How worried should I be? Footsore pony with one shoe

[sportyspicepony]

Hi, I’m already worried and considering calling the vet but idk. Here is what happened:

Background: my horse is on “pasture rest” right now, she has a slight tear in her LF high suspensory diagnosed via ultrasound about a month and a half ago, and the vet said just leave her out on turnout and we’ll re-check in 2 months.

On Wednesday she saw the farrier. The appt was at 10:30 am but I had to get to work so after I was done messing with her I stuck her in a stall to wait for the farrier and had a fellow boarder arranged to turn her back out afterwards. She had to wait in a stall for like 30-45 minutes tops.

The farrier texted me later on and said “your horse doesn’t want to stand, I only got one shoe on so I’m gonna have to come back later and do the other”. She’s in egg bar shoes up front for the suspensory, and of course the shoe that got left off was on the side where the actual tear is so she got left with her RF egg bar shoe on, and LF trimmed but no shoe.

It’s pretty unexpected and unlike her to not stand nicely but I imagine having to wait in a stall made her upset and he mentioned that there weren’t any other horses in the barn at the time, so hopefully that’s all it was… I definitely wondered if she was uncomfortable in some way and that caused it, but the past 2 days since then she’s been perfectly good for me standing in crossties and messing with her foot.

The next morning (Thursday) her bare hoof felt very warm to the touch when compared to the other 3, and she was definitely a little bit ouchy on it walking but wasn’t full on lame on softer ground. I packed with Magic Cushion and wrapped it with vet wrap & duct tape and she seemed a lil bit more comfortable.

Then the next day after that (today, Friday), the hoof still feels equally warm if not even more so, and the fetlock region a little bit too. I iced her leg and her hoof for like 15 minutes but the ice thing I was using was not very cold so it didn’t do much, planning to come back tomorrow with something better and actual ice for the hoof. And I re-packed the Magic Cushion and re-wrapped it.

After all that I watched her in the pasture a bit more and she looked even more lame on it!!

The farrier can’t come back until next week to put a shoe on, he hasn’t told me what day yet. The heat is just freaking me out a bit, I’ve never been very good at finding heat in a leg or a hoof and this was like very clearly obvious heat to me. Is it normal for there to be heat in a hoof just from like bruising from being bare after having a shoe on it?

Do I call the vet?? Or try something else to keep her comfy on that bare foot, like maybe the Magic Cushion is too much pressure on the sole or something? Will this set back her suspensory healing to be so uneven with only one bar shoe on the wrong side for like 5+ days? Am I being psychotic?? I truly can’t handle another lameness issue with this horse lol, any advice is appreciated <3

[IPEsq]

Do you have a boot you can put on that foot? If not, I’d be inclined to get the vet out and stall her. Sounds like she may have just bruised the bare foot and could be brewing an abscess (have seen the lower leg swell from an abscess that eventually blew out the heel). Given the suspensory issue, I’d err on the side of confining her unless you’ve got a good boot to give her some support in the short term. I’d also maybe be shopping for another farrier asap.

[sportyspicepony]

@IPEsq

I’d also maybe be shopping for another farrier asap.

Don’t even get me STARTED on my farrier issues!!! But i’ll summarize it with, I have been and will continually, maybe forever until I move barns, be shopping for a new farrier lol.

I don’t have a boot and I know they take a little while to ship so I think ordering one wouldn’t help me right now, but maybe I should just for situations like this in the future, ugh.

[Red_Barn]

@sportyspicepony

I don’t have a boot and I know they take a little while to ship so I think ordering one wouldn’t help me right now, but maybe I should just for situations like this in the future, ugh.

Do you have a Tractor Supply store nearby? They seem to have those temporary boots in stock most of the time - I don’t remember what they’re called; I mean the ones with the wrap-around tabs. My TS usually has Davis boots too, though in very limited sizes. Not perfect, but they might help - especially if you can make or buy pads of some kind.

