[QUOTE=Gottalope;8651277]
He’s only had the glucose and the atch done.[/QUOTE]
Just Glucose alone isn’t an IR diagnosis,he’s probably abscessing if he has heat in heel bulbs. Could be joint injections caused issues for him.
I have an ir horse. You really should get your hay tested. Until then, soaking the hay for an hour prior to feeding will reduce the sugars in the hay. Also, I would take him off all feed. He will be fine on just hay and if he needs supplements, mix them with soaked beet pulp that doesn’t have added molasses. There is tons of useful info on this site. http://safergrass.org/articles.html
Good luck. Once you get his diet straightened out and his feet comfortable, you should be able to control this and have many more usef ule years.
[QUOTE=sassy45;8651274]
Get the shoes with the wedges off,those alone can make a horse sore. That’s not natural to be jacked up on fronts,and makes for a sore horse. Just because he’s sore doesn’t mean laminitis or founder either. Could very well be the shoe job,had plenty a farriers make my horse’s sore lame.[/QUOTE]
Well, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking the shoes or wedges off – it depends on how long they have been on, and why. I have a mare in wedge pads for correction, so they can be beneficial.
Were the shoes and wedges on before this happened – or were they put on because this happened? If the horse has previously worn shoes and wedge pads with no issues, I would not assume there is any connection.
Soaking hay is never a bad idea if there is any chance of laminitis; but sounds like having more bloodwork will help you make more sense out of the diagnosis. If the horse ends up not being IR than this may not be a diet issue at all, but a mechanical issue or something else.
Your horse’s blood work so far is normal. Higher ACTH indicates a problem. Lowe ACTH indicates poor handling of the sample.
You cannot diagnose IR without insulin testing. Get horse on some soft supportive footing. You can use duct tape to put rubber from a garden kneeling pad or foam mouse pad over the shoes to make him more comfortable.
He is bedding in nice soft deep shavings in his stall and it’s fluffed many times during the day to ensure it stays soft for him.
Thank you for the information regarding the tests
[QUOTE=S1969;8651305]
Well, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking the shoes or wedges off – it depends on how long they have been on, and why. I have a mare in wedge pads for correction, so they can be beneficial.
Were the shoes and wedges on before this happened – or were they put on because this happened? If the horse has previously worn shoes and wedge pads with no issues, I would not assume there is any connection.
Soaking hay is never a bad idea if there is any chance of laminitis; but sounds like having more bloodwork will help you make more sense out of the diagnosis. If the horse ends up not being IR than this may not be a diet issue at all, but a mechanical issue or something else.[/QUOTE]
I just pulled shoes wedge pads after my horse wore them for 5 months,he did better without them. Same with last shoeing just pulled shoes yesterday he’s more comfy barefoot.
OP you need to have vet re take the blood test…Do Glucose, Insulin and ACTH really doubt your horse has cushings…but doesn’t hurt to check. Is your horse over weight??
Soak the hay your feeding just to be safe,in case he is IR. Soak 1 hour in cold water 1/2 hour in hot. Keep us updated 
[QUOTE=sassy45;8651712]
I just pulled shoes wedge pads after my horse wore them for 5 months,he did better without them. Same with last shoeing just pulled shoes yesterday he’s more comfy barefoot. [/QUOTE]
OK, but I wouldn’t use your horse or your farrier as an example of good corrective shoeing. Wedge pads are only appropriate when needed; so if they are not needed, the horse shouldn’t have them on.
But in this case it’s hard to know why the horse has wedge pads at all; so I wouldn’t recommend that they get pulled.
[QUOTE=S1969;8652176]
OK, but I wouldn’t use your horse or your farrier as an example of good corrective shoeing. Wedge pads are only appropriate when needed; so if they are not needed, the horse shouldn’t have them on.
But in this case it’s hard to know why the horse has wedge pads at all; so I wouldn’t recommend that they get pulled.[/QUOTE]
Only way to find out if OPs horses feet are shod properly is to see hoof pics. I’d like to see hoof pics of OPs horse, i’am curious as to how they look.
As far as my farrier i’ll probably end up firing this one too…need to use him probable till fall time. Need a hoof re built ,entire lateral section. Wasn’t current farrier who did wedge pads.
What’s the timeline on when your horse got sore. In order to try solutions and know which ones worked, it’s best to do them one at a time. However if the horse is in danger, do whatever it takes
If the horse is IR, no grass at all while he’s acutely laminitic (and maybe never). His feed should be a specialized low NSC one and hay soaked if possible.
If he became sore only after shoeing then consider having the shoes pulled and put him in the softrides. I’ve done it before with my Cushings horse. He will need sone padding with the thin soles but the softrides can take care of that.
Read your post again about packing with magic cushion. I just assumed a thin soled possibly laminitic horse would have some sort of pad. To me, a wedge at the heels would jam weight on the toes.
[QUOTE=Gottalope;8651277]
He’s only had the glucose and the atch done.[/QUOTE]
You need a new Vet.
Edited to add, now that I have read some of the other information, your Vet is probably OK, but the farrier appears to be incompetent. 
Talked to the vet yesterday and he did draw a insulin, the darn office didn’t send it to.me! His insulin level was 29.
