure you are picking up the hoof straight under him and not pulling it out to the side, with puts a lot of pressure on other joints (like the knee).
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I agree it is likely an abscess that just hasn’t reached the surface. Or a bad bruise (that will likely abscess).
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Anything going on with the left front? Sometimes they don’t want to pick one up because they don’t want to put weight on the opposite foot.
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Good to get the vet out and find out what’s wrong.
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Sorry to say this BUT, put on a pair of those dotted gloves that Tractor supply sells and learn how to hold onto the hoof when the horse tries to yank it away. I know he is in discomfort but he has to learn manners in conjunction with pain before you lose another farrier.
the more he gets away with pulling his hoof away, the harder that nasty habit is going to be to break. It is your responsibility as the owner, not the farrier’s not the vet’s.
Also so agree it’s possible the opposite hoof is the one that hurts.
i have a foundered horse and have learned where sore hooves are concerned, to put a folded bath towel under the opposite hoof for added comfort. Makes a big difference.
- That all said, the vet may tranq the horse and if the farrier can be there at the same time, he can trim the hoof under the vet’s direction in relative quiet.
As as far as what’s wrong, because there is something wrong, the answers are many. Hopefully the vet has a portable X-ray in case nothing is clearly visible.
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Your training him to pull his foot away. Pain or not they need to behave. Not farrier or vets job to train your horse.
He could also have pain from a knee or shoulder injury or arthritic joints in the other three legs forced to carry extra weight when that hoof is picked up. Sometimes it’s bad manners but if it’s new behavior? It hurts for him to pick and hold it up. You have to figure out where he hurts.
You might try the Bute test to see if he can comfortably pick it up on a painkiller. Then you’ll have a better idea if it’s pain or bad manners.
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a little harsh, I think. New behavior in a horse, I wouldn’t jump to a training issue. My guess is with everyone else’s – something is wrong with the opposite front foot, and it really hurts to put more weight on it.
This has happened with my horse, and once she wasn’t hurting, she went back to her usual excellent self about having her hooves picked up.
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I can pick his feet up no problem. Even the one that’s in pain. I pick it up and nothing, it’s just when I touch the sole of his hoof with my thumb, specifically around the frog area (not on it but near), then he reacts. I can pick up all his feet and hold them for as long as I want. No issues there.
One of my guys suddenly didn’t want to pick up his right front foot. He was difficult for the farrier for a couple of shoeings. His x rays showed some abnormalities. After a dose of oral Banamine, 1 hour before shoeing, he iwas back to cooperating with the farrier. After several shoeings with banamine, his soundness issues are under control and he doesn’t need Banamine before shoeing. Sometimes, misbehavior has a physical cause.
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If he’s sensitive to tne touch on the sole of his foot? That’s likely a bruise or an abscess.
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To those who think this horse should “behave despite pain”, I am wondering exactly how you expect the horse to communicate when it is is pain if not via behavior such as this? Or would you rather just now know? Obviously, if this was a long-term, on-going behavior and all physical causes had been eliminated, I would fully support treating it as a behavioral issue. However, since it is a new behavior and seems very likely to have a physical cause, I am rather surprised that several people think the horse should basically just “suck it up.”
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You have to care on daily basis so that other issues not arise.
Agree that it could be an abscess/bruise. Could be a foreign object in the frog (any little pebbles or anything irritating the area. Could also be something like thrush. I had a mare who developed a central sulcus infection/thrush in a hind foot last year and while that was going on she was really funny about me messing with the foot (which, of course, I had to do in order to treat the thrush!).
I would tell your new farrier exactly what he is doing and the place he objects to being touched. Can you give him some bute or something to make it possible for the farrier to work on him? It will make it easier for them both.
Yes I agree with you
It’s all about training had my one horse abscess here dead lame and he still let me pick foot out. Let me pick up other foot he wasn’t lame on. Stood perfect. Never jerked away nothing three legged lame.
Update: I had a new farrier come out and he confirmed that it was a separation of the hoof wall on the opposite hoof. There was no WLD as we caught it early. I am going to start treating him against thrush as a procaution. For now my gelding can go on as normal but has the hoof wrapped. Once we got it trimmed we also found he had a hoof bruise. He is currently doing a lot better and is back to his normal self and lets me treat his hoof with no issues. Thank you all for your advice!
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Frequently pain in another foot makes a horse reluctant to pick up any foot.
