I had my horse trimmed and shod by a different farrier as mine was out having surgery. He has been off ever since; that was about 2 weeks ago. How long does a bad trim affect the way of going? My farrier will be back at the end of December is there anything I can do to make him feel better or do I just have to wait? UGH
Depends on what was done incorrectly by the farrier. If just cut back too much, it will grow out when it grows out, depending on how quickly your horse’s feet grow (genetics, hoof shape, nutrition). But if a close nail, or a nail prick, or several nail pricks, or trimmed off balance before shoes applied, or sole pressure, there are secondary issues that may become a problem, may not simply grow out with secondary issues coming to light. Good luck.
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Agreed. How/where is he “off?” If only one foot, for example, a hot nail/abscess might be the issue. If all 4 feet…maybe something very different.
No matter what, I would at least call the farrier and let him know that the horse has been lame since he trimmed/shod it. The farrier should want to know that something went wrong, and should be willing to address it. E.g. if a hot nail, then it should be pulled.
I would have called the farrier the next day.
For a barefoot horse, there can be a short period of being sensitive to harsher footings right after a trim, which is different than being actually “off.” Horse might tiptoe on the gravel driveway but be fine in the arena. All you can do there is wait for hoof to grow out (usually no more than a week or two), or put on hoof boots, and have a talk with the trimmer next time around.
For a shod horse, there is no reason to be “off” after shoeing unless there is something wrong with the job, most likely as folks have said a nail too close to the sensitive tissues.
Depends why lame.
I brought my mare home from NSW to my old farrier. I had not mentioned to anyone that she was not quite right as my fault for not getting a vet check.
I trust my farrier.
I came home and she was dead lame. She couldn’t get across the paddock.
I called him. He told me she was pigeon toed and she had not been being shod as a pigeon toed horse.
He had shod her as a pigeon toed horse. She is lame but she would come good and not be lame again.
He was right.
I had the same thing happen recently. Had to use backup farrier, horse 4 legged lame next day. I had the farrier come back out to check for hot nails, but he didn’t find anything. He put pads on the front which seemed to give my horse some relief. It took a good 2 weeks before I could ride him again. This being the colder season, it will most likely take a few weeks to grow out enough to be completely comfortable again. I don’t get my regular farrier back until spring, so I’m already a bit panicked about who to try next.
I called my farrier and the stand in farrier. I was in tears as I had just had my horse injected with Pro Stride. Vet said to leave everything the same he liked the angles and everything… Now I cannot even tell if the injections worked! It cost 2500 dollars! So now we wait… ugh…
When my regular farrier shoes him I actually go and ride right after! Never had an issue…
If your regular farrier can’t make it out to see what the temp. farrier’s done, I’d consider calling the vet out.
That really, really sucks and is worth some tears. Spending $2500 on ProStride and now having a lame horse and not knowing why is definitely stressful. I sure hope it is sore feet from a trim, as that is definitely a temporary situation and will self resolve at least.
If my horse was lame for two weeks, I’d call the vet. The timing of the farrier visit could be coincidental… something entirely unrelated may be going on.
Agreed. It’s impossible to know whether this is trim related, and if it is, it might be something relatively simple (e.g. remove a nail might be enough). Get the vet out if the farrier can’t look at the horse. If you wait longer, it may develop into something worse.
So has the new farrier come back to test for a misplaced nail? I would be very insistent on having him come out right away. I cant imagine going a couple of weeks without even doing that! (Being who I am, I would have the vet on standby if the farrier did not find a cause!)
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Agree, get the farrier back out, vet as well.
In the interim, you asked what to do to make horse more comfortable: Poultice. Hoof packing. Softride boots if barefoot. Light NSAIDS if your vet approves. Icing. Luck.
I had the vet out.We put venice turpentine with DMSO on his soles and gave him some previcox… Seems better now…
thanks
Agree. If OP was injecting with Pro Stride, something else was going on. Farrier visit may or may not be coincidental.