[trubandloki]

@IPEsq

I’d also maybe be shopping for another farrier asap.

In other threads people say that if the horse is acting up then it is best that the farrier just stop and come back some day when the owner can be there to handle the horse appropriately.

I find it so amusing that in this thread the farrier is wrong for doing that very thing.

It appears that on COTH the farrier is almost always wrong.

[sportyspicepony]

Yes you’re right, and that’s my bad for not being clear - I don’t blame him for leaving and trying again another day, but I have basically always been unhappy with this farrier and have had a world of trouble trying to get a different one out because farriers are just very very limited in my area. So that’s what I meant by my ~farrier issues~

[sportyspicepony]

I feel stupid for not thinking of this very simple solution LOL yes my local tractor supply does have the Davis boots, only in Medium so they might be too big but i can at least check it out! Thank you for that suggestion!

[candyappy]

Why didn’t he do the bad leg first?? Of course he may not remember which leg it was…

Hope the boot works.

[sportyspicepony]

right?? I rarely miss her farrier appointments but I’ll definitely be making the effort to be there for all of them at least while she’s rehabbing because geeeeeezzzz

[candyappy]

@sportyspicepony

right?? I rarely miss her farrier appointments but I’ll definitely be making the effort to be there for all of them at least while she’s rehabbing because geeeeeezzzz

If you can’t be there in person, maybe leave a note reminding him to do her bad leg first.

[trubandloki]

Or leave someone there that is responsible so your horse is not trying to kill the farrier that you left to fend for themselves with your horse that was in alone.

[IPEsq]

I don’t really blame the farrier for not wanting to potentially get hurt himself, and certainly have had drugs on hand for a rehabbing horse or the vet there for drugs, but to leave the bad leg barefoot and not come back for a week…

Some farm stores or Dover or local tack shops may have some boots in stock. Whether they have what you need or the right size, it might be worth looking around what’s in your area. Even your vet may have something you can borrow/rent/purchase.

[sportyspicepony]

I’m not sure why you have such a problem with what I did… sometimes people have to go to work, I guarantee you that most horse owners are not present for farrier visits. There was someone there holding her for the farrier on my behalf and responsible for turning her back out afterwards, like I said in my original post this was very unlike my horse and very unusual behavior so i think it was reasonable to expect her to act like she normally does. Me being there probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. The stalls in the barn are all open access to pastures so horses can come and go as they please, so she wasn’t exactly in alone. And I apologized to him profusely and paid him in full for two very expensive egg bar shoes even though I only got one. Furthermore this post is not me looking for advice about how to deal with my farrier but rather how to make my horse comfortable so you can cut the hostility please

[sportyspicepony]

Yeah I’ll definitely have to go check our tack stores, they’re all pretty small but it’s worth a shot. I’m kicking myself now for not getting measurements on that hoof before leaving today

[trubandloki]

@sportyspicepony, we (COTH) just had a thread where someone wanted to sue their farrier because their horse got injured while the farrier dealt with a horse that was acting up and the people left to handle the horse were unqualified. All kinds of posters there insisting that the farrier should have stopped and walked away if the horse was not behaving. I guess (really no guessing) that thread is clouding my ability to not make assumptions on your thread.

On getting your horse comfortable, I agree with most of the other posters.
Get some hoof boots (or a hoof boot).
When I needed a pair (lots of years ago now so things might have changed), Soft Ride boots offered over night shipping. Those things are pricey but handy to have around, and again, over night shipping.
I looked on Amazon and there are several styles of hoof boots that seem to ship Prime (looking now they say they will arrive by Monday). If you have Prime maybe look into that if your local stores do not offer a size that will fit your horse.
For now I would simply go with the diaper and duct tape ‘boot’. Adds padding and protection and bonus, works well if you decide there is an abscess brewing and you want to add some type of poultice or other drawing agent.
Jingles for a sound horse!