I have started him on Enrich plus made by purina and he gets free choice hay and water and soft bedding, still on stall rest. Vet also said could have the farrier come out and take the shoes and wedges off now.
I’m new to this forum and haven’t figured out how to post pictures yet.
Thank you all
With numbers you posted your horse isn’t IR. Lab normals are Glucose 71 - 113 Insulin labs normals are 10- 40
So your hoof problems are do to trim/shoeing. To post pictures need to use a picture hosting site like flickr.com or photo bucket.
[QUOTE=Gottalope;8650849]
I have a 8 yr old quarter horse that vet says is insulin resistant but does not consider him to have cushings. He has had the atch test done and it was 5.9, and glucose level of 107. He had x rays done which showed very little rotation. We’ve had a mess with getting a good farrier in our area and thought I had a good one but turns out that he was taking out way to much sole, and now my gelding has very thins soles. He has that going on as well. He has been very lame for the last 14 days on his front, some days more on the left and now more on the right. The first 7days he was soaked in ice water morning and night but 2x a day and feet packed with dmso and magic cushion. That seemed to reduce some of the pain. Vet advised that I gradually reduce bute, ice and packing hooves. Now on day 14 his hooves are feeling warm again he’s more lame on one hooves then the other. I’ve never delt with anything like this before. Has anyone else had issues like this what should I expect for his life? We have taken him off grain, and put him on purina enrich plus. What does anyone else feed? He still seems hungry after eating. He’s also has choice 1st cutting hay. (In process of getting hay tested). This is my first time posting on here any help or guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
Well…maybe they are due to the trim.
OP, how long after the last trim did the horse become sore? You described that the farrier “took off too much sole” - was that immediately before the horse went lame, or some time ago? How long have you been using your current farrier? Is this the first instance of severe lameness? What else (if anything?) has changed - trim, shoes, wedges, etc.?
Just a “not so great trim” doesn’t usually make a horse dead lame out of the blue. Since the vet who examined the horse seemed to think it was metabolic in nature, I wouldn’t immediately think “bad trim” unless something else was done differently - the wedge pads, for example; a different farrier; different feed, etc.
What was injected when the joint injections were done?
[QUOTE=S1969;8652851]
Just a “not so great trim” doesn’t usually make a horse dead lame out of the blue. Since the vet who examined the horse seemed to think it was metabolic in nature, I wouldn’t immediately think “bad trim” unless something else was done differently - the wedge pads, for example; a different farrier; different feed, etc.[/QUOTE]
Could be horse has had poor trimming/shoeing going on for a long time. And now it’s causing issues. I can almost bet horse has under run heels long toes…throw on wedge pads on those under run heels and that alone will make horse sore. Joint injection could be part of issue also.
Feed doesn’t make horses go lame, unless metabolic this horse isn’t according to numbers posted.
I’v got proof of that with 2 of my horses can feed 28% NSC feed doesn’t effect them. Can throw out pure alfalfa hay, feed them sweet feed and never a lame step,never a colic.
Paring out soles to the point that they are thin on radiographs will absolutely make a horse as sore as described. A few degrees of rotation and a few degrees of wedge padding angles the coffin bone up onto its tip and the next thing you know, it’s pressing against a thin sole… this whole thing sounds textbook for shoeing induced lameness IME.
[QUOTE=heronponie;8652885]
Paring out soles to the point that they are thin on radiographs will absolutely make a horse as sore as described. A few degrees of rotation and a few degrees of wedge padding angles the coffin bone up onto its tip and the next thing you know, it’s pressing against a thin sole… this whole thing sounds textbook for shoeing induced lameness IME.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for this post:) I’d say BINGO!
[QUOTE=heronponie;8652885]
Paring out soles to the point that they are thin on radiographs will absolutely make a horse as sore as described. A few degrees of rotation and a few degrees of wedge padding angles the coffin bone up onto its tip and the next thing you know, it’s pressing against a thin sole… this whole thing sounds textbook for shoeing induced lameness IME.[/QUOTE]
Well, yes, of course.
But the vet did not blame the paring of the soles or the wedge pads - he/she though it was laminitis. And the OP has not described whether the paring of the soles was done immediately prior to the lameness…or whether this had been done 2 months ago and the horse just became sore…or why the horse had wedge pads and/or if they were new.
If the farrier scooped out the soles and put wedge pads on a few days before this incident - why would the vet test for Cushings and IR? It would have been obvious that the situation was caused by the recent botched farrier visit. Unless the vet and the farrier are both idiots…but since they saw the horse and we didn’t, I won’t jump to that conclusion yet.
The only thing she mentioned as a “new” incident was the joint injections.
And the numbers posted here prove different, horse is neither IR or cushings with numbers that have been posted. So neither of those things are factors here.
Most vets wouldn’t know a BAD shoe/trim job if it bit them in the nose. Last farrier i had pared my horses soles thin…and idiot for a vet i had thought she was good.
To be honest, I’m a little prickly over the implication that you think my post was calling the vet and farrier idiots.
They’re humans. Humans sometimes miss things. That doesn’t mean they’re idiots. If they were infallible, they’d have the horse sorted already and the OP would not have needed to come online and seek other ideas.
